Sex isn’t the only way people control their mates.  Money is the other big control issue I think.  I know that psychologists say that there are other issues, in-laws, discipline of children, etc. ..but I would venture a guess that these are secondary to either the sex or money (or both) issues that are going on in a marriage.
In fact, I think that lack of sex may often the result of one of the primary wage earner not being upfront about the money…

The financial tables, that is. For the entirety of our marriage, and for almost a year before, Bald Man has been in charge of our money. By my choice. I’ve never had much interest in keeping up with our books. It’s not that I haven’t known about our financial situation, I just never cared much for the ins and outs of it.
Bald Man has been asking me for years if I’m ready to take on the budget and money stuff in the home. I’ve been resisting it for ages. Too much responsibility. …read more

Not my drug mule…..my candy mule.
Today marks our 11th Anniversary (yay, us!), so we celebrated by dropping the kids off at grandma’s (thanks, grandma) and ran off to see Baby Mama. If you enjoy the Fey-Poehler comedy team, you’ll love this flick. (That’s not a guarantee, btw, just an educated assumption. )
So, anyway, we’re not rich. But even if we were, I really can’t stand the thought of paying 3 or 4 bucks for a box of candy at the movies. That’s not to say I’ve never done it, but boy am I pissy as …read more

So here’s something I didn’t plan on before getting married: helping out my in-laws at tax time. This morning on worked on my mother-in-law’s taxes… after having looked at my uncle-in-laws taxes a week or two ago… after having been “available for questions” with my sister-in-laws taxes a week or two before that. (I’ve already mentioned that ours have been done for a LONG time.)
Don’t take this as a complaint, because it isn’t. I actually enjoy the process… to a degree anyway. A couple years ago i told my sister-in-law she would have to start doing her own, not because …read more

ING Direct recently released data indicating that the average cost of a wedding has reached £18,500! I don’t follow the currency markets closely, but that’s in the $30-40K range!
Holy Crap!

I know… I know. It’s a (hopefully) once in a lifetime kind of day, but for serious, that’s a lot of freakin’ money! That’s a college education, a few cars or a nice down payments on a house… that you can live in for the NEXT HUNDRED YEARS!
Jeremy, over at Make Wealth History, has gathered a few fantastic remarks about the data including this one which has wonderful flair:
“The spectacle involved …read more

April 15th is steadily approaches… are you ready? Not to taunt you too much, but we received our refund a week ago.
One question you may have – particularly if you got married during 2007 – relates to your filing status. Here are some basics that you may find useful. Before going any further I should probably make the normal disclaimers: I’m not a tax professional; you are responsible for your own tax choices; and if you’re not confident in those choices, then seek professional help… I mean professional TAX help.

First off, your legal marital status on December …read more

If you’re like me, you’ve followed the news on the “economic stimulus package” working its way through Washington D.C. with at least a passing interest this week. Kelly Phillips Erb over at Taxgirl ® has all the information you need to know. I’ll run down a couple highlights, and here’s a good post of Kelly’s for more details. Caveat lector: This isn’t law yet, so everything is subject to change.

Married couples filling jointly will receive rebates of either $600 or $1200 depending on their income level and federal income tax.
Rebates would be increased by $300 for each dependent child with …read more

It’s back, as faithfully as ever. If you’re not looking forward to another tax season, remember the alternative. 4 out of 5 dentists surveys agree: Taxes are better than Death!
We’ll probably talk about this some more in the coming weeks, but for now, let me suggest you file early and file often. (Not sure what that last bit means.) Seriously, start now. Even if you have reason to wait until the last minute, get everything done and ready early, so you and your spouse aren’t at each others throats on the 14th of April. Unlike the dentist statistic above, it …read more

Okay, this poll fits the season, and gives me something to be nosey about. We’re wondering how much you plan to spend on your spouse this holiday. I know we usually have an amount in our Christmas budget for each other, and usually end up going a few bucks over. We have a good plan this Christmas, which we’ll share a bit of later.
So, anyway, here’s the poll! Thanks in advance for your votes.
{democracy:4}

The year was 1997. A young woman and a younger man wed, and they began the task of setting up home together. The young woman was unemployed; the bookstore at which she had been working had closed a couple months before the wedding, which was alright at the time. The afore mentioned young woman had plenty of wedding details occupying her attention. The younger man (Yes, I feel entitled to enjoy all nine-and-a-half months of age difference between us, especially considering she’s still likely to outlive me.) had himself only recently graduated from university and had not …read more