A stress-free way for you and your partner to manage money.
Money is a reliable source of tension in relationships, in both married couples and those not yet experiencing wedded bliss. According to one writer, "while talking about money can be often be more difficult and emotionally charged than talking about sex, religion or politics, a simple conversation about money can save you a lot of tension and resentments throughout married life." Here, six steps to a relationship free from money stress.
Being a relationship doormat, weird advertising from Viagra, Eliot Spitzer in the aftermath.
Love Bytes: three must click sex, dating and relationship links.
This woman pays her boyfriend's bills, he lies about his spending, and for some reason she doesn't know what to do. Seriously, what's there to be confused about? [Smitten]
He's an apprentice in school right now, so he's on government loans until he goes back to work. The funds are not enough to cover his bills, so I have been paying the rent in full, his insurance and truck payments, his phone and credit card bills, and giving him other spending money--all on top of my own bills. I absolutely don't mind helping him in his time of need. The problem is, ever since he started school he has started telling me lies.
We liked it better when erectile dysfunction advertising wasn't interactive. [Buzzfeed]
Eliot Spitzer expresses remorse for causing "excruciating pain" to his wife, tells Today Show "there are no excuses" for his former involvement with prostitutes. [Huffington Post]
A Daily Beast scribe writes about the rich "sugar daddy" footing her bills.
Hoo boy. The Daily Beast is surely getting a lot of web traffic mileage out of this one:
If you haven't read it already, check out their personal essay, "My Sugar Daddy," written by a college student under the pseudonym 'Melissa Beech.'
Young 'Melissa' is a college senior in Philadelphia who spent more than she earned waiting tables, which she found "exhausting." But then on a job interview with a communications professional, the man offered her a unique proposition: not to work in an office, but to sleep with him in exchange for gifts and money. He asked her to be his sugar baby.
He offered me a monthly allowance, guaranteed a steady stream of desirable gifts, and promised regular vacations. He offered to send my friends and me on girls’ weekend getaways to spas and resorts. Other trips, he said, could be working vacations for the both of us, some fun mixed with some hands-on learning for me. And yet others could be just the two of us seeing the most amazing and beautiful places in the world. We discussed places we had both been and would like to share with each other. When he learned I had never been to London he was dying to have that experience with me.
We're actually not as judgmental of sugar daddy relationship as one might expect. We think it's a stupid idea, but we also think people should be left to themselves to make their own choices about relationships. You just need to watch an episode of The Real Housewives of Orange County to see sugar daddies and sugar babies exist out in the open and perhaps some of them are actually happy until he trades her in for a younger model).
New relationships shouldn't be plagued by monetary challenges, but they certainly can be when cohabitation is thrown into the mix-especially when your boyfriend's private equity salary is three times higher than your publishing paycheck. It's hard to feel like an equal partner when you depend on your man for money- even if you have come to terms with your pathetic income- and you don't want him to see you as needy. Moving truck and start unpacking, you need to have a plan. There isn't a "right" strategy to manage your financial arrangement, but a successful live-in relationship is more likely with an agreement. Whether it's in an Excel spreadsheet or not is up to you, but make sure it's written down. If you know a notary or have a lawyer friend its even better if they can make it official.
