Unemployment is stressful. Here are 6 tips for saving your relationship.
Today's job market has many couples well aware of the strain unemployment can put on a relationship. Constant stress can cause fights, break up an otherwise healthy relationship, and really put "for better or worse" to the test. Often, coping with this anxiety and pressure can be just as taxing for the employed spouse as it is for the one who is out of work. But this doesn't have to be the case. Instead of letting unemployment destroy your relationship, allow it to strengthen your bond as a couple. We show you how to cope:
Do unemployed girls do it better? Or is it a case of just wanting it more?
If I'm any example, my layoff has sent my libido to frenzied new heights: The desire for humpin' and bumpin' didn't start the minute I lost my job. Like most over-achieving, over-educated, Type-A people, I had been told my whole life that the world was my pearl-stuffed oyster. I'd been informed that hard work and determination would take me far. So I had every reason to believe my current status as a jobless American would only be temporary. I would beat the odds.
What you're going to have to accept while living and loving in the time of recession.
Okay all you lovers out there, so what do you know about dating, living and loving in the recession? Things have changed—not least in the way you appreciate your mate. After the jump, some of the new realities that have emerged in these tough times.
How to live with the recently laid-off without going crazy.
The economy is supposedly in recovery, but layoffs are still prominent in virtually every industry. Many more people than usual can relate to a phenomenon usually restricted to the over-60 set: living with an unemployed spouse.
Avoiding unemployment talk, many laid-off singles refrain from dating. Is this the right approach?
A man laid off from his consulting gig at a young 25. A 39-year-old photographer who nearly ends his relationship with a woman he met on eHarmony. An IT consultant who considered full-on halting his search for a partner when he lost his job in January. These are the feelings of men wading through the current waves of unemployment, reports an article in the New Tribune Illinois.
How the recession helps us be more honest when it comes to finances.
Talking about money with a significant other can be a painful, awkward situation—especially when you're in a dating phase. You'd think it would be easier in good times, but some are saying that the downturn has made it easier to both talk about finances and to learn about a significant other's situation. Money is top of mind for many of us and a common topic of conversation. If someone is furloughed, laid off or had a salary slashed, their relationship to money becomes more apparent.
Do you have to overcompensate for the age difference in your relationship?
I could list a litany of reasons why we’re an amazing couple (and alienate a large portion of readers while I’m at it), but the ultimate factor in the success of our relationship is not communication, trust, or any other idealized attribute. What it comes down to is something quite practical: similar expectations.
Why trust funders, media men, and doctors get hotter as the recession gets worse.
Finance guys are now the poster children for the fall of our nation's greatness. They are the reason, or at least what everyone has decided is the reason in order to make themselves feel better about knowingly having bought a house well above their means, why we are in our current economic situation. Understandably these Masters are no longer pumped about the Hello I'm Cute Finance Guy stickers stuck to their suit lapels.
Pfizer doesn't want your sex life to suffer like your bank account. Free Viagra!
Pfizer—arguably the world's largest pharmaceutical company—announced today that Pfizer will offer free drugs (yes, even Viagra) to everyone who lost their jobs and health insurance since January 1st. Far away in the distance you can hear the whimpered cries of the guy who was laid off the last week of December. The drug company is planning on doling out 70 of their "most widely prescribed" drugs, free of charge, as long as you can a.) provide a pink slip and b.) sign a statement claiming money problems. This free lunch will continue for exactly one year, with enrollment open until Dec. 31st.
Times are tough and, these days, jobs are lost as regularly as kids lose their baby teeth. In a relationship, when one partner becomes unemployed, it can be a challenge to stay upbeat and supportive. One YourTango user came to us for advice on the matter. We asked the stars of our new series Still Life Love Advice to tell us: how do you save money and your relationship when your love gets laid off?
