The Effects of Debt on a Marriage

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In today’s society about 50% of all marriage fail. If you ask people why they argue with their significant other, most of them will tell your the disagreement had something to do with money. The fights and tension are blamed on many things, but in most cases there is an eroding bank account and mounting debt involved.

If your having problems in your life and feeling down, there is no better “pick me up” than a spending spree and it’s even better if you are not paying cash. However, this feeling of euphoria is going to be very short lived. Not far behind will be the feelings of guilt and those will last longer than the euphoria did.

Many marriages consist of a “spender” and a “saver” and this is where the problem arises. The spender spends, angering the saver because they are usually charging non necessary items. The saver will do the best they can to keep the spender from spending, causing tension and discord to build within the marriage, often times leading to disasterous results.

The constant fingerpointing and belittling will poison the marriage. With this kind of behaviour involved it hinders getting to the root of the problem. Due to resentment and the length of time the arguing has gone on, some couples will never be able to get to the source of the problem–which is, why they have the spending and saving habits that they have.

In a lot of relationships, the debt is the elephant in the room that nobody wants to acknowledge. The first step is acknowledging a problem exists. You can not fix what you refuse to admit exists. Unfortunately, most of our spending habits were instilled in us while we were growing up. You have had most of these attitudes for a long time and it will take some time to change them. A marriage counselor or Debtors Anonymous are excellent places to begin the process of sorting through the excess baggage that comes along with your debt.

An overspender should not be shopping alone and they should completely avoid stores where they normally would overspend. Take someone with you that will help keep the spending under control (Debtor’s Anonymous can help with this). This person should not be your spouse.

If you follow these simple steps, you will see both your marriage and your financial situation change. Don’t forget to budget some fun into your life. This is very important and fun doesn’t have to always cost money. You will find the feeling of having your spending “under control” more powerful than the feeling of euphoria you used to experience after a good shopping spree.