How to Save Your Marriage in a Recession

Member

By alexagape
User-Submitted Article

Article Rating: (7 Ratings)

Save Your Marriage in a Recession

During times of financial trouble your marriage can suffer. When things get bad we can often blame each other. Learn how to work together through the hard times and strengthen your marriage.

Difficulty: Challenging

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

Husband
Wife
Time
Patience
Communication
Pen and Paper

Step 1

The most important thing in a marriage is communication. I don't just mean telling each how your day went but actual communication. One of the definitions of communication is "a technique for expressing ideas effectively" per the Merriam Webster dictionary. "Effectively" is the key word here. You MUST make some time for each other to sit down and talk about the important issues and ideas in your life. First thing you can ask yourselves is do you have a 1, 5, and 10 year plan for your life and do you know your partners plan. You should have individual plans and a couple plan. Write your plans down and post them in your home. This will get the ball rolling. Once you get the hang of talking about these things on a weekly basis then you can move on to the serious issues you are having. This can be about finances, intimacy, or personal issues.
Step 2

As advised in step one you need to make time for each other. In step one I talked about making time for talking now you need to make time for fun. When money is tight we tend to stop spending time having fun with each. Make a special day for your marriage. It can be Friday night date night. Even if you can't afford to actually go out you need to find fun ways to spend time with each other. Send the kids to bed early, light some candles and have takeout on the swing on your porch. What ever it is just do it on a weekly basis. Just reminding each other that is Friday will put a sparkle in your eyes.
Step 3

When you have a problem that is overwhelming you just want to bury your head in the sand. Problems tend to always get worse not better when we do this. You need to face each problem separately from the other problems. It is easier this way as it doesn't feel so overwhelming. List the things you want to work on with the most important one listed first. Once you have your list circle one that you feel you can do right away and put a number one next to it. You can just stop at number one because if you have a long list it will feel overwhelming if you number each one. Post your list on your bathroom mirror or your car dashboard. Every time you get something done cross it out and put a big happy face next to it (or a "Hooray!" sticker). You may have some long term goals like losing weight or getting out of debt so get all the little short term things out of the way so you can focus on those big issues.

Comments

pappy537 said

Flag This Comment

on 12/23/2008 Time, sometimes we don't use it wisely. good article!

cheapcindy said

on 11/24/2008 great article, I agree communication is so important

on 11/21/2008 great article. sometimes, money can be the downfall of every marriage. But, if you love, honor cherish, and respect, your mate. You shouldnt have a problem of going through the rough times. 5star article!