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• Surprise! Your spouse has $20,000 in credit card debt

  Posted May 20 2008, 01:46 PM by Karen Datko
  Filed under: Spending, Credit, Marriage, Karen Datko
  Rating:

  Lying to your spouse about your spending -- and your debt -- can be very damaging to your relationship. But that doesn't stop people from doing it, observes "Gibble" at Gather Little by Little.

  A survey done for Redbook and lawyers.com found that 29% of people between the ages of 25 and 55 have lied to their significant other about their spending. Also of note: 24% said truthfulness about financial fidelity/infidelity is more important than honesty about the nonfinancial kind, according to a post by Gibble.

  So, he asks, what should you do if you find out your spouse has been hiding, say, $20,000 in credit card debt?   Read More...

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• Do you 'steal' money from your spouse?

  Posted May 07 2008, 05:16 AM by Karen Datko
  Filed under: Spending, Credit, Marriage, The Dough Roller

  This post comes from partner blog The Dough Roller.

  Have you ever found yourself at the store or gas station ready to pay, only to realize that the last $20 in your purse or wallet is gone? It's a sickening feeling in the pit of your stomach when you realize you can't pay for something. This happened to my mom all the time when I was a kid.

  My parents went from one financial crisis to another and were always short on cash. I recall vividly my mom yelling at my stepdad because he had taken money out of her purse and left her with nothing. She usually figured out that she had no cash just after putting $5 worth of gas in the car (gas was a lot cheaper back then). A resolution to this problem always seemed simple to me, even if it eluded my parents.   Read More...

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• Pay it forward: Attack your debt twice a month

  Posted Jan 25 2008, 08:37 AM by Donna Freedman
  Filed under: Debt, Credit, Marriage
  Rating:

  This post comes from freelance writer Abby Freedman, daughter of Smart Spending blogger Donna Freedman.
  
  Deep, dark secret time: My mother writes for Smart Spending and I am in credit card debt.

  Assuming you haven't fainted dead away, let me explain.

  My fiancé has an inherited calcium deficiency that's been exacerbated by treatment for a couple of other health problems. His teeth were literally crumbling away by the time I met him. Last spring, he made an appointment with an oral surgeon and a denturist.
  

  Since we didn't happen to have the needed $8,500 lying around, we started researching credit card deals. We wound up putting about two-thirds of the cost on a new credit card that offered 0% percent interest for six months. The rest was paid with "convenience checks" from my existing credit card at 3.99% for six months.   Read More...

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• Moral of her story: How not to pay for a wedding

  Posted Oct 10 2007, 04:14 PM by Karen Datko
  Filed under: Credit, Marriage
  JvW at The Good Life on a Budget takes her turn at recounting " The worst financial mistake I ever made ," and it's a doozy. It nearly spelled disaster for her St. Maarten wedding just days before the blessed event. We won't give away the details, but we will provide a snippet: She plunked down her credit card to buy $7,000 in traveler's checks to cover cash-only wedding expenses, and was told her card had a $1,000 limit. No wonder some companies sell wedding insurance .
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