fixmymarriage

  Do you feel like you fight about money constantly? If there is one issue that causes upset in your relationship, does it center around money issues? Do you wish that you could just figure out a winning strategy and make these fights a thing of the past? If that sounds like you, you're not alone. I got the following email from Malcolm, a frustrated reader, who's having a difficult time managing the finances and the marriage. Dear Amy and Andrew, Thanks for allowing me the chance to share my situation. My wife and I seem to be heading towards divorce if we don't make some big changes soon, but I can't see a way forward. We married 17 years ago and for the most part, we have been happy all that time. We have three children aged 3, 7 and 11, and we both work hard and have a good support network of friends and family members. I guess I could say the problems began to surface around 3-4 years ago, when the recession really started to bite here. My wife lost her job and has

  If there's anything all those country love songs lament about, it's cheating. It's practically a cliché - country song, cheating... cheating... well you get the picture. With the sheer number of cheating songs out there, one could develop the suspicion that maybe cheating does happen more often than we think. Based on statistics, up to 75% of relationships will be tainted by cheating spouses and unfaithfulness at one point or the other; and in 60% of these, the offended partner will not even know it's going on. This might seem alarming but it's true and you know it. You probably know someone in your immediate circle of friends and family that's been unfaithful. Heck, you may have considered the thought at times. But, before you become a love song casualty, is there anything you can do to cheat-proof your relationship? Of course, there are no guarantees. What we hope to do, however, is to arm you and your partner with enough information, strategies and insights

  I get a lot of mail from customers, looking for advice about marriage and telling me about their broken marriages and the destructive things their spouses have done to them. Yet despite all the pain and hurt, it's just not that simple to switch off those feelings of love. We don't always choose who we love, and one of the pitfalls of marriage conflicts is that those we love most also possess the greatest ability to hurt you. But the hurt is the price we pay for love, which is why you look for advice on marriage. It can be fixed. I had an email from a customer recently, who believed she had the worst husband in the world. Despite this, she loved him. She wants him to change. If he doesn't, she's not sure how she's going to find her utopian place in the sun with him. He cheated on her three times in the last 5 years. Each time she has forgiven him. Just recently this customer celebrated her birthday. It was New Years Day, so she decided to host a party for all her f

  Ideally, solving any conflict between your spouse is a simple process. All you have to do is point out the problem, take turns listening to each other and come up with a solution or compromise. Easy, right? But you know from experience that arguing with your spouse is never a straightforward exercise in communication. In the real world, so much can go wrong. For some couples, they’ve been down this road so many times that they don’t even bother trying anymore. In their minds, they already expect things to escalate, so they avoid arguing altogether. We all know that avoiding conflict now is only postponing the inevitable since the same issues will come up again in the future. Pretty soon, you could very well alienate each other with this approach. In other words, there’s no way around arguing with your spouse. So the question is: how can you manage conflicts to minimize the anger and frustration that often comes with it? Be Constructive Those who work in the customer service industry

  With divorces on the rise in many countries worldwide, there are more and more families consisting of children from previous relationships or marriages. Regular families can be complicated enough; blended and stepfamilies can even be trickier. As the children involved are going through changes that are different from biological families, they’ll face delicate situations that need to be properly handled. This can be a time of turmoil for them so it’s useful to have these tips in mind: #1. Learn How To Deal With Resistance One of the first lessons you’ll learn as a step or blended parent is that it takes time for children to adjust to their new environment. It’s unrealistic to think that the new parents and children will immediately get along. While this may be the case for some blended or step families, there is a good chance that the children don’t want new parents or siblings. Rather, they want to go back to the way things were or even hope that their biological parents will get bac

  Many parents in this day and age find themselves juggling responsibilities like their kids, finances, careers and many other things in between. Given the current state the economy is in, married couples are all the more driven to put their time and energy into providing a better life for their families. It’s an all-too common reality that one income isn't enough to support the average family. So the common trade-off is that couples have to sacrifice time for each other in exchange for earning more. With so many things to worry about, it's hardly surprising that a lot of couples nowadays are at risk of losing sight of what brought them together in the first place. Like it or not, everyone – including you and your partner – are at risk of getting so caught up in maintaining your relationship that you end up forgetting the most important element: each other. This is a common challenge for all couples, and keeping your marriage alive and well throughout the years isn’t a tall ord