If fighting about money has become a ritual in your household, you are not alone.  Money is a leading cause of tension between couples.  Before it goes too far, realize that you both have control of the situation.  These steps can help you work together to fix your differences:

1.  Know both of your money personalities and create a plan/budget that works.  There are three basic money personalities: hoaders, splurgers, and avoiders.  Understanding why you treat money the way you do, and gaining insight into how your spouse feels about money, will make it easier to manage your situation.

Hoarders love to save and bargain hunt.  Because they fear that they'll never have enough, spending money makes them uncomfortable.  Luckily, they are happy creating a budget, because they enjoy keeping track of their finances.  By putting "splurge money" into the budget they can learn to enjoy their money without worrying that they are spending too much.

Splurgers are happiest when treating themselves (or others).  Spending makes them feel loved and successful.  The danger is that they will spend far more than they bring home.  Because they like to be rewarded, they too can benefit from putting a line item in the budget for reasonable splurges.

Avoiders lack the confidence to deal with money.  They ignore their financial responsibilities, such as balancing the checkbook or researching their investments.  Their greatest risk is missing opportunities to make their money go farther.  And, if they are married to a splurger, they won't realize that debt is mounting up until it is too late.  The best strategy for Avoiders is to take a class or read up on basic finances.  Creating a budget is the best way to get familiar with the situation they were trying so hard to ignore.  Because Avoiders tend to procrastinate, setting up automatic bill payment and automatic investments (where money is wired from your bank to the account) is a helpful strategy. Click here to read more. 

Finding Financial Strength in Plastic 

Say the words, "Credit cards" and you probably think "trouble."  Yes, credit cards make the purchasing process easy; so easy that debt can really mount up.  But, if you can limit yourself to charging only items that you can afford, you can reap some important benefits.  Before you put that plastic away, look at how cards can work to your advantage.

1.  Interest-free loan.  Paying your bill in full every month basically means the credit card company granted you an interest-free loan for 30 days. 

2.  Tracking expenses.  It's easy to see where your money has gone at any time.  On-line and 24-hour phone line access to account balances and charge history allows you to monitor your spending.

3.  Protection from loss or theft.  If your wallet is stolen, whatever cash was in there is gone for good.  But if your cards are stolen you can shut them down immediately.  Even if a thief were to charge before you cancelled your cards, you would only be liable for a set amount (usually a maximum of $50). 

4.  Rewards.  Some cards give cash back on purchases or earn you points on the airlines or at stores.  I like the Upromise card because it is free and a percentage of my purchases goes directly into our sons' 529 plans.  For this reason, I charge lots of daily expenses like my gas, groceries, and doctor's visits. 

5.  Redemption.  If you have misused credit in the past, opening a card and paying your balance in full is a great way to strengthen your credit score. 

When you pay your balance in full, you don't need to shop "rates" because you won't be paying finance charges, right?  So you can choose what card features you want, including whether you want to pay an annual fee or not (not, for me). 

You can use them responsibly and to your advantage -- just follow these simple guidelines: Before you start using your cards make sure that you have no outstanding debt and then only charge within your budget.  You can do this; just put your mind to it.