In most cases, the word "savings" and the word "dating" do not go hand-in-hand. Although you will certainly be responsible for spending more money on your significant other and yourself than you would on yourself alone, your significant other does not have to completely rob you of all of your financial freedom. Here are just a few of the top ways to tell if your significant other is breaking your bank.
First, if you have no expendable income to attend any activities on your own, you may need to restructure your spending habits when you are with your dating partner.
All healthy dating relationships in the modern world thrive on both partners spending time by themselves. This means that you need to have money to invest in your own activities after you pay for the shared activities that you will be sharing with your significant other. If this is not the case, then you may need to redirect some of the funds that you are putting in on shared activities towards your own activities. If you do not, then you risk ruining your single social life, and as a result, relying on your partner more for social interaction. This is never a healthy way to go, especially with the overly independent mindset that is constantly nailed into the heads of people who are of dating age by media.
Second, if your significant other begins to ask you for things that only a married couple should share the expense of, you may need to restructure your spending habits.
The obligations of a dating partner to pay for his or her significant other very within each relationship. However, there are certain things that people should handle on their own until they decide to get married. These things include car notes, mortgages and rent payments, basic food items in the home, basic clothing items and utilities.
If your significant other has you paying for necessities rather than for luxuries, then you definitely need to reassess how you are spending your money when you are together. However, your significant other does not have to ask you to spend money on necessities in order to be out of line. If you find yourself spending money on things that have no relevance your time together, then you should reconsider spending that money. There is virtually nothing that your significant other can ask you for that you should not first offer. Some of the best dating relationships are those in which each partner pays his or her own way throughout the entirety of the dating experience.
Third, if your significant other becomes a bill, you may need to look at a different spending arrangement.
You should be saving money in a bank rather than putting aside money at the beginning of each month to fund your time with your significant other. People have subtle ways of thinking that they should be the priority in another person's life. Although this may be true socially, it does not necessarily have to be true in a financial way until a couple chooses to get married.
If your partner is subtly to prioritize him or her to set aside money for activities together as your expendable excursion, then you definitely need to reassess your spending habits with that person. A dating relationship should fit snugly into your budget; there is no way that it should be a burden on you. You should be able to easily pay all of your bills and set aside money for your future goals so that if you should break up with this person, you will not be behind on your long-term financial plan. Any other arrangement means that your significant other has become a bill in your life. This arrangement should be stopped immediately.
Fourth, who is spending the money on big vacations?
Your partner may go half on the small items but look to you to pay the entire way for big trips. This happens on both sides of the coin as women have become much more economically successful in recent years. No matter what gender you may be, you may have to reconsider a dating relationship if the person you are with cannot "keep up." If you end up paying for every experience that raises your partner to a new level without any return on your investment, then you will eventually end up tiring of the relationship. Your romantic partner should be able to afford to take you to new places and have new experiences.
Fifth, if your significant other is not open to reducing expenses when asked, this is a huge problem.
It is one thing to get caught up in the throes of love and spend freely for a weekend or two in Las Vegas. It is quite another to have a detailed discussion about finances that ends up in an argument because one party or the other is angry about having less money spent on him or herself. When this is the case, it is time to reassess the relationship as a whole.
Dating couples must integrate themselves financially if they plan to move forward in a serious way. If one party or the other cannot handle cutting expenses at some point during the relationship, then it is usually best to chart the experience up to a good time and keep the emotional integration at the same level.
Finally, you should take note of who your significant other usually dates before you begin spending a great deal of money on that person.
Although it is said that money cannot buy love, it can certainly buy the car that pulls up to the hotel that love has rented. If the dating history of your partner is full of people who have more money than you, then you need to take great caution before you indulge yourself fully in the relationship. There is a reason that judges in family court cases take the notion of "accustomed lifestyle" seriously. People become used to certain amenities and niceties in their lives, and if you cannot provide these, they will look at you in a certain distasteful way that will certainly get in the way of their assessment of you as a person.
Under no circumstances should you resort to creating a relationship that is based on money. Do not let your significant other break your bank. If any of the symptoms above are a part of your relationship, then you need to reassess the value that you place in that relationship! Do so before the emotional bond becomes too strong for you to break without a great deal of pain.
