by Alexa J.K.

Created on: July 23, 2009   Last Updated: July 24, 2009

I believe money is the root of all evil. It will destroy your friendships, your marriages and eventually, will destroy you. People tend to forget the more important things in life - engulfed in the thought that they 'need' money to be happy, to be able to go out and enjoy life - which is all just an illusion.

For me - believe it or not - I care nothing for money. After seeing the effects of money - which I can deem a drug too - I have no care for it even though I need it to survive in this world. Money can be great - if you and your partner involved have great communication.

My husband and I keep our communications wide open when it comes to finances. Our money is our money - we don't do the whole mine is mine and yours is yours. We understand that as a couple everything we have is both ours and we like it that way. We have the agreement that when we need to spend over a certain amount - we will consult the other before making those major purchases. Even in our darkest hours, we keep our communications open - to not let financial fall backs affect our relationship. We talk about what we need first and foremost and what can be deemed as a luxury. We keep no secrets about where our money goes and we are not shy to show each other our bank statements.

On the downside, I've seen money break my family in the past many times - which is why before I got married, my husband and I openly discussed how our finances would be dealt with. I wanted to avoid the frustrations, the stress and the possibility of an unnecessary divorce.

My parents are a great example of money breaking a relationship. My mother loves to spend money like drinking water. My stepfather is a little more wise with money - but when he has the extra dough, will spend it in a heartbeat. Over 23 years of marriage it has been debt, debt and more debt. As young children, we couldn't have the toys, clothes, outings we wanted. Both my parents worked 2 or more jobs at a time - leaving me in charge of my siblings. I watched them work like dogs and for what - to see how much more debt they could make. Instead of working out of a hole, they were digging deeper. My mother wore the pants in that relationship and my dad most of the time, kept his mouth shut. Their final straw was just the last year and a half. They wanted to buy a house. It was a great idea - but my mother wanted something way out of their financial league. The house they bought was just over half a mil and they didn't have enough for the down

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