Three dollars and 42.5 cents. That’s what it costs to pack my daughter’s lunch. I know this because I figured it out right down to the ziploc baggie her sandwich goes into. Yeah, I’m that person, and this post hits very close to home.

At least half of couples report fighting about finances & a large percent say it happens more than once a week. Constant arguments about anything can slowly erode a relationship & lead to irreparable damage. When your money styles are vastly different, it's even more important to lay groundwork to set yourselves up for financial health. Here are some guidelines for couples who are intermingling their finances:

I admire people that can put things out of their mind. It’s healthy, to an extent, to be able to put worries aside and just live life a little rather than obsessing about things. “The Ostrich” is someone who has this skill NAILED, often to an unfortunate degree. Rather than facing their finances head on, they ignore credit card balances, due dates, budgets and actively saving. Maybe they assume they have the income to cover whatever they are spending, maybe they are afraid of what the numbers actually are, or maybe they genuinely don’t care (how do you DO that?). Regardless of the reason for the behavior, the consequences are the same. Here are the big three:

Anyone who has ever been on a diet can recognize the pattern. You're hyper vigilant about everything you consume. One day you simply can't take it any more. Absolutely sick of going without, the dam breaks & eat everything that isn’t nailed down. You feel terrible, swear to be good & the cycle starts all over.

One of the biggest factors that shapes your financial attitude is your upbringing. Many of us were taught that it was rude to talk about money. Attitudes have changed a lot since I was a kid & people are becoming more transparent with their kids than past generations. Money is a complicated subject, but there a couple things everyone should keep in mind:

When I say someone is an overspender, you probably picture a person who spends a lot of time online shopping, partying, or someone out traveling the world. While that may be the case in some situations, it’s much more likely that an overspender lives a life much less glamorous than that. In fact, 47% of Americans are overspending in one very mundane category: groceries. Spotting a “high roller” is less about what they spend their money on and more about the why. So, what traits tie these big spenders together?