Preventing is better than doing nothing. Prevent from danger, prevent from being sick, etc is good to be done. We don’t want to be in danger. We don’t want to be sick and cannot do the activities or maybe we have to be hospitalized. It’s similar with our home; we should do several preventive activities to protect our home from theft, fire, etc. Read the rest of this entry »
You and your husband need to disclose everything to each other. As you’re creating this new partnership, you can’t hold anything back. That means your husband needs to show you the divorce agreement he signed with his ex. Read the rest of this entry »
Paperwork is to manage fear,” she says. Hayden says she tells all of the couples she works with in which one or both partners were married before to talk about what the money issues were in previous marriages, and to be honest with each other about their financial status. “If they are absolutely clear and they are a partnership, they’ll be fine.” Read the rest of this entry »
Other stepmoms find themselves having to support the household almost entirely because the amount Dad has to pay leaves him with little to contribute to his new family. It’s far too easy for a stepmother to use money as a bargaining tool as she becomes more and more resentful about the compromises she is asked to make. Read the rest of this entry »
Money is a hot-button issue for stepfamilies. It’s a tough topic for any couple. Add a remarriage between two adults who have already developed habits, and money gets even more complicated. Your husband has kids from a previous marriage to support. Read the rest of this entry »
But I was still so new at it that I felt as if I was playing house, faking it. He’d been moody all day, and when I entered his room with the little-boy toys all over, he was lying in bed with a book in front of his face. “Hey, buddy, you all ready for bed?” I asked. He wouldn’t look at me. Wouldn’t talk to me. His face was hidden behind the pages. “Did you have fun today at the park?” I continued. But he still didn’t answer. Read the rest of this entry »
If your stepchildren are young and in your house at least 50 percent of the time, you’re going to be parenting them whether you or anyone in your family acknowledges it or not. You’ll be influencing how they do things when they grow up just by living in the same space. Read the rest of this entry »
Hiring someone to help clean was the best gift I could ever have received. Now I give that gift to myself every summer when my stepkids move in.
When you start doing chores for people whom you don’t feel close to yet, it can feel pretty rotten, especially if they don’t treat you very nicely or if they sit on the couch and watch television while you pick up after them. “I think one of the things that can happen is stepmothers can take on a martyr complex,” says author and stepmother Anne O’Connor. Read the rest of this entry »