Money is one of those Big Things that couples argue most about. You only have to look below to see that no matter if you’re doing it tough or you’re rolling in it, you still fight about money just the same.

And if the two of you have different attitudes towards money? Well, that can cause one of those plate-throwing, name-calling incidents that no one likes to have.

I’ve spoken before about how financially retarded I can be. And yes, I’m one of those people from the graphic below that “Hide Purchases” and “Misrepresent Amount of Purchases” (Though… uhhh… Den, if you’re reading.. That dress is like, years old. I can’t believe you’ve never noticed it before. Plus? It was on sale. No – not sale, it was free. Com-plete-ly free…)

Well if all of the above sounds familiar to you, then it may be time to take a look at your saving and spending habits. A great place to start is our Everything You Need to Know About Budgeting as a Couple series.

It’s been recorded by StoryCorps who since 2003 have been collecting people’s stories from all over America – they have 60,000 so far – with the mission of providing Americans of all backgrounds and beliefs with the opportunity to record, share, and preserve the stories of our lives.

The stories about love are the ones that always get me the most. Like this one:

Danny Perasa and his wife, Annie, came to StoryCorps to recount their twenty-seven-year romance. As they remember their life together from their first date to Danny’s final days with terminal cancer, these remarkable Brooklynites personify the eloquence, grace, and poetry that can be found in the voices of everyday people when we take the time to listen.

Danny & Annie from StoryCorps on Vimeo.

Let us know if you’ve found a better one on the interwebs in your travels!

They are daters in their own right on their side of the world, writing for Seattle P-I about their adventures on the town dating in Seattle, as well as on their own Brett and Mandy Date Night Blog, and somehow finding time to do all that AND to date in amongst their busy lives. Brett is a Financial Controller, Mandy is an Advertising Account Exec and they are engaged to be married.

Here, Mandy gives us the lowdown on the two of them.

Where/how did you meet?
At a Mariner’s baseball game on his birthday (The day before my birthday) … we didn’t start dating till 3 months after ‘cos (I found out later) at the time we met, he was in a relationship.

He added me on [then popular] myspace and, when he broke up with his missus, decided to ask me out!

Was it love at first sight?
No, intrigue at first sight, definitely! We both knew it was something pretty cool.

How would you describe your relationship now?
That’s impossible. It’s such an onion. We’re definitely best friends. We are soooo much alike but soooo different. We both love to make the most out of life and are so happy to have found someone that wants to do the same. We piss each other off on a daily basis, but 5 minutes later we’re back in each other’s arms more in love than 10 minutes beforehand. It’s SO weird.

What is your personality match like?
We’re both stupid silly, and love to be playful and funny and dopey and nerdy. We don’t take each other seriously, nor do we take ourselves seriously. We are both passionate about staying active, constantly wanting to be learning, exploring, experiencing. We both believe in the same values and principals, politics, spirituality, yet respect each other’s difference in opinions (we won’t admit it, but we do).

How do you manage your time together? (Does work, socialising, etc, get in the way of you spending time together?)
Luckily our schedules are very similar. We LOVE routine, which is funny. We’re like an old married couple. I make the coffee at night, he packs lunches in the morning, and if we miss a day, well, we’re all out of whack. Ha. We both leave for work about the same time; we both hit the gym after work and are home about the same time… we take turns cooking dinner… so it’s great. We’re lucky that we do get to spend so much time together. Wish our 500 square foot apartment was bigger, though… it’s definitely been a testament to our relationship, living in such close quarters and staying madly in love!

What kinds of things do you like doing together?
EVERYTHING! Literally. Our favourites though are snowboarding in the winter… stand up paddle boarding, camping, or boating in the summer; exercising (running, yoga), cooking together, trying new restaurants, funky festivals, concerts and live shows, comedy… you name it, we do it!

What annoys you most about each other?
Definitely our levels of procrastination. I can’t sit 5 minutes after dinner without doing the dishes (i want to get them DONE!) but Brett could put them off for days! Same with paying bills (he NEVER pays his bills on time!) which means I’m constantly ‘reminding’ him to do stuff, which is annoying for him, and he’s always putting important things off till they are late, which annoys the bejeesus out of me!

What makes your relationship tough sometimes?
Communication. It’s always the most challenging in a relationship, because there’s never enough—EVER. I’m always wanting to talk and [over]share my feelings, and Brett’s a bit more guarded… so it’s sometimes hard.

Do you argue? What about?
Ha. Yes, of course. About chores mostly.

What’s been the biggest challenge of your relationship?
The fact that Brett isn’t a permanent citizen (or doesn’t’ have a green card), and could be up and deported at the drop of a hat. Well, not really, but until we got engaged, it was hard because he was never really able to settle, relax, and feel comfortable and ‘at home’ here. Even with us being engaged, there’s still a bit of uneasiness. Now that he’s closer to getting a green card (my nickname is ‘greensie’), it’s been better. He’s been able to relax a lot more and realize that he’s here for the long haul, no matter what, even if it means we run down to the courthouse if he loses his job, and get married next week!

What’s been the biggest reward of your relationship?
Finding my best friend – someone i can laugh with and be my stupid self around and still loves me unconditionally.

What do you think is the secret for a happy marriage?
Not sweating the small stuff, not taking yourself too seriously, realizing NO ONE is perfect, communication, understanding, patience, and DEDICATION.

What’s your favourite kind of date night to do together? Your favourite Seattle place you’ve been to so far?
Our favourite date nights are actually the ones we do at home! Our Paint Party, or French Night… but our favourite place we’ve been is a restaurant called Elemental @ Gasworks. You don’t order – the owner comes up to you and simply asks, ‘is there anything you don’t eat’ and then starts cooking for you. It’s a 3-hour event, course after course matched with the most brilliant wines. It’s like a dance. And at the end, you’re not even allowed to tip, because their tip is the pleasure of seeing their customers so incredibly satisfied after a meal. That in itself is so noble, i think. I just love the whole idea of the place. You can read our review about it here. ☺

In the case of Lara Bingle and Michael Clarke, the nude photos, the Fev affair and the very public flight home from New Zealand have made it even less so.

I feel for them both, having to play it out while Australia watches and comments on their every move. They have a responsibility not only to each other and their careers now, but also to appease their fans who all have an opinion on the subject.

Long distance relationships are becoming more common these days, most often driven by career choices. But if any two people are going to make a commitment to a long-distance relationship, then they need to decide themselves whether their careers or their relationship will come first in these situations.

I think it is admirable that Michael flew home to be able to work it out face to face with Lara, it shows he cares about saving what they have. The break up of an engagement is not something that should be done over the phone.

But now it’s sparked a big debate on whether the cricketer’s career or relationship should be coming first. That’s a very personal decision and certainly not one that Australia can make for him.

Should Lara have demanded him home? Maybe. Maybe not. We can’t know. I would say that it’s a product of her desperately needing some emotional support from her fiancé while she is going through a tough time, or perhaps a sign of immaturity on her behalf; not realising the magnitude of what Michael does and the impact on his fans.

As impossible as it is for this to happen – I wish that they had the time to work it out for themselves. You know when you have a break up and your friends and family tries to offer advice? You never listen to them, they don’t know what’s going on in your life. Why should they listen to the rest of the country?

Rebecca and Murray have been trying to have a baby for close to four years now with the help of IVF. Bravely, Rebecca has documented every step of the way on her blog, Crazy Lady Ramblings. Their IVF journey can be tracked on the left hand side, through painful procedures, heartbreaking miscarriage and inevitable depression… it is such a sad story, yet also so inspirational. Again and again, Rebecca and Murray keep finding ways to get through it together. We wish them all the best with their future… and thank you for sharing your story with us.

Here’s what they had to say to us about their relationship:

Rebecca, 23, Systems Coordinator – Murray, 30, Secondary Teacher – married 12 November 2005

How long have the two of you been together?
6 years, since November 2003

Where/how did you meet?
At a Desperate & Dateless ball – I was doing work experience for uni, and Murray was a VIP guest as he had just signed a songwriting publishing contract. Even with all the gorgeous women around dressed to the max, he spent the whole night talking to me!

Was it love at first sight?
Not love but definitely attraction!

How would you describe your relationship now?
Happy, strong, comfortable, best friends with each other.

What is your personality match like?
We are both very emotional people and love to talk and spend time together. We have no problem telling each other how we are feeling so no dwelling on issues. Bec is more high energy whereas Murray is more chilled out.

How do you manage your time together? (Does work, socialising, etc, get in the way of you spending time together?)
As a teacher, Murray has periods of time where he has to focus on work – exams, marking, school functions – and he has to get these done, so we tend to spend some time apart at these times. We like to cook dinner together to unwind and talk about each others day.

What kinds of things do you like doing together?
We have a Perth Wildcats basketball membership which gives us the opportunity to go out and do something fun together. We love good food and enjoy trying new restaurants out.

What annoys you most about each other?
How much sport Murray watches! He would watch around 20 hours of sport each week! And Bec’s mood swings can be dangerous!

What makes your relationship tough sometimes?
We have been through a lot of stuff together, in particular trying to have a baby, which has added a lot of emotional, physical and financial pressures in our relationship. Going through 10 rounds of IVF together was incredibly hard, but we have been very lucky in that it has only made our relationship stronger.

Do you argue? What about?
Money is the big one. Where our money is going, coping with paying off a mortgage while still trying to have something resembling a social life can be hard and we have had a few disagreements about it over the years.

The other big point of disagreement is our families. We are at the point now where we accept that our families are different and we don’t have to agree with everything that they do or say. In the past their involvement caused a lot of issues for us as we felt we had to defend our families actions to each other.

What’s been the biggest challenge of your relationship?
Learning to deal with each other. We got married when Bec was 19 so we have been through a lot of general life experiences with each other. Learning to respect each other as adults and partners took some time to get used to.

What’s been the biggest reward of your relationship?
That warm fuzzy feeling in your stomach when you aren’t doing anything special – just sitting on the couch enjoying each others company and being happy.

What do you think is the secret for a happy marriage?
Communication. Being able to speak to each other openly and honestly about how you are feeling is the only way for a relationship to work.

The Age reports:

“Hugh Jackman has a happy marriage because he has date nights.

The X-Men Origins: Wolverine star – who has been married to Deborra-Lee Furness since 1996 – has revealed he and his wife always make time to just be with one another to keep the romance in their relationship alive.

He told America’s OK! magazine: “Make sure you have a date night just the two of you together, without the kids.”

The 41-year-old actor has two adopted children, Oscar, nine, and Ava, four, with his wife – who he met on the set of Australian TV show Correlli.”

Hell yeah, Hugh! That’s the way you do it!

Go on guys, you know if it’s good enough for Wolverine, it’s good enough for you! And – what a coinkydink! – we just happen to have this amazing website full of great date ideas to get you started.

And part two here….

And while we’re on the subject, here is the gorgeous Ellen and Portia version from earlier this year.

What do you think? Do you love watching these celebrity couples being so relaxed and playful with each other?