Pain + Sacrifice = Marital Bliss

Housework amps up your spouse, but why?

(NEWSER) - More housework equals more sex, a new study shows, though watchers are split on why that is. Two answers quickly spring up: For one, active folks tend to pour their energy into all pursuits. “This group of go-getters seem to make sex a priority,” a researchers tells the Wall Street Journal. And then there’s the mushier reason: housework “makes the couple remember why they are married,” a writer says, “to be on the same team.” More»

Nearly 1 in 5 Americans relocates for new position

(NEWSER) - With the job market failing to recover along with the larger economy, two-career couples are facing tough choices and increasingly being forced into long-distance relationships. A recent survey has found that 18.2% of Americans who took new jobs in the second quarter also relocated, up from 11.4% a year earlier. Not everyone survives the pressures of a long-distance marriage; according to the Wall Street Journal. More couples are choosing separation over expensive two-home living. More»

(NEWSER) - Raina Kelley is not happy with this "new spate of advice talking about how lying is bad for a relationship," she writes in Newsweek. "That is my line in the sand. Marriages cannot exist without dishonesty." Now, she doesn't mean the big stuff, like adultery. She's talking little fibs. "I don't want to sound like Erma Bombeck, but you cannot be completely honest with a person you spend so much time with." Some examples: More»

(NEWSER) - As couples grow more committed to each other, their waistlines often grow as well, Time reports. During their first few years of matrimony, couples are twice as likely to become obese as their dating peers, according to a new study being published next month. If they merely move in with their boyfriends, women are 63% more likely than uncoupled peers to become obese; their partners' average risk doesn't increase, however. More»

Economy

(NEWSER) - With the economy slicing through earnings and savings, dream weddings are colliding with financial realities—resulting in trims to the guest list, and thorny problems choosing who makes the cut, the Boston Globe reports. The average guest list has shrunk to 139 this year, from 166 in 2007, analysts say; total costs have dropped to an average of $21,814 from $28,704 in 2007. More»