While women are usually the first to cut spending during tough economic times, we hear more stories about shopaholic women who seem clueless about the state of their finances than of men with a similar addiction. However, an article in the Wall Street Journal explores the affect that out of control spending can have on relationships — and this time it's the male half who has trouble keeping his credit cards in his pants. To read about one guy's harmful spending habits and what to do if yours is blinded by the gleam of new goodies, just read more

Christie and her longtime fiancé earned a healthy combined income, but his messy money habits made it impossible for them to have stable financial lives. Things were so bad that she explained, "I dreaded him having contact with outside human beings, because he'd come home with some harebrained idea." Examples of these ideas? For starters he went through 15 cars during the course of their decade long engagement, and one car he kept only for a week. Then there was the condo he bought on a whim because a friend was into real estate.

Christie's fiancé actually made her feel like the bad guy and said that he was spending because she was making him miserable. That engagement never turned into a marriage, and Christie's advice to anyone in a similar situation is to throw in the towel. She says that trying to take control of the finances will just create resentment and won't actually fix anything. A couple's counselor says that the situation may not be hopeless, but that counseling is imperative and to use separate accounts until the financially flawed partner has cleaned up his habits.

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