1. Avoiding Financial Conversations

The most important part of a relationship is honesty and trust. If you are getting serious with your partner, then you should consider sitting down and having a conversation about money before taking the next step. Speaking about your finances with your partner can be personal, however, if you plan to move in together and build a future, then you want to make sure you are on the same financial page. Ask yourself, Will you share a joint account? Joint credit cards? Who will be in charge of paying the bills? All of these questions should be addressed before taking the next step with your partner to avoid issues down the road.

2. Keeping Money Secrets

It is okay to keep some things personal from your partner, however, you might want to reconsider hiding financial secrets. If you or your partner has a large amount of debt, then it’s important that you let the other party know. (Not sure where your finances stand? You can view two of your free credit scores, updated every 14 days, on Credit.com.) Depending on how serious your relationship is, you should be aware or have an idea of how much your partner is making and how much they are spending on expenses. If you are hiding some big financial secret from your partner, then don’t you think they may be wondering what else you are hiding? Avoid this and consider establishing some ground rules with your partner before getting serious; make sure you can trust them.

3. Not Using a Compatible Budget (for Two)

The first step to staying organized financially is establishing a budget. Now, you may be following a budget already, but have you redesigned your budget to include two people? Budgeting for one is not the same as budgeting for two. You may have more money and more expenses. You might even be sharing a credit card. Consider speaking with your partner about their budgeting techniques and combining a new budget for the both of you. If you notice that you are getting tight on money at the end of every month, then consider trimming some of the expenses on your budget. It might be difficult at first, but focus on staying positive and making compromises. If you are experiencing trouble with budgeting, then consider downloading an app to help.

4. Not Having Savings

Sit down with your partner and discuss your short- and long-term goals. Do you plan to take a vacation together in the future? Are you planning on paying off all of your student loans in the next five years? Consider coming up with a list of financial goals you both plan to achieve, pick one and start saving! Work as a team to reach your goal. It can be very rewarding once you reach your number and go on that tropical vacation you both always wanted.

More from Credit.com

• Tips for Getting a Credit Card With Bad Credit
• What Is the Average Credit Score?

This article originally appeared on Credit.com.

4 Bad Money Habits That Can Hurt a Relationship is a post from: When Life Gives You Lemons. Did you like the post? Follow me on Twitter, like me on Facebook, or hop on over to my blog and leave me your feedback.

If you are serious about finding your twin soul in Ukraine, these simple recommendations will help you meet and court the girl of your dream.

Be Open For New Experience and Emotions

Men who want to start dating Ukrainian women should be ready to change the usual course of events. It is quite clear that lots of things are completely different in Ukraine and you must be ready to accept this. Indeed, there will be lots of things that will seem strange and unusual. Behavior of a Ukrainian woman, as well as things she may say, might puzzle you in the early going. Do not show your confusion and be open-minded. Do not forget that you are in a foreign country, with its particular culture and traditions. Otherwise saying, take things as they come.

Bravely Go to Your Dream

If you have found a girl who seems to be your perfect match, put the most efforts to win her heart. Stop thinking that something will go wrong, or that your relationship are too good to be true. Be brave, cast away all fears and go to your dream. Most women love self-assured men, who know what they want. So, just be that man!

Keep your Expectations Realistic

Leave the fairy dreams for ladies and make realistic plans. Many men want to date younger girls. This is definitely possible, however if you are looking for a girl that will be 20 years younger, than you have scarce odds of finding a wife. Building relationship with a foreign girl, who is furthermore much younger than you is a challenging task. Otherwise saying, keep your plans and expectations realistic.

Be a Real Man!

Every Ukrainian girl wants to live her life with a “real man”. They want a man to take the lead in their relationships. Though most of Ukrainian girls are strong-willed and have their own point of view on any event, they want to give the decision making power to a man.

First Kisses

What is the best time for the first kiss? Giving an absolute answer to this question is impossible. It depends on the situation, on your lady and duration of your romantic relationship. In most cases, a Ukrainian woman will never kiss a man if she is not sure about her and his feelings. Thus, the task number one is to gain her confidence. If you manage to do that, you will definitely feel when the right time comes.

Tips for Dating a Ukrainian Woman is a post from: When Life Gives You Lemons. Did you like the post? Follow me on Twitter, like me on Facebook, or hop on over to my blog and leave me your feedback.

I’ve only mentioned it on Twitter and never on here, but my mom discovered my blog.

I thought I was being so sly, covering up my tracks and being little miss anonymous. But not so much. When I went home for Easter, we sat out on the back porch sipping wine and giggling over our pups when she told me she had to tell me something. I would have never guessed that the next words that came out of her mouth would be “I know about your blog”.

I burst into tears (yeah, dramatic) and asked her if she was mad. Yes, I asked her if she was mad at me. I thought she’d be upset with me for keeping my blog – my proverbial “baby” – a secret for almost a year and a half. She told me she wasn’t, and that she was proud of me, and we moved on.

I thought having somebody so close to me know about this little internet nook would be detrimental to it’s success. It hasn’t been. Nothing’s changed, really, except that every night I ask the universe to spare me from people I know finding out about the blog before I’m ready.

I digress. The real reason I’m writing this post is to share with you a few things that my mother taught me in life, in light of mothers day. She’ll read this, probably, and I hope she does. ‘Cause she’s my hero.

When I was young, my parents divorced. This left my mother with two young children, in a small town with limited financial resources. My mom commuted for three hours to get to her job every day, struggling to make ends meet with a mortgage, her kids (one of them being a growing boy who ate more than one can imagine), and not enough time on her hands.

She was super mom to the extreme. My mom was my team’s soccer coach, and a girl scout leader. She was our personal chauffer, bringing us to (at any given time, and usually all in the same week): figure skating, soccer (both of us, different teams), boy scouts (him), girl scouts (me), dance class (2 separate types, 2 separate nights – me), karate (him), swimming lessons (both of us, different classes), art lessons (him),  skiing and snowboarding (both), basketball (both of us, different times), track n’ field, and obviously play dates, school functions, craft fairs, bake sales, field trips, birthday parties, volunteer work, school plays, and the like.

All while working full-time. With a three hour commute.

This is the same woman who – with all of this, doing it by herself – managed to go to the gym almost every day and never missed a soccer game, a dance recital, or a karate tournament; always had a healthy dinner on the table for us and kept a clean, comfortable home.

She managed to raise two pretty awesome kids (if I do say so myself ) and taught me a lot of important life lessons.

• Work Hard

My mom obviously had a really good work ethic and passed that down to both my brother and me. She led by example, never complaining that she didn’t have enough time to do something that she valued. She always told us to work hard and go to school so we could have a good life when we were grown up.

• Be Independent

Life Lessons From My Mother is a post from: When Life Gives You Lemons. Did you like the post? Follow me on Twitter, like me on Facebook, or hop on over to my blog and leave me your feedback.