Money and Relationships

After out lecture on Tuesday about how money affects relationships, it makes me think about how me and my girlfriend look at the meaning of money and how much it means to our relationship. Being third year college students, we are pretty far in debt right now with student loans and a nice romantic date with an expensive dinner and sensual activity are far and few between (we usually settle for Applebee's.) However, when it comes to paying, we have been dating long enough that sometimes I will ask her to pay, especially if I had just paid a couple of bills and am beyond broke. I was thinking though, if we get married, we will definitely have problems when it comes to the meaning of money. She is a shopaholic, using money as a means for enjoyment. The problem is its usually just enjoyment for herself, so I am stuck paying for a lot of things for the both of us. I view money as a means of security, with a little bit of enjoyment, theres no point in saving it if you can't have a little fun with it. So the problem lies in the fact that I'm always saving my money while she spends her, and then runs out of money quickly and comes to me to buy things for her and both of us because shes always broke. I have discussed this with her plenty of times and she's slowly changing, however its taking a long time for any progress. This will always be a fear of mine.