VICENZA, Italy – With Christmas just around the corner, Maija Winesberry shared some advice to avoid getting in debt, with couples from the community during a recent Love and Money Matter workshop.
Christmas is not about giving gifts, or spending money on gifts, Winesberry said. She posed a question, could she even recall a gift given to her from five years ago.
“I like to think about remembering an experience five years ago, some memory of a great time during the holiday season” said Winesberry, who explained how experiences are the best gifts. “Creating memories along the way and increasing your education is completely priceless.”
Sometimes a gift can be writing a nice note or offering something your partner will cherish and keep forever, Winesberry said. Meanwhile, revising your money situation and having a spending plan – for this year and next, she said. Now is the time to start automated savings for next years’ gifts – a way to keep yourself from debt.
Three couples took part in the Nov. 17 training offered by Army Community Service. Nicky Wolf Sumner, ACS’s Family Advocacy Program Prevention Education Coordinator, created the workshop to emphasize how love and money are correlated.
How do these two subjects become one? The Garrison Outlook asked Wolf Sumner, whose job is to educate people about preventing domestic violence and child abuse.
She knows from experience that couples often have problems communicating and she wanted to create something similar to a marriage workshop. She also learned recently how problems with love and money can lead to suicide.
Suicide statistics show that 42 percent of suicides in the military involves relationship issues, Wolf Sumner said. Ten percent are because of financial issues and the rest was because they were not able to find meaning in life, she said. Wolf Sumner partnered with the garrison’s Religious Support Office’s “Spiritual Life Center” to also offer a faith-based approach. While overseas, military families often move to a single income household due to employment issues. Couples need to plan for this to not have financial issues that can also cause relationship problems.
“Oftentimes people struggle with money overseas,” Wolf Sumner said. “I see many families struggling with financial resources and that’s why I decided to combine the different aspects together to make it in a non-invasive way, providing an interactive class, a more fun way to talk about communication, to talk about financial stuff.”
The workshop took different approaches.
Chaplain (Lt. Col.) John Hubbs spoke about the five love languages. Amber Morris taught couples yoga, focusing on healing touches. Winesberry talked about maintaining smart goals, making future purchases and how to maintain finances. Wolf Sumner talked about communication, how to overcome obstacles, how to build a foundation, how to tackle stress when it comes around and how to work together in a marriage or a relationship.
By the conclusion, the couples were able to learn from each other, Wolf Sumner said, because we’re all different and work in different dynamics.
The ACS financial readiness program exists to support readiness, Winesberry said. The next quarterly workshop is in the Spring. ACS has details.
“The workshop was to provide a space for couples to come and chat about their goals, their future as a couple and their finances,” Winesberry said. “I believe that there was an increase of interest after the workshop was finished”.
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