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About 6 months into our marriage! I quit my job because it was horrible, and didn't have another job for several months. DH was laid off (such bad timing!). He received unemployment and was able to find another job pretty quickly, but it made for a very unstable time, financially.

In its way it ended up being good, though; we learned the hard way how important it it to have some savings built up!

the first 2 years of our marriage. We didn't combine funds and he is not very good at saving.

Probably a tie between my unemployed stage (when I had our first baby!) and right now (double daycare is killer)! But we're a lot more confident in our abilities to manage our money now. We waste so much less money now!

Well, we've only shared finances for two years, so we don't have much to go on

But the year of wedding was probably the hardest. DH wasn't working at the time. He quit a toxic job and had savings to live off, but the hard part was probably him trying to feel like he was contributing equally. He's very much a "provider" so it was hard for him to deal with me being the breadwinner.

This last year has been harder for me, because now that DH is working again, I have to retrain myself to do housework! I got spoiled having him take care of so much when he was home.

Last June. DH graduated with a lot of debt (on top of what we both have from undergrad) and no job and we couldn't stay where we were on just my salary so we moved in with his parents. We were both unemployed and totally broke. It was such a challenge, but it makes me so much more grateful for finally being in a comfortable position.

It was during DH's residency program.

Um, right now? DH quit his relatively well-paying job over the summer to go to grad school full time. He gets a meager TA stipend. I work as a journalist for a tiny newspaper, so I get paid a pittance. It's...interesting! It can only get better, right?

I think we might go into one next year...

When DH's health got so bad that he had to stop working.

We are much better now but it really caused us to spend our money more wisely.

When we were about to have our 1st baby--I had gotten let go from a job, so we had to adjust, thankfully disability really helped. We already lived pretty frugally so I can't say we made any changes to our lifestyle, we just didn't have as much to save.

When we first met we were both still dealing with our divorces so both of our individual finances took a hit, but by the time we met we both had pretty good paying jobs and so we were fine. We have stayed in a pretty good place financially *knock on wood*

For me, the hardest time I have had financially was when I first moved out. I was 19 with a mortgage and a car payment and my paycheques only just covered my basic bills. It took a few years to dig myself out of that hole.

I've had my fair share alone, but not since my husband and I have been together.

Definitely our first year of marriage. I had just graduated from college, and we moved a few states away to a city with a higher cost of living for my first post-grad job. DH had no choice but to transfer his part-time job (he had had 1 full time and 1 part time job before) in our new city. We also had a car die about 6 months in and had to buy a new (used) one in the middle of winter. Luckily DH got promoted to full time a few months in and we since had both been taught about financial responsibility while growing up, neither one of us had any credit card debt. That probably would have been devastating to us at the time. Now, we've gone through FPU, bought our first home, and paid off all our debts other than the mortgage! It's only 3 years later now, so I'm pretty proud of us

I just hope with our plans for the next few years that we keep our heads above water... it could be a little rough.

@LulaBee: consider american consumer credit counseling. It really helped us when we were younger.

It's a tie between when I graduate college and last year. It was very tight for a couple months when the baby first got here, but luckily things are evening out. It's a different sort of 'tough time' than when I graduated college with no job, but no less difficult!

Ummm, right now.

We have overcome a lot, learned a lot, and paid down a lot of debt but things are still really really tight, more things are always coming up and we still have way too much debt. It keeps me up at night and I've started grinding my teeth from the stress!

@IRunForFun: oh, the TA stipend...that's our world right now. Fun, huh?

We had a brutal time right after we got engaged. DH got laid off, then unexpectedly, my work situation became very unhealthy and I had to leave. We both found new jobs, but our income was cut in half. It was awful. Grad school has been very challenging for us financially, but we're at least much happier with our careers than we were then. And though we still have debt, we're almost done paying off a good chunk of it. I will be grateful when I'm established in my field, though!

@IRunForFun: That was the exact phrasing that popped into my head when I read the title of the thread. Uhh, right now?? I've been looking for a full-time job in my field for about a year now, and in the mean time am just working part time at a public library. DH works at a grocery store, part time as well. On top of that are student loans and cc debt. We are not in a good place. It's tough. I cry about it more than I probably should.

These past couple years have been pretty hard, both of us recovering from divorces, dh pays child support for his 2 daughters, and my ex-husband sucks and doesn't pay any of his child support. My dh was laid off 2 years ago, and had to break into his 401k so we could pay our bills, we're still recovering. It's about to get a whole lot better though.

The year we got married. Moved across the country during the height of the recession and job searching was just awful. Ugh. So glad those days are behind us!!