You made a decision given your life circumstances and you have to be ok with that. Regrets that can't be change is just torturing yourself.

You still need to save but being debt-free in retirement is and should be a goal.

You need to know everything. You both need to be comfortable with sharing everything. If you can't you are NOT ready to get married.

You don't need to waste money on a fancy program or app to do a basic budget. I've been using a simple Excel spreadsheet since 2005 to track my monthly budget.

To get started, track your expenses for a couple of months. Then you should be able to start filling in your estimated debits and deposits for the next few months. Once you get it rolling for a while, you will be able to see your budget for the upcoming months reflected in the estimated totals. You can even notice year-to-year trends, like bonuses, tax bills, etc. that come up routinely and it will help you budget accordingly.

So many people joke that life with me - a professed lifelong penny pincher - must be tough. But [my husband] is a great money manager. And he helps me let go of my fear of spending while still being frugal.

Always keep an eye out for other opportunities.