Beginning a relationship can be hard. But a breakup can be just as hard – if you don’t do it right! If you stick to these tips that tell you how to end a relationship, you might just survive the breakup unharmed…

HOW TO END A RELATIONSHIP GONE BAD

Or: How to break up with your girlfriend while you still can!

1. Make sure that you are the first person to tell her that you want to break up.
   Otherwise you will be dealing with a woman scorned before you even get a chance to actually scorn her (so to speak)
2. Choose a neutral place – not at your own nor at her house.
   Bonus: if you break up in a public place, she is less likely to cause a scene.
3. Tell her yourself – and in person.
   No messengers, letters, emails, text messages, post it notes (it’s all been done and it’s simply bad form).
4. Make it clear – but make it short.
   You need to give a reason for your breakup, but you don’t need to discuss every single good and bad aspect of your relationship at length.
5. Make it seem logical – to her and to yourself.
   It might help to write down your reasons before the breakup, in order to get them straight.
6. Don’t change your mind!
   No matter how much she cries, begs or pleads. If you backtrack now, it will be so much harder to give it a second try.
7. Set an end to ending it.
   It’s not a bad idea to have an appointment planned so you can leave at an appropriate time.

>>>Once you’ve ended a bad relationship – and once you’re over HER – find a new, better relationship here.

If you are worried about the financial crisis, then you now have one more thing to be worried about: you might not only lose your money, you could also lose your love.

If the financial crisis affects you, the result can be a relationship in crisis. Even the greatest love can take a hit in financially difficult times. Many couples are currently experiencing a relationship in crisis, caused by the global financial crisis. Relationship counsellors, divorce lawyers, and real estate agents all confirm the sad trend. Summer should be the time for sun, love, and happiness, but at the moment more couples are fighting and even separating than celebrating a summer wedding. There’s a clear correspondence between the financial crisis and relationships in crisis and that connection is most clearly visible in the pace where all the trouble began.

You might remember the Wallstreet Wives who made headlines last year with their support group Dating A Banker Anonymous. According to their blog, „DABA is a safe place where women can come together – free from the scrutiny of feminists- and share their tearful tales of how the mortgage meltdown has affected their relationships.“

But not only bankers’ relationships are affected by the financial crisis. During financially secure times, the love and marriage industry booms. In safe times, you marry your partner, buy a house, and have children. But not now – the number of weddings is down from previous years. A relationship in crisis is the first visible effect of financial worries eating away at a couple’s personal resources. This leads to quarrels at home, already existing issues will surface, issues that have been glossed over will erupt and cause trouble.

However, at the same time, divorce rates are sinking, simply because most couples in crisis can’t afford a divorce! Even when both parties would like to move on with their lives, find a new partner, and start all over again, the present stagnation on the property market and an unsold house can force them to stay in an unhappy relationship.

If your relationship is in crisis, find out if it can survive the financial crisis:

• Are you financially dependent on your partner?



• Is financial security more important to you than emotional security?
• Was your partner’s job or money one of the main things that attracted you to her/him?
• Do you have a very clear plan laid out for where you want to be in 5 years time?
• Do you come from a very different social background as your partner?

If you answered more than one of these questions with YES, you might be in your relationship for the wrong reasons and the financial crisis was merely a catalyst for your relationship meltdown.

Ironically, since the beginning of the financial crisis, there is a surge in online matchmaking memberships, so people are looking for new relationships at the very time that many relationships are in crisis. There are two reasons for this:

1. Singles who might have been taken up with their jobs before the financial crisis are now realising how lonely they are and that they need something more substantial than a career and money to be truly happy.
2. Recently separated men and women who have come out of a relationships in crisis are willing to give it another try – this time with a new partner who is more reliable.

>> We have a special offer for singles hoping to find love despite the crisis.
You can now find love with be2 for only £5. After all, even when you lose material things, all you need is love!

Relationship Advice from Old Spice? Why on earth is my Grandad’s after shave giving out relationship advice, you ask? Well, first there was the new, pretty cool Old Spice ads, that let you know that the Old Spice man is a pretty cool dude – and that it was only a matter of time before men would want to be him and women would want to be with him.

Mission accomplished, you might say – I no longer think that Old Spice smells like old man, I think it smells like this sexy, muscular man and yes, I do want to look – or at least smell – like him.

But that’s not all from the new Old Spice man. He’s also dishing out relationship advice to twitter users. For example, he explains how to get as close as humanly possible to looking like himself:

He also has some tips for occasions like anniversaries:

Old Spice man even explains what to do when one is chased by a stampede of ladies after using Old Spice.

He not only knows how a man can win a lady’s heart, he has some advice for President Obama on how to win women voters:

Unfortunately, Old Spice man is currently not giving any more relationship advice, but you can continue to follow his adventures on twitter!

We talk about love week after week, about how easy it can be to find a partner through online matchmaking and how that special person can change your life. But we usually take it for granted that our readers know the advantages of living in a relationship – and that they want that for themselves, too. Today we are going to list the advantages of living in a relationship, just in case you don’t know them yet.

Living with a relationship is, in short, full of advantages and benefits. We are used to articles telling us about the unavoidable problems that living together brings with it: sealing with a messy partner, lifestyles clashing, arguments about the remote control… However it is not common to talk about the advantages of living together in a relationship, because we just accept them as normal.

1. It is a fact that people are meant to live in society, in communities. It has been so from a diachronic point of view and, from the synchronic perspective, it is proved that this is still the trend: once men and women become independent from their parents, they eventually found their own family, their own “community”. In order to meet these – practical and biological- needs, they establish loving and affectionate bonds in relationships.
2. People living in a relationship suffer less stress than those living alone. We find a very simple explanation: after an exhausting day, those who live in a relationship can share their worries with their partner when they come home; their partner can help by taking on household tasks or even just by being there and listening.
3. In a relationship, people usually have a healthier diet than singles. Cooking for one person, alone, can be boring. So boring that singles end up in the frozen-foods aisle at the supermarket or in a fast-food restaurant. As a couple in a relationship, there is a certain obligation to look after oneself and each other, to eat healthy products, and people in a relationship motivate each other to follow a balanced diet.
4. Last but not least, living in a relationship has another advantage that is not very romantic, but can contribute to personal well-being. Couple’s expenses do not duplicate, but they are shared. In other words, they are divided up, so that – with some organization- people in a relationship usually have more money available for leisure activities. And that recreation time has a very positive effect on our health.

>>>Convinced? Find the right partner for a happy relationship and find out for yourself how great the benefits are!

At first glance, Facebook and dating look like a great combination. You can connect with a person you met on a night out without all that pesky “can I get your number” business. If you know their name or if they are friends with your friends, you can look them up and send them a friend request. Once that is done, you can cyber-stalk away…

Facebook and dating combined let you find out a potential date’s likes and dislikes, see where they hang out, which parties and concerts they will be going to. You can even trace their Facebook and dating history by scanning their wall for posts from exes!

Once you are sure that Facebook has told you enough about this potential date, you can try dating for real. Then, when you get past the dating stage, Facebook allows you to make your relationship official, leaving little room for ambiguity. Once a person’s relationship status changes, you know where you stand.

BUT, you guessed it, there is a downside to Facebook and dating, which we is why we have compiled a few rules that any single should take to heart if they want to combine Facebook and dating.

Facebook and Dating: 5 relationship rules for social media

1. The first relationship rule is one that counts for any actions on Facebook, but especially for dating: If you wouldn’t tell your parents about it, don’t share it on Facebook. For most people (depending on your family) that means no drunk party pics, no lewd sex jokes, no embarrassing fan pages. If you stick to that rule, you don’t have to worry about a potential date being put off by your Facebook profile.
2. On a related note, don’t change your relationship status on Facebook until you are sure that you would be happy to introduce the person you are dating to your friends and family. Because essentially, that is what you are doing by changing your relationship status. Not only will your Facebook friends see your status change to “in a relationship”, they will see it change back to “single”, so don’t change it lightly!
3. Don’t forget that, while you are delighted that you can follow your date’s every move on Facebook, they can see everything you post, too! So don’t post anything that would provoke unnecessary jealousy, insecurity or even distrust. If in doubt, a selective privacy setting is your friend – use it!
4. Once the dating phase is over and you reach relationship status (on and off Facebook), you will sooner or later have a row. Such are the facts of life and you might as well hear it from us But you don’t need to make matters worse by dragging your relationship problems on to Facebook – thus involving all your friends in an essentially private matter. Keep your private issues private, anything else would be almost like having a full-blown row in the middle of your best friend’s birthday party.
5. Once a relationship ends, staying friends can be torture. If seeing updates from your ex (invariably positive, happy with a new partner, because obviously no ex wants to give you the satisfaction of seeing them unhappy after the breakup) is keeping you from moving on, then you need to de-friend your ex. Maybe write them a friendly message explaining why you feel it is better for both of you to go your separate – Facebook and dating – ways in future, then click “remove from friends” and move on!

We still think this great song, in which a girl tells her ex, who wants to be her friend on Facebook, “are you f****** kidding me?” hits the nail on the head: Facebook and dating may sound like a great idea, but you need to set up certain boundaries to avoid getting hurt.

The main problem with Facebook and dating is that Facebook is not a dating website. Dating was never the main goal and it is not what most people use Facebook for. Hence, when you start to mix Facebook and dating, things can get messy. If you want to stay on the safe side, keep Facebook and dating separate and use a real online dating website to find a new relationship. It may seem like extra hassle, setting up another profile, checking messages and uploading pictures to another site, but you will avoid the pitfalls of Facebook and dating, as illustrated above!

>>>be2 gives you all the dating opportunities, without the risk of getting it wrong.
You won’t even need our 5 relationship rules for Facebook and dating

This year’s Blog Action Day is focused on climate change and blogs around the world are contributing their own view on climate change and what could be done to prevent it.

As a blog on love, relationships and matchmaking, we would like to look at the effects of people living as singles vs. living in a relationship on climate change. Living “twogether” in a relationship is far more eco-friendly than living alone, so any couple living together – even without much of a green attitude – is doing more to fight climate change than a single person with the greenest intentions.

Here’s how couples contribute to the fight against climate change:

• A shared home is more environmentally friendly than individual households. A couple requires less space than two singles, which means less building, less land claimed for residential development, less CO2 emissions from construction work.
• Couples can save on heating, as they share a living space that only needs to be heated once. Also, don’t overrate the effect of body heat when you cuddle up in bed Who needs an electric blanket, when they have the one they love to keep them warm at night?
• The amount of electricity used by a couple isn’t quite half of that used by two singles, but they do reduce the amount used for cooking, washing, and other devices like TV and radio, simply by sharing their use.
• Couples tend to travel together, so even if they do use a car, it’s likely to be used more efficiently, reducing CO2 emissions by up to 50%.
• Combined finances don’t just mean that couples tend to be better off than singles, they can also pool their savings for climate-friendly household appliances and other investments that reduce the amount of energy used in their household.
• …and don’t forget that old classic “save water – shower with a friend”!

It may seem far-fetched, but in a way be2, as a matchmaking agency, is not only helping people find a relationship, but also helping fight climate change, one happy couple at a time

Having a relationship problem? Thankfully, Ben and Sarah are here to help. They post video advice with solutions to pretty much every relationship problem. The great thing is, while most of the advice is pretty useful, the videos are also very tongue in cheek, sometimes even laugh-out-loud funny!

Like “How To Stop A Row In 30 Seconds”:

Dating Humor: How To Stop A Row In 30 Seconds

The word “whipped” springs to mind… But it’s in the “Dating Humour” category! But then again, that doesn’t mean it doesn’t contain some good advice!

All of Ben and Sarahs relationship problem-solving videos are here. We think “How To Be The Perfect Boyfriend” and “How To Be The Perfect Girlfriend” are a good place to start

Guys – ever wondered about the science of love? Like why you fall in love with a certain woman, why you’re attracted to another woman and why you settle down with yet another one (or if you’re very lucky with one woman covers all three bases – love, sexual attraction and attachment).

One brave writer set out to discover the science of love – more specifically, the science of his love for his wife – and to find out if it’s as strong and real as he thought it was. He was put in an MRI scanner while thinking about and looking at photos of his wife and – tough competition – Angelina Jolie. The activity in certain areas of his brain supposedly tells him how strong his feelings of love, sexual attraction and romantic attachment really are.

Would you dare (literally) show your emotions like that ? And, more importantly, would you want to show them to the woman you love?

Every woman has probably asked herself what men want. Because if a woman wants to find herself a man (and even if not), a bit of inside information can’t hurt. For instance, what are these three men thinking (other than “man, do we look cool”)? Maybe the results of the askmen survey will help us find out what men want, think and feel…

Of course the study deals with issues surrounding love, sex and relationships, but also lifestyle, work and money. Let’s take a look at some of the love, sex and relationship questions:

• An amazing 75% of men want and believe in a soulmate, even if not all of them are sure that they will find her. Only 25% don’t believe that there is a soulmate for them.
• The percentage of men wanting to get married is almost as high: 70% of men want to marry and believe in marriage as an institution!
• Men value pretty solid qualities when searching for the right woman for a relationship. She should be loyal (29%), caring (23%), humorous (21%) and intelligent (21%).
• Nevertheless, there’s no doubt there’s another thing men want from a relationship: Sex. 29% of men want more sex in their relationship. Only 22% say they wouldn’t change a thing about their relationship. 59% of men even think that a relationship can’t survive without good sex.
• Only very few men think the internet isn’t the right place to meet women. The 29% who say they don’t want to use the internet to meet women are outweighed by the 32% who would like to use the internet to meet women, as well as the 39% who already have used online dating.
• The preferences of men looking for a woman are not very surprising: the woman can be younger (67%), more intelligent (91%) and a better earner (83%), but she’d better not have too many male friends (64%) and dare not stay in touch with her exes (45%).
• And finally a question (or rather an answer) that made me laugh out loud:
  Q: When you’re having sex, what do you think of?
  62% My partner
  23% My technique
  …

Really? Do men think about their „technique” during sex? Because that is definitely something women DON’T want!

Can you love more than one person at a time? That’s the central question that comes up every time the subject of polyamory is discussed. If you don’t know what polyamory means, this article about a polyamorous relationship explains it quite well.

Basically, polyamory is about loving more than one person at a time, but also leading simultaneous relationships with each one of those people. It’s not about “cheating”, nor about sleeping around or being promiscuous. It’s about couples, who make a conscious and open decision to share each other with several partners – not just physically, but emotionally.

There is a surprising number of people who believe in and practice polyamory and there are numerous books, forums and support groups dedicated to issues like: definitions of polyamory, polyamourous practice, strategies for dealing with polyamory, and of course… jealousy. That’s obviously the issue it tends to come down to and the problem that makes our opening question hard to answer affirmatively.

Well, of course you CAN love more than one person at a time. Emotions are complex and love is one of the most complex emotions of them all. Of course it can happen that love strikes more than once. But is polyamory the best solution to that conundrum?

The real question is not whether you can love more than one person at a time, but if you can share your partner with several others – and, more importantly, whether both partners are willing to support that decision. If one partner wants a polyamourous relationship, maybe because of indecision, but the other partner is merely playing along out of fear of losing the relationship… there’s trouble ahead!

If, on the other hand, all parties (and partners) are willing to give polyamory a try and everyone involved is truly willing to share their partner, it can probably work. I would , however, doubt that many relationships (or people) are made for the polyamourous lifestyle.

>>>If you would prefer a good old-fashioned monogamous relationship, find singles who are looking for the love of their life at be2.