There used to be a song played on the radio back in the 1970s by Johnnie Taylor, called “Cheaper to Keep Her”.  Dude was singing about leaving his woman until he found out how much it was going to cost him to leave her.  As a matter of fact, I’ve had the misfortune of dating some of these brothas and finding out early enough in the relationship, but not before they hooked me in, that he was either married, or “in a bad situation” which I translate also as MARRIED.

I know, I know.  I was young and too dumb sometimes to notice the signs.  Anyway, I digress.  I read an article today that reminded me why some guys cheat and won’t leave bad marriages.  It might be because it’s cheaper to keep her (or him, if you’re female). Now, divorcing couples are forced to continue living together after they have officially split up, because they can’t sell their house and go their separate ways, or, someone loses their job, can’t afford to keep the house on their own, for risking of foreclosure: (via Yahoo)

Running into your ex is almost always awkward and stressful. David Snyder and Nancy Partridge deal with it nearly every day.

The Denver couple divorced after six years of marriage but have been forced to live together for months because they can’t sell their place or afford to set up separate households in this slumping economy.

Snyder gets the master bedroom, while Partridge gets a smaller one. Snyder watches TV on one end of the house, Partridge on the other. The two split the grocery bill and kitchen duties. Sometimes they eat dinner together, sometimes apart. There are awkward silences, or worse.

“We’ve had tremendous arguments over things like who gets to park in the garage, but at this point, it’s kind of settling down into a routine,” said Partridge, 45, who works in public relations. “It’s the lesser of two evils. I think the financial stress of a foreclosure, which would probably also lead to a bankruptcy, would be worse.”

Depending on how I have parted with an ex-boyfriend in the past (most were pretty cool, even though it hurt like hell at the time because I didn’t want to go; they did), if I were in this situation of having bought property with someone who became my ex; I’d turn into Jennifer Hudson and scream “And I’m telling you, I’m Not Going!”, shut up and deal, because the opposite of not dealing might be homelessness.  Some of these individuals are getting grief from their families behind this:

Partridge is not getting a lot of support from her girlfriends. “They say, `Oh no, let it go to foreclosure. Walk away. Don’t do this,'” Partridge said. But “you have to take a breath and say they don’t understand the full picture.”

Snyder, who works in accounting, is catching grief from his family. “They say I could move on with life if she wasn’t there,” he said.

Unless these “helpful” girlfriends are willing to allow Partridge to move in with THEM, they need to STHU, and so does Snyder’s family as well. Help is one thing; opinions are like a certain body part – everybody has one.

What say you, JJP readers?  If you were in a situation like this, or if you are in a situation like this; or if you know someone who’s in a situation like this, what would you do?

It is really cheaper to keep her (or him)?

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