Money money money money... That's mostly what i read when i read your post.

Money isn't the root of all evil, lacking it and spending money you don't have is.

I spent most of my life renting a small apartment until I felt financially secure enough to take out a mortgage. Unfortunately for me i had recently become a business owner and although the numbers were good the bank didn't feel secure enough giving me the loan (it really wasn't all that much, just 220k)... they were so kind as to wait until 2 hours before the deed would pass to inform me, so i had to do the impossible to get the paperwork to the current owner or i would have been stuck with the purchase and likely would have had to sell my business to make good on it.

So i told my bank that they could shove it for now and in the future and just saved money till i could outright buy a place. It was a downtrodden, mushroom inhabited, leaky pile of bricks and rotten wood when i bought it, but a little elbow grease and a few trips to the hospital later it's looking like a proper family home.

I'm in a pretty crappy marriage myself (i WISH i could get divorced honestly), and it's good to not have to worry about house payments and debt. It's that little drop that keeps the bucket from overflowing, knowing that your future is relatively secure makes emotional and relationship issues that much easier to deal with.

Not that this could ever save my marriage, BUT i do see and hear a lot of couples ultimately separating because of money related issues. It's never 'just' that, but it's always a factor.