<prompt> Human: Aside from the actual wedding related costs, conventional wisdom seems to be that being married is expensive in of itself. Is this just from timescultures where people lived with their parents until marriage? Is there something else Im missing? It seems to me that combining households would be less costly than two single people one apartmenthouse, combining insurances, shopping and cooking in larger portions, ect.. Assuming we dont fall into the keeping up with the neighbors pattern and buy all sorts of housewares, I just dont see where all the money would go.  <response>: Where are you getting this from? In my world DINKs are considered to be a very well-off group. 