My husband and I have a weekly marriage check-in. We use the same questions each time.

A weekly check-in helps the couple talk about small annoyances before they snowball.

Courtesy of Rebecca Strong My husband and I started having a weekly marriage meeting.

It's helped us express gratitude for each other and prevented so many unnecessary arguments.

This 30-minute weekly marriage ritual keeps small annoyances from turning into big fights.

After having a baby last summer, my husband and I realized something: by the time the house was quiet and our baby was asleep, neither of us had much energy left to talk about anything.

We weren't fighting often, but little frustrations had a way of lingering because there never seemed to be a "right" time to bring them up.

So, we decided to try a new weekly check-in ritual .

We treat it like a physical for our relationship: It's a chance to celebrate what's working, catch small issues before they snowball, and make sure neither of us is quietly carrying resentment.

So far, it's been the single most helpful habit we've adopted as a couple.

We use the same questions every week Having a structured format works well for us.

Instead of wasting time — "What do you want to talk about?" "I don't know, what do you want to talk about?" — we just run down our list, each taking turns to talk or listen.

While it took some trial-and-error to find the questions that are most beneficial, here's the set we landed on: What made you feel loved this week? What's your biggest stressor looking ahead to next week? And what's one thing I can do to support you? What's one thing you're really looking forward to this week? What would make you feel connected to me this week? Is there anything we should talk about now before it becomes a bigger issue? Each question serves a different purpose.

Asking the same questions each week helps keep them on track.

Courtesy of Rebecca Strong The first question encourages us to acknowledge each other's efforts During a busy, stressful week, it can be easy to overlook the little things we both do to care for each other.