Valentine’s Day! The day when you look at your partner, try and ignore all the times you’ve heard them fart and tell them they’re still sexy. That’s love folks. But love can stumble when it comes to moving in.
So let’s imagine you’ve both agreed it would be wonderful/romantic/financially beneficial to share a room with your significant other. Here are some of the most common pitfalls to avoid when couples move in together.
1. Just Doing It for the Money
You find a great room you can’t afford alone, move into it with your boyfriend, and then pay only half the rent! It’s a steal! A better room and less rent! Win win.
Look – it’s really temping to jump on these kind of arrangements – especially in London’s crushing rent crisis. Just don’t let the extra £300 a month make you rush your budding relationship and leave you in a terrible bed-sharing cold war scenario.
2. Not Having ‘The Talk’
No, not that talk. If you’re considering moving in, I assume that talk is a bit redundant by now… Nope. I mean the long, boring talk where you let each other know what you expect from the other once you move in.
It’s not romantic or sexy to talk about it, but if you envision that Kieran’s Star Trek memorabilia collection might not take such an important role in your new flat’s aesthetic, now is the time to say.
3. Living with Other People
If you are reaching a certain age of poise and maturity, then moving in with your partner pretty much means moving into a one-bed apartment or studio alone. Goodbye flatmates, hello co-habiting relationship.
But why? Well if you move in with her friend, you might feel outnumbered. If you move in with yours, she might. If you move in with a stranger, then you’ll feel super weird about your routine ‘couple stuff’: hugging lots, eating together in silence while watching Master Chef, having sex on the living room floor, etc.
4. Not Living with Other People
Just because you two want to live together doesn’t mean you have to forgo other flatmates! Other couples or mutual friends can make amazing flatmates for couples.
Living with other flatmates will give home life a bit of variety and put less stress on your romantic relationship – you can both hang out with other people in the flat if you fancy, or have alone time without your boyfie getting lonely!
5. Not Having Alone Time
Just because you live together doesn’t mean you need to do everything together. In fact, if you do, you’ll probably want to move out after a few weeks.
Take it easy. From simply being in different rooms, to eating different meals and going on different nights out, there’s no reason your lives have to radically alter just because you’re snoozing on the same hay every night.
