Things We Learned When We Moved in With Our Partner
Considering moving in with your other half? Whether you’re not quite ready to make the decision and need a gentle nudge, or you’re already planning how you’ll decorate your new abode, this article should give you plenty of reasons why cohabiting could be for you.
In the midst of a cost-of-living crisis, budgets are tight – so what better way to lighten the financial load by sharing the bills (and the rent!)?
If you’re planning to save for a house deposit, even better – you’ll be securing your future as well as boosting (hopefully!) the longevity of your relationship.
Read on to find out what our team – and our friends and family – learned when they moved in with their partners. Hint: it’s mostly positive.
“I get to spend every day with my best mate”
If, like Unity Mutual’s Leonie, your partner ‘moved in’ without officially telling her he was moving in, you may have found the transition a breeze too. Despite the smelly socks.
“My partner and I never formally ‘moved in’ together.” Leonie explains. “He spent a lot of time at my place, and I realised we actually ‘lived together’ the day I came home and his PlayStation had appeared in my living room!”
Leonie says she ‘learned that his tidiness was definitely the effect of being polite in someone else’s house’.
That said, despite all the dirty socks she says she’s picked up in the last six years, she admits she still gets “a massive wave of relief when I see him walk through the door. From flour fights to firing Nerf guns at one another – I get to spend every day with my best mate.”
“We balance each other out perfectly”
My husband and I are Yin and Yang”, says forty-nine-year-old Lesley from Greater Manchester – and she wouldn’t have it any other way.
“One of us is super chilled and laid back (frivolous and disorganised) the other is meticulous (a control freak). However, we balance each other out perfectly and we have the same priorities in life. Between us (and numerous spreadsheets) we’ve managed to save and buy a home and holiday home for us and our family (our world) to enjoy.”
“I wouldn’t change it for the world”
Moving in together isn’t always ‘a bed of roses, no matter how in love you are’, says Josh, 26, from Lancashire.
“People can grind on each other in such proximity but it’s how you resolve it and stay on top of it. I wouldn’t change it for the world and I’m beyond happy with my little flat and my partner, but it does take some work on making it function smoothly.”
“I’m constantly moving stuff from room to room, but I wouldn’t change a thing”
“Learning to live with someone who has a million and one hobbies (and all the gear to go with them!) has been a challenge”, says 38-year-old Lauren from West Yorkshire. I feel like I’m constantly moving stuff from room to room. That said, I wouldn’t have it – or him – any other way. It’s what living together is all about and I realise I probably do a fair bit that winds him up too!”
“I think we realised the need to bite our tongue sometimes”
Forty-two-year-old Sarah from East Sussex says moving in with her then-boyfriend was hugely exciting. They were at the very beginning of their relationship and in the ‘honeymoon phase’.
“Shortly after moving in together, I think we both realised the need to be patient and bite our tongues sometimes,” she says, echoing a downside of cohabiting – with a partner or someone else – that most of us experience at least once.
What did you find after moving in with a partner? Was it nothing but positivity – or did you quickly notice quirks in your other half that drive you around the bend?
Hey, want to make moving in together sweeter? Did you know, you can both get a £1,000 Government bonus* in a Lifetime ISA (LISA) account and have a whopping £10,000 towards a house deposit in the first year of saving?
Find out all you need to know about the benefits you can enjoy from a LISA when you’re moving in with your boyfriend, girlfriend, husband or wife – just click the link above.
*providing you save £4,000 each, annually
