How to adjust to living together

I think living together feels very natural. I will say not all guys are icky. There are many that cook and clean. There are men that take on traditional female roles and mine is one of them. My FH cooks,cleans, is organized, likes houseplants and a nicely decorated home. He does just as much housework if not more than me and is very tidy. The best advice I can give you is talk to your FH and make sure that you will share household chores. As a couple it is very important to share the weight of household chores and to make sure that one person doesn't feel that the other should do everything. Also be open and tell each other your feelings,fears and expectations. Most importantly be yourself. Don't be afraid of how your FH will feel about your habits and way of doing things as chances are they won't mind and if they do discuss how they would do it differently. Its going to be a learning experience but it's worth it. The best part is not having to go to bed alone and you will wonder how you managed to live before or at least that's how I feel. I don't know how I survived the years of living with my family as its so much better not living with them and living with FH instead.

First of all, congratulations!! I just got married on Friday and couldn't be happier! I actually lived with my now husband for two years before we got married. I was nervous about moving in together because it is a big transition. Although I do remember it felt very natural pretty quickly. I would say to give yourself time to adjust. You are two different people who are used to living alone or apart but the benefits are so great- you get to come home to them every day and sleep with them every night! And compromise is key. You learn how to accept the differences with the other person as they should be open to you. Don't sweat the small stuff. Like my husband is more of a neat freak than I am so instead of getting mad at the way he wants me to do the dishes I learned to adjust, while he learned to relax a bit about the way I did some things. It's a happy time so enjoy it!

For us it was easy, we are really similar. Both clean & organized, and we like the same style of decor.

Once you start living together, it really important to make time for (1) time apart and (2) quality time together. It’s so easy to fall into a rut of coming home from work and just coexisting together, not wanting to make plans whether it be with other people or with each other.

Make sure to schedule some time apart with your friends or even by yourself! My FH and I do this at least one night a week. Usually it’s tuesday because thats the best day for his friends to go out, so we plan to always have time apart on that day. It’s also important to schedule time for going out together, not just hanging out at home. It’s easy to forget to keep dating once you live together. Our goal has always been to have a date night once a week but usually we’re both too busy and exhausted from work and we don’t want to move from the couch lol, plus money is right to be going out to dinner so much, and it’s winter so there aren’t many free outdoor activities right now. We’ve been forcing ourselves to take each other out at least every other week (though like I said, I think once a week would be ideal).

Money will also now probably be a relevant issue now that you live together! You’ll probably learn your partners spending habits and hopefully they’ll line up. My FH is a saver by nature but is still super irresponsible with money sometimes (he’ll like, submit a form too late and end up paying double insurance for the year, yeah that actually happened 🙄) so I’ve gotten super annoyed at him about that. I’m also a huge saver but with the money I don’t put directly into my savings, I tend to do retail therapy lol. My FH has never gotten mad at me for shopping too much but he’s held credit card bills at me and rolled his eyes and went “really?” Lol. Living together has really opened my eyes to this and made me want to be much more sensible about what I spend on. It really starts forcing you to think more like a “we” since so many of your decisions will affect your FH as well!

I've lived with every boyfriend (post high school). I think its crucial to see if you feel comfortable. After living with one, I decided he DEFINITELY wasn't right for me haha.

But overall, I think living with a guy is MUCH easier than living with women. Women have been much messier in my experience. And plus you'll be living with your fiance/husband. He's your best friend! Its like having a sleepover every night Sure there's some trying times. Like handling money might be hard at first. But I have honestly never been more comfortable with a living situation.