In recent generations, studies have shown that a greater number of couples gravitate toward living together. Of course, there are many reasons behind making this decision, but an important question to consider: Is shacking up really a good idea or not? There are many reasons for why shacking up with your boyfriend/girlfriend, or even your fiancée before even getting married is a good idea. There are also many downsides to this issue.
These days, more than 50 percent of Americans today cohabitate with their significant other prior to marriage. To lots of us, it only makes sense to live with them! Here’s a list of reasons I’ve gotten from asking a variety of people about why it’s a good idea to cohabitate with your significant other:
- “You don’t really know them until you’ve been in their environment, or lived with them!”
- “I’ve gotten to see what his/her habits are compared to mine.”
- “It’s pretty important to see how we would be together if we were to actually move in together, especially after marriage.”
- “My boy/girlfriend is like my best friend, it would be awesome to live together. Plus, we could split the rent and bills.”
Now to the latter, I’d say if that was the main reason, I would start with sharing a cellphone plan first before jumping into bigger problems like rent and gas/electric bills. Askmen.com has some pretty cool and reasonable advice for those who may have given this method some thought.
Moving in with your significant other may spark some problems in the relationship that either of you may have thought weren’t there to begin with. If there are unresolved issues between you and your other, maybe shacking up is not the best route to “rectifying” the situation.
Overall, if shacking up with your boyfriend/girlfriend is on your mind, make sure you’re doing it for the right reasons, and at the right time. If you need help with this dating decision, you may want to take a bit more time for consideration. Dating itself can be hard, and there’s no need to add any extra stressors if you don’t need to.
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