My girlfriend is moving into my house tonight...

[rottentone]

They're probably arguing.

Hahaha

[riddle350]

Understand that it is not only ok but needed for the both of you to have time to yourselves both inside and outside of the house. Plus I think you should have this conversation with her. Tell her you're nervous and want to do whatever you can to make it work. Do your best to have discussions about things that bother you and not arguments

[steventangent]

...and if things do start getting tense, try to diffuse them with humor. Sometimes you have to take a step back and realize that one, or the both of you, are being absurd.

[kirbypuckett]

Last New Years I moved in w/ my girlfriend when her roommate moved to Wyoming (LOL) for work. We were both pretty scared because we had only been dating for like 7-months. Since it was her current apartment, I pretty much let her run the show. Things went very, very well. It was a big house, so we always had our space and never butted heads. She worked a lot of evening shifts, so we had plenty of us time.

In August we moved out and got our own place. Things are still going very well and her new job has her working night shifts every few weeks so we still have plenty of us time. I think that's a key factor in our success. We know how to do our own thing and don't drive each other insane! We love to be together, but I can go in my office for a while, we both have Xboxes and laptops to entertain ourselves.

I let her decorate pretty much everything in the house, she likes that, I could careless, I don't have posters or anything, just a few records in frames in the office. She loves to cook, which is good because we don't bicker over that. I make some things here and there, but we go out to dinner a good bit too. Since I'm not a good cook and stuff I tend to help her w/ technology and set up music and shows/movies and she's happy with that. We both split the chores, we divided the house up, I keep the office and bathroom clean, she keeps the kitchen and bedroom clean. We both work on the living room.

As for money, I am a very money conscious person. I created a spreadsheet in Google Docs that we both share and edit so that things stay fair. We both make pretty much the same amount of money, so we just split everything 50/50. The spreadsheet shoots out who owes who what at the end of the month, pending on who writes the rent check.

Whoa, wall of text.

[benc]

Like Sam said at the beginning, you're going to notice things about each other that you didn't before. You can't let little habits get in the way. For example, my wife likes to do big house cleans, while I prefer to clean up a little bit throughout the day. We had to make an effort to not let those kinds of things bother us. You also don't have to feel as though you have to spend every moment together.

For money, we created a joint chequing account where we each put a set amount from each paycheque and we would pay for any split costs out of that and not have to worry about who was paying what bills.

[scottheisel]

Again, this thread is ruling thus far. Much appreciated. Time to get her unpacked!

[kirbypuckett]

Don't do a woman's job. Sit and drink a beer and talk about sports!

[benc]

Don't do a woman's job. Sit and drink a beer and talk about sports!

While taking a shit with the door open.

[daniel]

The quality of this thread just increased exponentially hahaha

[adamlikesmusic]

Don't do a woman's job. Sit and drink a beer and talk about sports!

While taking a shit with the door open.

Yes.

[sgoodcore]

For money, we created a joint chequing account where we each put a set amount from each paycheque and we would pay for any split costs out of that and not have to worry about who was paying what bills.

We did the same thing. We each have our own personal finance stuff that we don't share and cards/accounts we do share. That way we can buy each other gifts and the like without the other finding out about them.

[troymess]

I've been living with my girlfriend for about a year now. It's been incredible but also really challenging at times as well. She gets aggravated when I'm not around her all the time. I like just watching episodes of TV on my computer or listening to a record in the "office" room of the house and she thinks I'm ignoring her. When it's all said and done, I remind her that I just like having my "own time" to do things for me.

As far as money goes, she gives me some money each month for utilities but I pay for everything else like the mortgage, groceries. I have a decent job where she doesn't get paid very well yet. It's definitely challenging but a great experience overall.

I have no idea if we'll ever get married, etc. but I'm enjoying the situation as is right now.

[flood]

Don't do a woman's job. Sit and drink a beer and talk about sports!

haha i'm pretty sure aubrey's more into beer & sports than scott is

[mutinyzine]

8 years. No problems whatsoever.

[fueledbymike]

first realize things are going to be different

and you wont be living the same lifestyle you have previously

so get ready for change, we are all scared of it, but its part of life and we have to

adapt to other peoples lifestyles within our own

tell her your nervous, and discuss with eachother some of your pet peaves

this way you dont coincidently run into them and get in a fight, like for me i hate

when people leave dishes in the sink, why not just put em right in the dishwasher.

if you tell her what realllllllly bugs you discuss ways to help fit those into your lifestyle

as for money i dont have any idea, i like bens idea where they put X amount in a bank account together to pay for joint things

[brentoage]

it's still okay to jerk off.

[edgefest]

I lived with a girl for a little over a year & we dated for a little under a year prior to moving in together. It was not a bad experience by any means, but it just turned in to us acting like roommates after a while. We both worked different schedules so we never really ate dinner together or anything because she would not get home till 8 or 9 most nights. We never really interacted too much while living together because we both just pretty much did our own things all the time. The positive side of this was that we never fought & each had all the space in the world. We also kind of used living with each other as an excuse to never really go out & do anything together. We both always had our own plans, but didn't fault each other for it. The physical attraction was killed by this too because we seriously started acting like roommates. After we both started to realize this, things ended on mutual terms & we are still good friends because it was obvious that our relationship had really run it's course. I don't see this whole experience as being negative, other than the fact that I am paying rent on a two bedroom place by my self currently but I do think I stayed in the relationship longer because we were living together than I would have had we not.

[kittenmittons]

it's still okay to jerk off.

lol this and pretty much everything edgefest said

my 7 year relationship is ending for the same reasons...once you get too comfortable the magic dies. there is something good to be said for really being yourself with each other because you'll know what you're getting into. just don't become complacent/blind to the things that hurt you in favor of the stability of having someone there, you know?

communication is key, and never go to bed upset. love each other as hard as you ever have and don't let it go.

never forget the reasons you fell in love in the first place...if they were the right reasons you'll never think a fight is worth it. if you fell in love for the wrong reasons, you'll find that out soon enough...just don't ignore it for years like I did.

[erikaboom]

Don't become shut-ins. That's a big thing. Still go on dates and stuff like that.

[steventangent]

Time to get her unpacked!

I know what you mean.

[sewbr0]

I lived with a girl for a little over a year & we dated for a little under a year prior to moving in together. It was not a bad experience by any means, but it just turned in to us acting like roommates after a while. We both worked different schedules so we never really ate dinner together or anything because she would not get home till 8 or 9 most nights. We never really interacted too much while living together because we both just pretty much did our own things all the time. The positive side of this was that we never fought & each had all the space in the world. We also kind of used living with each other as an excuse to never really go out & do anything together. We both always had our own plans, but didn't fault each other for it. The physical attraction was killed by this too because we seriously started acting like roommates. After we both started to realize this, things ended on mutual terms & we are still good friends because it was obvious that our relationship had really run it's course. I don't see this whole experience as being negative, other than the fact that I am paying rent on a two bedroom place by my self currently but I do think I stayed in the relationship longer because we were living together than I would have had we not.

im high as fuck and just read this and i really like your point of view on the whole thing. i cant really look back on relationships like that but i wish i could.

[eddieruckus]

my fiance just told me that I listen to some horrible bands ( she used slayer as an example), Im moving out!!!!

[pjaicomo]

It's like prison. Stab her on the first day so she knows who's boss, and everything will go smoothly from then on.

[pjaicomo]

But you do get to look forward to the most ridiculous fights. Yesterday, I got into a fight over who had to put the shower curtain in the washing machine. I lost.

[pjaicomo]

But you do get to look forward to the most ridiculous fights. Yesterday, I got into a fight over who had to put the shower curtain in the washing machine. I lost.

I should mention that I live alone.