7 Things to Consider before Moving in with Him ...

You absolutely have to be sure this is what you want to do. You have to be sure it's a good idea. You have to be sure you really, really want to live with your boyfriend or girlfriend. This is a big step in general, plus moving anywhere is a pain. It would be awful to find out three months in that it was a big mistake. You can never be one hundred percent sure, but you can be close – and you should be.

Some people make the mistake of thinking that moving in with someone is going to be like a constant party. They expect instant intimacy, that everything will be all sunshine and sparkles and unicorns spitting rainbows right from the get go. Uh, no. Not so much. Sure, some of you might be really lucky and have that right away, and if so I hate you because moving in with the Better Half, while great, definitely did not start out perfect. But it felt right, even though there were bumps along the way.

This might seem like the total antithesis of romance, but you'll both save yourselves a lot of time, trouble, and stress if you talk about who's going to be responsible for what before you move in together. I mean, he might expect you to do all the cooking and cleaning, you might expect him to do all the mowing and landscaping – whatever. Talk about how you're going to share responsibilities beforehand, though, so you can find out each other's expectations from the get go – and correct them, if need be.

It will also help if you consider money before you move in with him. Who's going to be paying for what? Will you have a joint account or will you keep individual accounts? Again, this might not sound romantic, but trust me, it's more romantic than having a raging fight because you end up paying for his new Wii and he ends up paying for your new, I don't know, Twilight action figures or something, and neither of you are happy about it. One good idea is a joint account for house and joint monies, and individual accounts for the things you each want.

When you move in together, you're not going want to spend every single second connected at the hip. You might think so beforehand, but I promise you, within a couple weeks, at least, you're going to want space. One of you is going to want to spend some time alone and the other one might get offended because you haven't discussed it – so talk about it! Be up front about the need for alone time – everyone has it.

You need to realize that you're going to have to balance many things now, such as responsibility and romance. You'll have to have give and take, be willing to compromise, and allow for certain quirks. He might watch sports at high decibel levels while you might want to spend some quiet time reading. He will do things that get on your nerves and you will do things that get on his nerves – so you're going to have to learn how to pick your battles as you get used to living with each other.

This is a sad fact, but true. Things might not work out. That doesn't necessarily mean you'll breakup, but you might just not be ready to live together. You might have better luck trying again later, but just remember that this is always a possibility.

However, if you really love each other and you're willing to be patient, it's good bet that things will work out. It just takes a lot of willingness to work on things, on both parts. When did you first move in with a significant other?

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