Many couples decide to live together before marriage to know each other better. Living with your spouse gives you the company you need and can determine the success or failure of your long-term relationship.
Before making your decision to live with your spouse, consider these pros and cons.
Pros:
1. You have company: Living with a spouse gives you someone to vent to, share ideas or someone to talk to when you feel down.
2. Know each other: Living together with your spouse acts as a trial run for the marriage. It enables you to know how well you can cope with each other, how you share responsibilities, know each other’s habits and expectations.
3. Share financial burdens: Living together with a spouse helps you to split the bills among each other. You don’t have to incur all the rent and other apartment expenses alone thus, enabling you to save.
4. Share everything: You will be able to share everything with your partner making it more fun to live together and appreciate each other.
5. Share chores: The couples will be able to perform chores that they’re naturally inclined toward. This makes it easy to assist each other in performing the expected roles.
6. Learn to be fair: Living with your partner gives the opportunity to know how to work your differences out and improve your communication. No storming out after an argument.
7. Spent more time together: You don’t have to commute to see each other. Living together allows you to spend more time together and learn to accommodate each other.
8. Show commitment: Living together with your spouse can act as a sign of commitment to each other.
9. Get support: Living with your spouse assures you of the support you need during thin and thick times of your life.
10. Have fun together: You can make jokes with each other, have fun together and also be happy next to the person you love. This makes you happier and lives a healthier life.
Cons:
1. Financial issues: If financial responsibilities are not well discussed before moving in together, it destroys relationships. Financial burdens and partners’ expectations inform of lifestyle and other budgets can strain the relationship. If one partner earns more than the other can also have issues with how they share finances.
2. Dull excitement: Living together with your partner can dull the excitement of being married since you have lived together as husband and wife.
3. Cosigning a lease: If you lease property together, it becomes difficult to decide who is to stay on the property after a split.
4. Give up your single life: Living with a spouse makes live your single life and be accommodating to the other person. Sometimes it may be difficult to give up your personal life.
5. Domestic Issues: You have to discuss how you will share domestic chores among yourselves before moving in together to avoid any domestic issues.
6. Living together becomes a norm: Statistics show that a couple who live together for a long time are less likely to marry.
7. Become bored: Living with each other makes you bored very easily. Both couples have to put much effort to keep the relationship interesting and valid.
8. Strive some balance: Spending too much together sometimes, you tend to get to each other’s nerves compared to those who see each other once in a while. A balance must be struck to ensure you don’t offset each other.
9. Tension: Sometimes you can have a heated argument which results in a lot of tension among the couples and nowhere to escape to.
10. No vows: If you move in to live with your spouse without marriage, then there are no vows said regarding your sacrifice and loyalty. These vows create a certain culture and show commitment among the partners.
