So, you and your significant other are finally ready to move in together, and you want some advice on how to make things work. Sharing the same space is a major step in any relationship, and this decision comes with a lot of responsibility. It is a smart choice to take preemptive measures to prepare for the inevitable. This guide will give you some insight on what to look for, and how to prepare for moving in with your mate.
Teamwork Counts
While you are not quite married, living together means that you must abandon thinking like a single person. Cohabitation means that all of the decisions you make affect your partner. All major decisions should be made together, and all individual decisions should be made with the other party in mind.
Create a Budget
Financial troubles are the primary reason for relationship issues. If you are going to win as a team, budgeting is the key to financial success as a couple. To budget properly, begin by calculating what your monthly bills as a unit and individually will amount to. Once you have an overview of your monthly demands, you can decide how you will divvy the payments. You can split the bills down the middle or decide who will take care of what particular bills.
Downsize
If you are joining forces, this means that you are both bringing two households together. This means that there will be excess. There are going to be cases where there will be duplicate items—you will only need one toaster—so you will need to downsize. Choose what to keep and what to sell or give away. This may end up being a test to see who is willing to make sacrifices for the harmony of the whole.
Furnish Together
Rather than reusing all of the furnishings from each other’s former homes, it is best to purchase certain furnishings together. When it comes to buying new furniture, the bedroom is the first place you want to start.
Purchasing a new bed, a mattress, in particular, will assure that you will have the luxury of enjoying a good night’s sleep on a bed you both enjoy (What Mattresses are Used for the Best Quality Sleep?: Experts Reveal the Answers). Purchasing new living room furniture—i.e., sofa and love seat—also helps set the tone for a new life together.
Compromise
Making a compromise often means making a sacrifice to meet the other party in the middle. If you want to live in peace, you have to be diplomatic and remain flexible. Stay sensitive to the needs of the other, and be willing to make concessions when necessary.
Respect Each Other’s Privacy
Although you are living together, everyone has the right to privacy. It is not alright to root through each other’s belongings in search of personal information that you feel the other is not sharing. It is alright to ask questions, but it is never okay to deprive your mate of their privacy. This will result in mistrust, and once trust is lost, it is almost impossible to regain.
Give Each Other Space
While living together means you share one space, there will be times when you each want to have some time for yourselves. This will mean having a space that you can feel is your sanctuary when you need some time alone.
Even if your place is relatively small, define how both of you will be able to etch out some private time when you need to. Learning to respect each other’s desire to have private time will make a major difference when things start feeling crowded.
Practice Conflict Resolution
Just as the name implies, conflict resolution is a method that allows people to arrive at peaceful solutions to disagreements they are having. It doesn’t matter if the disagreement is financial, political, personal, or emotional; this method empowers you both to address the issue.
This resolution process involves understanding the seven steps of successful negotiation. Disagreements are likely to occur when you share the same space with another person. The bright side is that if you both agree on how to resolve these disputes; they can be resolved quickly.
Conclusion
When you share the same space with your partner, you become a team. Working together is not an option. Sacrifice is inevitable at this point. Sharing the same space means sharing each other’s worlds. Learning to think as one mind and feel as one heart will make your time together that much more enjoyable.
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