This article explores some of the factors to consider while deciding whether to live with your partner before marriage, as well as some potential advantages and disadvantages of this arrangement.
Factors to Consider
Below, Romanoff lists some of the factors to consider while deciding whether to live with your partner before marriage.
Your Reasons for Wanting to Live Together
The first factor to consider is your motivation for moving in with your partner. Partners who move in out of financial convenience or to test their relationship may be less satisfied with their decision in the long run and in turn, may not end up getting married. This is in contrast to couples who decide to move in together out of their genuine desire to spend more time together and deliberately fuse their lives. You should want to learn more about your partner and progress your relationship.
Your Age and Stage of Life
Age and stage of life are other important considerations. It can be helpful to give each other space to live alone or with friends before taking this step, so that each partner is able to experience a range of independent and peer living situations before committing to living with each other. Once people have experienced these varied living arrangements, they tend to appreciate their partners and don’t feel as if they are missing out on experiences their peers are having.
Your Conversations With Your Partner
It’s important to make the deliberate decision to move in together instead of casually easing into cohabitation. Sliding into cohabitation can be risky because it bypasses important decisions and conversations that will cause more problems down the road. For instance, you may slowly start to spend more time at one of your homes and think it makes sense to move in together out of convenience or financial incentive. You may then consider marriage because you’ve lived together for so long, already invested so much time into your partner, and think you might not be able to find someone else at this point in your life.
Implications of Living Together Before Marriage
Moving in with your partner can have significant implications for your relationship. Romanoff outlines some of these below.
Increased Commitment
Before you move in, there are more opportunities for refuge. If you have a fight, are annoyed, or are frustrated with each other, you can always return to your own space.
Increased Investment
Moving in together means that you are investing in the relationship in a more substantial way. The next progressive step after moving in is usually a more formal commitment like marriage or alternatively, if things do not work out, a breakup. Breakups after moving in together are significantly more complicated because you must separate your lives, which tend to become blended in elaborate ways.
Increased Trust
Living together also means that you’re pledging to show each other the parts of yourself that may have remained hidden up until this part of your relationship. You risk vulnerability and exposing all of your little rituals or quirky habits. You have to trust your partner and make this commitment with the confidence that your relationship will not only survive but will become stronger after knowing these parts of each other.
Advantages and Disadvantages
Romanoff shares some of the advantages and disadvantages that people commonly experience when they decide to live together before marriage.
Advantages of Living Together Before Marriage
The advantage of living together before marriage is the opportunity to learn how you would navigate a life together, without the internal and external pressure that comes with marriage. For many, marriage signifies a commitment that cannot be easily undone. The weight that comes with that commitment, especially from family members or friends, can skew problems or conflicts that may arise in a relationship.
Disadvantages of Living Together Before Marriage
The downside of living together before marriage relates to the tendency for some couples to make less of a commitment to each other or feel less content with their arrangement. Individuals who decide to cohabitate may have different expectations than their partners about the move. It can lead to challenges if one partner has more unconventional ideas about marriage and might grow complacent in this arrangement, whereas the other partner might expect marriage to follow this step. Additionally, standards for cohabitating with a partner are usually lower than standards people have for marriage, which could cause some people to regret the time and energy spent on cohabitating if it does not ultimately lead to marriage.
A Word From Verywell
If you and your partner have been going steady and you’re starting to think about living together before marriage, you should be sure of your motivations before you move in. You should genuinely want to spend more time with your partner and learn more about them while being open to exposing yourself to them. It’s also important to discuss finances, responsibilities, expectations for the future, and other important aspects of your relationship with your partner before you move in, so you’re both on the same page before you make this commitment.
