More couples are shacking up before tying the knot than ever before. As of , 18 million unmarried adults were living with a partner—up a whopping 29 percent since And more than half of these cohabiters are under the age of 35, a. But just because moving in with your beau seems like the "trendy" thing to do, that doesn't mean it's right for you.
How Long Should You Date Before Moving In Together?
How Long Should You Date Before Moving In Together? 10 People Explain Their Timelines
Today, most couples live together before marriage—more than 75 percent. Many people will live with different partners during their 20s and 30s, too. In fact, those who live together before they have decided and planned on marriage report less happy marriages later on and are more likely to divorce. You may discover some of the faults your partner has or learn ways that you are incompatible. It increases the number of constraints in a relationship—things that may make you stuck or make it hard to disentangle—like pooling finances, adopting a pet, co-mingling kitchenware, or buying furniture together. It will be hard to know if he or she is the one in the context of all of these constraints.
How Moving In Together Makes It Harder to Know If He’s the One
In the past, moving in with your partner before marriage was thought of as immoral. However, the success of your cohabitation may depend entirely on how early or late you move in together! One intriguing fact that we found was that moving in after dating for less than six months is the second most popular choice with one-third of the respondents citing that it is fine to do so.
When my boyfriend, Mike DiPasquale, asked me to move in with him after two years of dating, I was thrilled. Just the prospect of no longer needing to keep two bottles of contact lens solution, two toothbrushes and two sticks of deodorant in two separate homes was enough to have me jumping for joy. Visions of plush rugs, soft lighting and cuddling in front of a fireplace filled my head. I quickly realized that I was confusing coffee commercials with real life.