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You may have thought you knew everything there was to know about your significant other before you moved in together.
But think again.
When you move in together with your partner, there are going to be a lot of changes in your relationship.
You’ll learn things you never knew about them, and while some of these discoveries may be pleasant surprises, others may be, well, a little off-putting, shocking, or even downright gross.
I don’t say this to scare you.
Moving in together may be one of the best decisions you ever make for your relationship.
Why?
Because there’s no better way to learn not only more about your partner, but also about yourself when you move in together.
Curious to know some of the things you’ll learn when you move in together with your significant other? Here are 15 things you’re guaranteed to learn after living together.
15 Things You Learn After Living Together with Your Partner
1. Going out on dates becomes even MORE important. Before you moved in together, going out on dates was the primary way you got to know one another. After you move in together though, you start to learn about the not-so-glamorous side to your partner. Maybe they’re super messy or disorganized. Maybe they only know how to make one dish, and that dish is pasta. While all these things are normal and to be expected, it’s easy to forget about the wonderful qualities your partner has, the qualities that made you fall in love with them in the first place. For this reason, it’s important that you make getting out together a regular habit. Not only will this keep things fresh and exciting, but it will also remind you of the things that you love about your partner.
2. You learn the art of compromise. You may have thought you were great at bartering with your siblings or negotiating with your clients at work, but the word, “compromise,” takes on a whole new meaning when you live with your partner.
3. You realize just how weird some of your habits are. You may have thought some of your habits were quirky, or even adorable to begin with, but now with a constant audience at home, you’re starting to realize just how weird you really are. Maybe it’s how you fold your socks, how you eat sushi, or how you sing only Disney songs in the shower, but the look on your partner’s face says it all: you’re a weirdo.
4. You learn how drastically different standards of cleanliness can be. Your partner thinks that a spritz of Febreze can clean an entire room, while you firmly believe that every nook and cranny must sparkle to be deemed “clean.” Face it: your definitions of the word, “clean,” just aren’t the same.
5. You learn how to pick your battles. When you start living with your significant other, you realize the importance of choosing your battles wisely. How they fold towels, or how they “clean” the bathroom simply isn’t worth the energy or time spent fighting. Choosing what to watch on Netflix, on the other hand, could be an all-out war.
6. Intimacy takes on a whole new meaning. Prior to moving in together, your definition of intimacy was probably more romantic. Now that you live together though, the definition of intimacy has expanded significantly. Gone are the days where you had even a semblance of privacy, or a shred of dignity. While it may be annoying when your partner walks in on you as you’re waxing your upper lip, you’re also kinda glad you have someone to share all your secrets with.
7. Your outside relationships become even more important. As much as you love your partner, you realize now just how important it is to get out with your friends and decompress. It isn’t healthy to spend all your time with your significant other, and sometimes you just need a little girl time to refresh your perspective and outlook.
8. Watching your favorite shows together is often the best form of couples therapy. No matter how annoyed you may be with one another, at the end of the day, you two can always find a way to bond over popcorn and Netflix.
9. Spontaneity is what keeps things exciting. When you get into a fixed routine with your partner, things can become, well, a little dry. The quickest fix? Spontaneity. Whether it’s booking a last minute weekend trip, or trying out that new restaurant down the street, you both like to be spontaneous from time to time to keep things exciting.
10. The little things you used to worry about before don’t bother you as much. Remember how you wouldn’t be caught dead without makeup earlier on in your relationship? Well, things have definitely changed since then. You’ve relaxed your standards a bit, and you feel more comfortable than ever just being yourself.
11. You start to do this creepy thing where you dress alike. It really is true that you start to dress like your partner after living with each other. There may be days where you dress like a smurf couple, or where you both look like you just left a funeral. Don’t worry. This is normal.
12. Most arguments revolve around what to watch on Netflix. Or what to eat for dinner. Your fighting patterns will change once you live with your significant other. You’ll find that most of your debates occur in the evening when you’re trying to decide on what to eat for dinner, and then what to watch after dinner.
13. You learn to appreciate the smaller things more. Remember how hard you used to try to impress one another when you first started dating? Maybe your partner would take you to a new, fancy restaurant every few dates. Or maybe you would spend hours trying to plan out the perfect weekend getaway trip. Though you appreciated those grand gestures then, you find that you appreciate even the smallest of gestures even more now. Maybe it’s how they left a note to let you know they went out to run errands. Or maybe it’s how they make your coffee just the way you like it every morning. You find that it’s the little, thoughtful things that hold so much more meaning now.
14. You share the weight of your challenges. A bad day isn’t as bad as it used to be now that you have someone to confide in at the end of each day. Whether you have a sh*tty boss you have to deal with every day, family drama going on, or you’re going through a more personal challenge, you realize just how great it is to have a friend to talk to. As the saying goes, “A sorrow shared is a sorrow halved.”
15. They become not just your lover for life (LFL), but also your BFF. While we all wish our relationships could be like the steamy romances we see in the movies, this just isn’t the reality of a healthy relationship. A healthy relationship is meant to evolve over time, meaning it won’t always be romantic, and that’s ok. True compatibility means supporting each other through thick and thin, and being each other’s biggest fan and cheerleader. It will be the friendship you share with one another that will carry you through the hard times, not the lust or desire.
