Back in May my boyfriend and I decided to take a big leap and move in together. I know that it isn't the best option for everyone, but it's worked out okay for us. It started out really bad for the first few months, but we figured out how to work it out. We've been together for almost 3 years, and both have very large personalities. We've also both watched a lot of bad divorces, so for us it was more important to test the waters and move in together than it was to wait until marriage.
With financial struggles being one of the top causes for divorce, it's definitely played a role in our relationship now that we live together. He's very spendy, and I am not at all. As a student, I work part time and he works as a construction worker. He doesn't work very much, and some weeks I work more than he does since the weather can determine if he works or not. Together we make about $30,000 a year, and for that we do very well. Honestly, the only time we really fight about money is when we go to the grocery store and he wants to buy expensive foods and I make him put it back.
How do we do it?
How do we do it?
We're really lucky
Our families do help us more than they probably know. My parents bought me a car in exchange for me getting a full ride scholarship. They also agreed to pay for my insurance as long as I don't lose it. Joe on the other hand does pay a $100 car payment each month, along with his insurance. Also, we're both still on our parent's cell phone plans. His parents even let us have the Netflix password.
We don't go on dates
We almost never go out. It's probably been months since we've been out on a date. That sort of thing really isn't crucial in our relationship, though. Both of us would rather stay home than go spend $50 on a meal.
Minimizing the bills
When looking for an apartment, we found a place that packages rent and utilities together. We also chose to get a place outside of town so our rent is $750 compared to $1,000 for the same size place. Our drive is only 5 minutes, and that doesn't really matter to us either. So, other than our rent our only bill is $30 for internet. We chose not to get cable, because with Netflix spending the extra money on cable seemed ridiculous.
Other expenses
We spend $200 a month on groceries. I know that a lot of bloggers feed families of four on that, but I don't have a lot of time to cook, and he doesn't like pasta. - if you read their blogs it's all about recipe planning and eating a lot of pasta. We don't buy a lot of meat, we buy a lot of $1 meals, and we try to stay away from costly junk food. Well, he could care less, it's me that has to put my foot down.
We cut our bills completely in half
This is how we keep from fighting about everything. We don't share any of our money. We split the bills 50/50 and don't say a word about how the other person spends their extra money. I make $800 a month. After my $375 share of rent, $15 internet bill, $100 for groceries, and I spend about $200 each month here and there on extra things (gas, work lunches, etc.) I still have $110 to save each month. I try to save up as much as I can for any bad times we might run into.
Other expenses
We spend $200 a month on groceries. I know that a lot of bloggers feed families of four on that, but I don't have a lot of time to cook, and he doesn't like pasta. - if you read their blogs it's all about recipe planning and eating a lot of pasta. We don't buy a lot of meat, we buy a lot of $1 meals, and we try to stay away from costly junk food. Well, he could care less, it's me that has to put my foot down.
We cut our bills completely in half
This is how we keep from fighting about everything. We don't share any of our money. We split the bills 50/50 and don't say a word about how the other person spends their extra money. I make $800 a month. After my $375 share of rent, $15 internet bill, $100 for groceries, and I spend about $200 each month here and there on extra things (gas, work lunches, etc.) I still have $110 to save each month. I try to save up as much as I can for any bad times we might run into.
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