Cohabitating | Offbeat Home

This is Offbeat Home's archive of Cohabitating posts.

The practice of living with roommates and getting along with family definitely deserves its own category of posts.

Most Recent Posts About Cohabitating

My name is Stephanie. I am a graphic designer in official capacity only when I'm employed. You see, I'm 25, and I am financially and habitationally dependent upon my parents. I am not only living once again in my parents' house; I am living in my sister's (former) bedroom. It's a situation I've tried to make peace with since I graduated from college in 2008.

When I moved back into this house, my sister's bedroom was hers, and my bedroom was nonexistent. The room I needed to live in had decorated walls and shelves, furniture, clothes in the closet…I felt like it wasn't my home, like it was temporary. And that worked for me until I began to realize how detached it feels to be living in someone else's space and calling it your own. When I didn't get a job right away like I'd hoped, my assertion of independence was overshadowed by disappointment. My efforts to make the space seem impermanent backfired and made the permanence of my living situation less bearable.

I try to do daily cleaning until I get behind and overwhelmed. Then he will take a weekend and do a massive cleaning. We both end up feeling like the other one never does any cleaning. How can we find a better compromise?

When you begin to cohabitate, it's SO HARD to combine your crap. You're getting used to living with someone else while, at the same time, wading through mountains of said crap. I recently went on a crazed mission to clear up some of the clutter in our small kitchen and found we currently own three nearly-full containers of salt. I kept the salt, but once I threw out all the expired product and organized the dishes and cooking supplies, it became apparent that — despite having had completely full cabinets and fridge — we had almost no food.

I can help you avoid the same fate.

I'm a grad student, and I currently live in a flat with another grad student, who's been living here over a year.

The problem is, my boyfriend will be coming back into the country in a few months and would really like to move in with me. I'm trying to find a supportive, non-pressuring way to ask my flatmate if she can commit to moving out on a particular date so he can move in…How do I work this?

Andreas and I have been living together since 1998, and for the most part, we're pretty solid domestic partners. Basically, ANY TIME we notice the other has done something around the house, we tell them how much we appreciate them. Then, the appreciation started morphing into a little song…

We like our new roommate, but he seems anxious and way too eager to please. Offbeat Homies, how on earth do you get the excitable bogan housemate to settle into a chilled-out hippy house?