Living with my partner isn’t like living with a roommate
The other day when my boyfriend was at work, I texted him to say “I’m exhausted and I just want to warn you that the dishes aren’t done. I’ll get to them tomorrow first thing.”
His response: “I hate to tell you this, love, but you’re an adult now. You can do the dishes whenever you want!”
My reaction in my mind: “Not true. I have a responsibility to my roommate to maintain this house in the way that I would want to live in it.” Then I caught myself and thought for a minute. Does living with your partner mean that maybe, just maybe, the entire home is now under our shared dominion? And that, within reason, I can decide what gets done when, just like he can? I still wasn’t sure.
10 life lessons learned from my first apartment
Attention young Offbeat Homies: At some point, you will cease to live with your parents or in a dorm room, and will very likely live in a cheap apartment, quite possibly with roommates. I hit this particular milestone my Junior year of college, and here’s what it taught me…
4 reasons why you need to reassess the division of labor in your house
If you and your partner are anything like me and mine, you settled into some domestic patterns in the first few months of living together. But even if your systems are working well, you still need to revisit and shake-up your divisions of labor. Here’s why…
One year later: Lessons from “Occupy” on communal living
It’s hard to believe that this time last year, I was “living” outside in a park downtown at Occupy Toronto, with several hundred other people. The communal living experience was pretty intense. It’s hard to look back at such a complicated experience, but as we hit the one-year anniversary of Occupy, I think there are some general lessons that can be learned, not only for political occupations but for more mundane but ultimately more lasting kinds of communal life.
Here’s some of what I learned about communal living at Occupy Toronto…
Can’t we all just get along: how vegans and omnivores can live together
I am vegan, and my girlfriend is not. We are looking to move in together, and I had always had this (now unrealistic) idea that my home would be a vegan one.
How have other veggies and meat=eaters gotten along, and what are some tips for making everyone happy food wise?
How big is your backseat?: Sex after moving back with your parents
In the past few years, with the economy tanking and all, the “boomerang generation” has really made a name for itself. You go to school, leave home, and then… you come back. The thing is, as much as I loved free rent, I hated the logistics of trying to have sex.
4 common sense tips for not killing your roommate in a double-occupancy dorm
There are a lot of posts on Offbeat Home about cohabiting in an apartment or house; however, I don’t think I’ve seen anything covering living and sleeping in the same room as a roommate you didn’t know until a week prior to moving in! Here are the four rules my roommate and I follow to keep the peace.
We just moved in together! How can we create a space that feels comfortable to both of us?
My fiance and I just bought our first home. Until now, we have lived with his mom in his childhood bedroom; i.e. we have never had to decorate a space together. Now that we are moving in together, it is becoming very apparent that our tastes do not match. What do I compromise on and put my foot down on? How do I figure the difference?