I shacked up with GPBoy the summer after my freshman year and his first senior year of college for a few months. He was subletting an apartment in the town where I was taking summer classes, which was an hour from my parents' house. I stayed there 3-4 nights a week because it made more sense than staying at my house and spending all that money on gas and wasting time driving back and forth. It worked out really well for us because we knew that we could definitely handle each other, but it was an experience, since it was my first time living anywhere but the dorms or my parents house. I think I would have moved in with him my senior year of college and my parents were planning on it :eek: but I wanted to spend this year "on my own" to get acclimated to the city first. It definitely made our relationship stronger.

Re: the divorce rates... if you take a look at my post, I do talk about that. Living together doesn't cause divorces - instead they are both caused by more liberal views of marriage and commitment.

I guess we have different views of living together. When I say cohabitation I see a very thought out, planned relationship where the two people move in together with clear expectations and commitments.

I don't agree with shot-gun move-ins because they are just as unlikely to succeed than shot-gun marriages. Why don't we advise people against marriage then? Because we know that every marriage isn't a shot-gun marriage. I'm just asking for the same considerations for cohabitation.

(cohabitation for 34 months and still going strong)

Re: living together
 

We were dating seriously for 4 months, but knew each other for almost 2 years. I agree with almost everyone else on here, it is a good idea to live together so you can see exactly what you can and cannot put up with. For example, I didn't realize my bf was still attached at the apron string to his mother and family until I saw how much they called each other and interacted. I wouldn't have known that his family shares EVERY aspect of one another's lives if I hadn't of moved in. Some people have some very unusual habits and more than likely they will NOT tell you about them before hand.

So, because gay couples, couples who choose not to get married because they'll lose their deceased spouse's benefits if they marry, and others, because they lack a sheet of paper signed by a Justice of the Peace, have no commitment? Marriage is not the end-all and be-all of human relationships.

I lived w/ Mr Munch for a while. It made our relationship so much stronger, because we saw each other through so many difficulties (personal and family health problems, financial issues, etc). Yes, we had a few arguments that we wouldn't have had if we had chosen not to live together until later, and we know how to handle the other in situations like that. We came into the situation KNOWING that we weren't just "playing house." Since I'm pretty much used to living in the city, we're going to move in together at the end of this school year. :) We both know that we're going into this with the utmost care and circumspection--a far cry from the "shot-gun" moveins that so many of us are referring to.

Mr. Ginger and I were only dating 4 months when I moved in with him... the decision was made after we'd been dating for two.

Suprising for such a 'conservative' gal, hey?

I'm so glad we made the decision. We're getting married next September and I can't imagine doing so without having lived with him beforehand. I think everyone who has said it's up to the individuals involved is right though.

I agree its an individual decision

Just look at it this way - its a great money saver :D why pay 2 rents when one of you is always going to be at the other's place?