You’ll love these tips for moving in together and strategies for blending families. Learn how to merge households including furniture, space, finances, and style.
Moving in together takes planning, patience, and a great sense of humor. Maybe you’re single and getting serious. Or you could be divorced and remarrying. Plus you could be widowed and starting over with a new partner. Anywhichway, you will love these strategies for merging households.
If you’re new to my site, hi there. I’m an expert on habit formation. I wrote a book called Happy Habits.
Below are important habits to keep in mind if you’re blending your life with someone else’s – so you maintain harmony in your relationship.
When you move in together, you are making a major commitment. And that commitment comes with costs. Decide how you will split those costs before you pack a moving box. Determine if you’ll maintain separate bank accounts. Plus figure out who will pay what from which. Be honest with each other about any financial “holdbacks:” money you intend to keep as exclusively yours, to do with what you please.
Two independent adults coming together in the same home means combined styles and needs that have been developed over years of self-sufficiency.
You’ll both still need some “me-time.” And you should have some corresponding “me-space” in a combined home.
If each of you have children that will live in your blended household, you’ll need to prioritize defining space for each of them in the new home. This is especially true if kids will be sharing rooms.
You can avoid pitched battles by setting rules about respecting privacy and personal possessions. And the trick is to do this before they’re at each other’s throats screaming, “that’s mine! Givvit back!!!”
If you each own a home, think about whether you want to sell or rent it.
Maybe you need cash for your half of a down payment. If so, then selling seems like the obvious choice.
Or maybe you’ve got the down payment handled. If so, you may want to keep the old place and generate income from it by renting it out.
It’s nuts to haul everything each of you own into a new space, and then discover it doesn’t fit, there isn’t enough storage, or your favorite chair clashes with your partner’s favorite rug. You also won’t need two of everything.
Make lists of items you’ll need in your merged home, and who already has them. Identify non-negotiable items you’re emotionally attached to and can’t live without, and work backward toward purging items neither of you will need.
Remember that your relationship is much more important than your stuff. A new home offers you both a fresh start, and the chance to prioritize your partner over your pots and pans.
Good luck moving in together! Hope you enjoy your life in your new home!
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