Living Together

My boyfriend and I have been living together for 5 months now. We are not married, not engaged, just living together..

A lot of people may frown on this, considering I am a Catholic, and living together before marriage is definitely a no no. But how will you know if you two are compatible is you only spend time on 'dates'? How do you know of all your pet peeves and annoying little habits if you see each other for a couple hours a day or maybe only once or twice a week.

We are currently in the process of looking for a home to purchase too. Which to me is actually a bigger deal then getting a ring (but I'd be lying if I'd say I'm not waiting for that day to come).  Just this month we put and offer on a home and were so excited to begin this next step. Our hopes were shot down when during the home inspection things were found and the seller did not want to negotiate with. Unfortunately we pulled our offer and are moving on. There will be plenty more out there.

In March of 2015 we will officially be together for 5 years. A lot has happened in that 5 years.. a short break apart that only made us closer, deaths in the family, fights, tears, happy times and milestone events. But through it all we stood by each other.

I've noticed then when I tell people that I live with my boyfriend, it's not that big of a deal. A lot of friends live with their significant others.  It seems to be the norm these days. How else will you really learn if you can live with them if you don't.  All situations are different. Just until a couple months ago (prolly around the same time we moved in together) if we were to stay at one of our parents house, we would stay in different rooms. Even though I would stay over Joe's apartment at least once a week and all weekend and our parents knew this, I feel it was more of a respect thing. 

So what are some things I've learned since living together?

Take time away from each other | It's important to still do your own things. Go to dinner with friends, drinks with the girls, or out during the weekend.

Get into a routine |  This was hard for us to do. Little things such as bath room time in the am need a routine. This will help to eliminate frustration first thing in the morning.
Compromise | A big thing for us was decor in our apartment. Joe has already lived there for a year. And of course was a man palace with beer signs and kegarators in the living room. I would never ask him to remove everything, because that is things he loves. So we compromised to take some things down and put up more gender neutral things.
Still have date nights | Even though you see each other every day and night, take even one night a month and go out to dinner and a movie just the two of you.