Moving in...with a boy

I’ve lived with guys before- in fact only up until recently I was living with two great guys in a shared house in Cambridge. Funnily enough and contrary to stereotypical assumptions, I was the messy and disorganised one and they kept me in line. I was regularly shot the disapproving look when I had to ring the doorbell because I had forgotten my key, or because I had left all my crap downstairs around the living room and just not bothered to take it upstairs! (It really was home from home). I quite enjoyed that though, they were very tidy and respectful (apart from when the football was on) and we had a great couple of years. They both remain very important to me.

However, I’m about to move in with a boy properly and it is a little daunting. We have only been together 9 months which isn’t very long at all and it is more circumstantial that it is happening but we are very excited. We’ve popped our ‘sensible hats’ on and are moving in to an inexpensive but lovely fully furnished house within walking distance of my parents and 2 miles of his and so should we need that ‘time out’ we have it available. (Sorry mum and dad). Therefore we don’t need to invest in any furniture which already eases the stress financially and mentally. But still it WILL be stressful because we are going to be learning more and more about each other... he will learn (although he probably already knows as he calls me a sloth) that I can be quite lazy and since I work from home I can roll out of bed at around 8.45am and work in my pyjamas until late morning. However, this can mean that at 11pm I’m wide awake saying ‘Let’s watch a film!’ and he’s covering his face with a pillow. We are also learning about each other’s tastes... he wants to get a metal bust of someone’s face (he doesn’t know who yet) whereas I am dreaming of scented candles and big cushions that everyone can laze around on (sloth side again) and relax. He is sensible with money and knows we don’t need many luxuries to start with but I’m on first name basis with the man at Sky looking for deals so we can have a Sky + box and record loads of programmes just because we can! Cleanliness is going to be interesting- we’re both moving out of parents houses where I will admit we are BOTH spoilt. We both pay the bare minimum and get our washing and cooking done (he also still gets his room tidied but he’s a little younger so I’ll give him that). We’ve both lived away- I was at Uni for four years, I’ve been travelling and I lived in Cambridge for two years and so I can adapt quite easily but it’s different with a partner- you can perhaps get away with more...or can you?

Does anyone have any tips? One of my close friends said to expect loose coins to be EVERYWHERE. Definitely a guy thing. Why do they do that? Another said that they panic if they feel they are losing their ‘identity’ – I guess a football placed by the door will help? I’ve definitely realised that ‘presentation’ is quite important to me and less important to him. ‘Who cares if that doesn’t match?’ ‘Hmmm I do.’ It’s interesting because you pick up habits from your parents and their style and we are now having to join these whilst building our own style together as a couple and finding out what we both jointly like. Watch.this.space.