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Living together brings clutter but at least I get a 55-inch TV

Emily Campbell

Moving in together can be challenging but rewarding

You are probably going to cringe when I tell you that Awesome and I didn’t even discuss moving in together. He just kind of came over one day and then never left. Slowly but surely his stuff has been showing up in my apartment. A pile of clothing here, a pair of rock climbing shoes there. One of my dresser drawers has become only for boy clothes and we are sharing the closet. His deodorant, razor, cologne and contacts are in the medicine cabinet.

But now the time has come where we really have to take the plunge. The lease on his apartment is up this month and he has given notice that he doesn’t plan to renew. This weekend, he is bringing a couch, a loveseat, an entertainment center, a 55-inch TV (no complaints about that) and the rest of his clothing, computer stuff, and trinkets into my 500-square foot apartment. Which already has, might I add, a couch, two armchairs, a 37-inch TV, a large hutch and a coffee table just in the living room.

C'mon guys.
C’mon guys. Why do men think towels will dry this way?

Finding room for all the material stuff isn’t the only challenge. This is the biggest step I’ve ever taken as far as a relationship goes. The closest I’ve come to living with a significant other is when I was about 23. I was dating an older guy who lived in Owings Mills. I still lived with my mom at the time, and it was more appealing to stay at my boyfriend’s house than stay at home.

But this is commitment. This is “if we have a fight we have to try as hard as possible to work it out or he won’t have a place to live” commitment.

We’ve been fine so far. The closest we’ve come to any sort of disagreement is when I asked him to stop scrunching up the wet shower towels – why do men think that the towel will dry when it’s all bunched up? Heads up guys – it doesn’t dry all the way and the towel smells. I have two bedrooms, and we’ve switched them around so that the smaller one is for us to sleep in and the bigger one has become a sort of TV slash computer slash library room. At first I was resistant to this idea (his because he wanted a place to put his computer where he wouldn’t disturb me) but once we moved everything around, I was totally on board.

Besides all the clutter that is slowly driving me insane – once the furniture comes this weekend I am kicking my organizational skills into high gear – we have been really happy staying together. I just hope that it continues to be that way and that I don’t screw anything up. Of course, his 55-inch TV is a big selling point too.