Moving in with your partner is full of firsts, especially if it’s your first time living with a significant other. Living with someone new, particularly a partner, is never quite as romantic and glamorous as one might anticipate, and adjusting to your new life together often leads to a series of new experiences that are never void of entertainment.
Not every new experience is going to be fun, but if you’re both able to find the humor in things it makes the adjustment period that much easier, not to mention you’re left with a lot of pretty hilarious stories. After reflecting back to when my boyfriend and I first moved in together, I’ve compiled a list of what I think are the most entertaining firsts you’ll face as a newly cohabited couple.
The First…
Time you build furniture together
If anyone has ever told you that putting together furniture with your partner is a true test of your relationship, boy were they ever right. Nothing brings out the worst in someone like picture-only instructions and a bag of screws that all look the same but are somehow different. Unless you’re a master at building furniture (let’s be real none of us are), something will inevitably go wrong and you’ll likely get in an argument about which screw goes where and why it doesn’t look like the picture. Putting together your new bed, shelf, or cabinet is a bonding experience and a right of passage to the cohabitating world, and as long as you treat it like the hilariously dysfunctional event that it is, you and your partner will end up laughing about it later.
Time you cook a meal together
You may have cooked meals together before, but once you live together you realize you’re no longer ever cooking just for you. If you like to cook, you probably have very specific ways of doing things, and a routine of what you usually eat. The first time you and your partner grocery shop and cook a meal together, you’ll likely find that there are things they consider staples that you don’t, and ways they cook things that you’ve never considered. This realization often leads to heated discussions that probably sound something like “I can’t believe you eat that” or “There’s no way that’s the best way to cook this, you have to do it this way instead.” Eventually, you’ll get used to their eating and cooking habits and allow yourself to try new things (even if you still think you make the best grilled cheese).
Time you discover a new quirk or habit you didn’t know about
This one has the potential to be either the most entertaining or the most frustrating, depending on how you deal with it. As much as we’d all like to think we know our partners inside and out, there are some things that you’ll only discover when you move in together. I snooze my alarm about 20 times before I actually get up in the morning. My boyfriend can only study for tests in the middle of the night. I’m notorious for taking off my false eyelashes and leaving them wherever I’m currently sitting. My boyfriend is notorious for leaving socks all over the house and his shoes in the middle of the floor. It definitely takes some getting used to when someone doesn’t do things the way you normally do, but knowing when to laugh about it is key to avoiding a ton of unnecessary arguments. After all, finding a stray eyelash or sock on the couch is kind of funny.
Fight
Living with your partner means they’re around all the time. Your space is also their space. When you have your first real fight, you quickly come to a horrible and hilarious realization: you have nowhere to go. The days of storming off back to your own place to sulk are over, and you’re stuck in the same room with your partner, forced to work things out or forever give each other the silent treatment. When you have to be around your partner even when you’re mad, you’ll quickly realize how ridiculous it feels to be giving each other the cold shoulder when you could just talk things through.
Embarrassing moment
Whether it’s walking out of the bathroom with that shamed “don’t go in there” face, or getting caught with a mustache of facial hair remover cream, you’re bound to run into an embarrassing moment sooner rather than later. Once you live with your partner, you’re forced to get comfortable with each other real quick, and the first embarrassing moment is only the beginning. Rather than be mortified at the fact you’re only human, lean into the juvenile sense of humor that’s inside all of us and these moments will make for the most hilarious stories.
