How Self-Storage Helps Moving in with Your Partner

Has it been a long time? Or have you only been together for a few months? Regardless, you and your partner have recognized that there are benefits to moving in together. You know you can pool your resources together and share costs more effectively. Since you spend so much time together and love doing so, why wouldn’t moving in together be a good idea?

While the plan is probably a good one, there are plenty of considerations to make and preparations to ensure you have completed beforehand. Self-storage provides a large aid to couples moving in together and sharing a living space for the first time. At Box Me Up, we’ve seen the benefits self-storage provides young couples first-hand, and heard about their experiences. So, for any new couples planning to move in with each other, we’ve compiled the best tips from our experts to make the process of moving in together as easy as possible for both of you. 

Moving in together: the benefits

First, we should note all the benefits moving in together can yield a couple, beginning with the most obvious: the savings. Sharing rent, hydro, internet, phone, groceries, etc. will save you both, essentially cutting your costs in half if one of you simply moves into the other’s current residence. Or, it allows you both to spend more on that living space by doubling what you can afford together.

There are more benefits to living with your partner. Sharing household responsibilities can make life easier for both of you. You really only have to accomplish half of them now! You also can accomplish many of them with another person – your partner – making the task more enjoyable. Successful relationships are two-way streets, and, together, you’ll both have less to do around the house individually.

Other benefits are likely more specific to your relationship. If for example you previously lived a long distance from each other, then the time and cost of travel is also saved by moving in together. One of you may also own something the other can now get great use of, such a vehicle.

And as personal belongings like a vehicle can help, so, of course, can the individual themselves. As a couple together more often, you can be stronger in your individual lives with the more immediate support of the other at hand. Your strengths can prop up their weaknesses, and vice-versa.

The benefits to moving in together are great. 

Moving in together: the drawbacks

The benefits of moving in with each other are often more obvious than the disadvantages. Moving in together for the first time always has the potential to harm a relationship if the individuals are not prepared in advance.

Every great relationship is built upon the same foundation: compromise. Moving in together will be a massive test in compromise for both of you.

Moving in together means you get to share all sorts of belongings, but it also means you likely now have too many of some items. Which sofa are you going to use at your home now, yours or theirs? Which one fits best? What does the rest of your furniture look like now – does this sofa match? Even though you have a history with your sofa, you may need to sacrifice it for the good of the home. Be prepared to sacrifice almost anything.

Of course, this is precisely when self-storage can play a large role in your move-in together. Certainly, you both own beds, but now you only need one to sleep on together. Unless one of you wants to toss their bed away, a storage unit or mobile container will be likely be your best answer to keep the bed – and the extra sofa – along with a probable many other items.

There are nonetheless more significant concerns for you to agree on. Furniture, etc. is important, but if you do not discuss finances, you will in almost all certainty come to regret this when bills are due. It is incredibly important for you to both sit down and go through your shared expenses. You must plan out who/how and when is paying which bills before you move in together. 

Prepare with lists, and check ‘em twice

The most effective way to be prepared is to create lists of everything you have and what you need, and then where you decide everything should go. Begin by taking an inventory of both of your belongings. Now that you can see on those two lists what you own together, you can go through the lists and start deciding what will come to your home together, what will need to be stored, and what will be donated or thrown away.

Once these decisions are made, you now have a better idea of the sort of place you could move into together (if you are looking for somewhere new) because you can measure larger items, like sofas and dressers, and understand the size of place you require. Similarly, you can estimate the size of storage you will require for the items you will not be taking to your home with you. Our experts suggest making a new inventory of your belongings, once you have both agreed on things, to make clear what was originally whose and where it ended up (home or storage).

The remaining items, the ones you want to dispose of by either donating, selling, or tossing away, should be acted on quickly. Whatever isn’t going into storage or brought to your home should be dealt with before the move so that you are not incurring any costs moving them. 

Respect, listen, understand, compromise

During the decision-making process you both need to be sensitive to your partner’s feelings. Some items may carry significant sentimental value, and you need to respect that. They, in turn, will respect your own attachment to particular things. Listening to and understanding each other will be tantamount to making a move-in together work successfully.

This is perhaps the most important piece of advice we could provide. Living with your partner is a much different type of relationship than a dating one, and you both need to allow this experience to strengthen the bond the two of you already have rather than harm it. By having an open mind, open ears, an honest mindset, and a willingness to compromise, your relationship will strengthen.

Prior to and during any decision-making, get it all out in the open for your partner to see, and you’ll both be moving into a happy home together.

For more advice on moving in together and how to best utilize self-storage or mobile storage to do so, speak with one of our self-storage experts today.