Lisa and Bryan are moving in together and, against everyone’s better judgment, are documenting it on the internet. Lisa’s terrible with money, and Bryan is great with money. Click here to catch up on The story so far.
In this post, the couple read this list of things to consider before shacking up and discussed it afterward.They typed everything out on G-chat so we could all get a peek inside real-life co-habitation negotiations.
It's pretty fascinating.
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Hello! We did it! We talked, we typed, we laughed, we cried. PASTED BELOW.
Lisa: So this is fun! You and I sitting in the same room gchattin’.
Bryan: It’s like when we first started dating and we did this all day at work.
Lisa: So you and I looked at Katie’s list of roommate drama last Monday and I’ll be honest, it was a little difficult. There were a few things I wasn’t ready to talk about yet.
Bryan: It was a very extensive list, and Katie did make a point of saying she didn’t recommend going through all these things at once. But there were many things that I thought would be conversations down the line.
Lisa: Right, but a lot of it was good to get out of the way, like – the whole “saying goodbye” scenario. It’s a good idea to establish a routine now and not get into a situation down the road where one of us is upset and other didn’t know it was a thing that could upset someone
Bryan: I think we have a pretty good hello/goodbye routine
Lisa: (you type really fast) (and look really cute doing it)
Bryan: Thanks. I feel like a lot of these things we have just naturally found our answers to
Lisa: Like what?
Bryan: Like who gets in the shower first.The answer is both of us.
Lisa: Oh yes—we are so environmentally friendly by showering together everyday.
Bryan: Look—We love the earth. People need to know. Also we’re pretty good at handling our own joint social calendar.
Lisa: Yeah! We have been good at that, but a lot of the spending stuff we have yet to resolve. Thanks to a lot of the commenters on our last piece, we have decided that we don’t necessarily have to pay the exact same in rent for it to be “even”.
Bryan: Right. We decided that both of us should contribute proportional to our income.
Lisa: Fair! Man – we got through the tough stuff pretty easily. So… how many kids do you want?
Bryan: Ahahaha. Right now? None.
But who knows down the road? Remember – we need a certain number of awesome weekends before that is even a discussion
Lisa: 100!! 100 awesome weekends before I will share my daily life with another being who is not you.
Bryan: YES! Also some of the questions like decorating the apartment etc seem like discussion for after we move. The size of the apartment, number of rooms and what not will determine the furniture we need to purchase
Lisa: Right. But… we didn’t’ talk about who will pay for those things. I don’t have any extra money, and I assume will have even less after the move, so I’m fine with the couch and bed and dining room table we have now
Bryan: Me too. And if there are things we really want, we will save for them.
Lisa: I mean… I won’t want to have company over until we have chairs for that dining room table, but for you and me (and Henry, the cat), that’s ok.
Bryan: We’re not trying to go poor to get furniture
Lisa: Right (well, more poor, in my case).
Bryan: Plus, I’m a good bargain shopper. I’m sure we can find things that we like at low! low! prices. I got this couch for very cheap – like 75% off.
Lisa: Really??? This is such a beautiful couch! I’m sorry I stained it with eye make up and nacho cheese. In the new place, let’s make sure we have a table so we don’t have to always eat on the couch.
Bryan: Stains tell stories! Remember when we used to put towels down when we ate on the couch. That didn’t last very long
Lisa: Remember when you used to flip the cushions over so I would only see the clean side? That didn’t last too long either.
Bryan: Well, yeah, because you started spilling on the clean sides! Ahahahahahaha
Lisa: Jerk! Speaking of messes, we kinda touched on household responsibilities when we talked last week, but didn’t really figure it out fully.
Bryan: We discussed that you have a house cleaner but she never comes and we can cut that out.
Lisa: We’re actually both really good at cleaning. During the trial week where you moved into my place [over Thanksgiving, Lisa's roommates were out of town, and Bryan "moved in" for the week to see if they'd kill each other. They didn't.] we spent a day cleaning and were both very much on the same page. I didn’t think I could love you more until I saw you with a dust pan.
Bryan: We did a great job of cleaning together. And we talked about taking the bills other than rent and each taking a fair share, so that’s resolved.
Lisa: Wait. Does “fair” mean “monetarily equall”?
Bryan: Possibly
Lisa: woah woah woah. You can’t say this is resolved and then use a word like, “possibly”
Bryan: I think we really need to see what all the bills are going to be. We can’t speculate on what our expenses are going to be until we get in the new place and set up account sand see what they cost. Then we can break it down based on what we can handle.
Lisa: Alright, I like that. And we decided no joint checking accounts. That’s too much right now, right?
Bryan: I think so. Down the road that will definitely probably be what we do.
Lisa: Right, once we decide how many children we want.
Read the rest of their conversation at The Billfold >
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