Congratulations!
I got married just over 3 months ago, and I am just a year [probably not even] younger than you.
Here are some tips that helped us adjust to living together:
- Discuss responsibilities ahead of time. We took the time about two weeks before our wedding to discuss who would handle what. From taking out the trash to cleaning the cat litter box [my pets!]. Remember you have to be flexible, but there are some things she’ll never want to do or you’ll never want to do. For instance, you would have to threaten to stab me with a dull spoon before I would ever take out the trash.
- Respect space. Nathan moved into my apartment. I had already lived there for two years when he joined me. However, I went through beforehand and made space for him so he didn’t feel like he was just “merging” into my life. I took anything too girly off of the walls, put away some not all of the pictures of my girlfriends + I, and just generally made it look less like a bachelorette pad. We also replaced the bedding. He wasn’t so keen on my pink + green bedset.
- Understand you are not attached at the hip. I think a lot of couples assume that once you live together you have to do everything together. Not the case. We have standing date nights, and the rest of the week is up for grabs [of course there are always exceptions: guys’ or girls’ weekends away, parties, etc]. We do dates on Saturdays and Wednesdays typically. Everything else is free for scheduling stuff with friends or alone. This doesn’t mean that we book up every day or don’t ever do other stuff together.
- Adjust to the other person’s schedule. I am an early riser. I get up at 5:00 AM to get the gym before work. Nathan sleeps in until 8:00 AM. I try my best to keep quiet and stay out of the house until 7:00 AM or so. I usually go to the gym and do the grocery shopping in the morning to give him his rest. He stays at home, so he gets some extra sleep time.

- Communicate. If you stalk my posts, you’ll see that my husband and I have made the choice that he will stay at home and freelance write part time. He keeps house while I work [which requires a lot of travel]. We have very open lines of communication about everything from how he is adjusting to staying home to what tv show to watch to dinner plans. You have to talk or else you’ll be living in fear of living together.
Those are my big pieces of advice. We’re still adjusting a little bit. * It is such a fun process. Don’t let it overwhelm you!
Just remember to be thankful for everything she does and thank God for providing her in your life.*
Thank you for that great advice. I think we will definitely try to do those 5 things. Sounds like you two are doing well. Thanks again.