Living with a Partner *

I’ve been living with Mike for edging towards two years, and as much as I wouldn’t change it for the world, it does change the dynamics of your relationship. It goes from dinners in and weekend sleepovers to washing each other’s clothes and tidying up a mess that isn’t your own which some people can find pretty taxing. I sure as hell have lost my temper on more than one occasion when the dirty washing has been left on the bedroom floor when it belongs in the washbin, but that doesn’t mean I wouldn’t wholeheartedly recommend living with your partner!

Over the time I’ve lived with Mike I’ve picked a few tips to make sure living together goes as easy as possible and most of them are based around chores as this seems to be what most couples argue about!

My first tip is to share the cooking; it’s not fun coming home from work every single night and one of you putting all your effort into cooking dinner when the other just sits and does nothing! We have things that we both love to cook so we make sure we take turns. I love to cook stir fry, chilli con carne and spaghetti bolognese, whereas Mike is a lover of cooking steak, tuna pasta bake and shepherd’s pie, so we make these during the week so neither of us gets lumbered!

 Sharing the cleaning is a big must; I hate cleaning bathrooms so we have a deal that I clean my bathroom and Mike does his one, then I’m not spending all my time just cleaning bathrooms. If I put the washing on, then Mike will put it out on the clothes horse. If I hoover the floor then Mike will then mop the wood and tiles. We split things evenly, not only does it get things done quicker, but it saves us arguing over it!

My final tip is to take time out together; yes you may live together so seeing each other become normal. I found that once I moved in we actually spent a little less time together, it sounds crazy as every night we go to bed together and wake up next to each other every morning, but hear me out! When you live apart you put in time to see your other half; cinema dates, cooking together, the normal couple stuff, but when you move in you start to take for granted that they’ll be there all the time. I’m awful at sitting watching TV with Mike but I will be scrolling through Instagram so not really spending time with him. Just plan a date night or a date day, phones away and talk, you’ll have a great time!

Is your partner or housemate the laziest person you’ve ever met? If so, this competition with ScS could well be up your street. The prize that’s up for grabs is a £1,500 voucher to spend in-store at ScS on their exclusive La-Z-Boy department, a £50 Netflix voucher and a £50 takeaway voucher! Two runners up will also each receive a Netflix voucher and takeaway voucher to treat themselves to a lazy night in. Worth it just for submitting a photo right?!