The Situation:
I am in grad school in the south, and my bf lives in Boston, so we’ve been doing the long distance thing since the fall. Here’s my situation: I have a summer job in Boston. It’s unpaid so the only place I can afford to live is at home (I am from Boston also). My bf and I want to spend as much time we can together over the summer since it is hard during the school year to do so. The problem is, he has 2 roommates, and while we’ve discussed that we want to spend every (or most) nights together, I feel weird about basically moving in with him and his roommates and not contributing. I have no income since the job is unpaid and any income I have will be going towards my loans. We could stay at my parents house some of the time, but for the most part, we will realistically be at his apartment and I’m going to need a key. His roommates both have gf’s too and both usually sleep at their gf’s apartments. I get along well with both roommates- and I spent every night of my 3 week Christmas break there and one of them commented on how fun it was having me (not a shock because I clean up the kitchen from time to time and helped him edit his grad school essay). I just don’t know what the right thing to do is. Can I stay there with out contributing to their rent? It’s a small apartment and I don’t want to be a “squatter”. Or are we both over-thinking it, and the roommates just have to understand and deal with the situation for 3 months?
JORDAN’S RESPONSE
As long as you act respectfully and get along with the roommates, there is no reason why they would have a problem with you staying there. Since your BF has no reservations about you staying there again, I assume your boyfriend didn’t get any negative feedback from his roommates following your previous stay. Forget the monetary contributions. Don’t hog the living room TV, leave clothes everywhere, or monopolize the DVR and everything will be alright.
KAREN’S RESPONSE:
It sounds like your BF’s roommates understand your situation and really like you enough to not make this an issue. Obviously you wont be able to contribute to rent but if at all feasible, get groceries every now and then. They are guys so they will definitely appreciate this and it will probably make you feel a little bit better about the whole situation. Pitch in when and where you can and I’m sure this wont be an issue—especially if they stay at their girlfriends place’s most of the time!
JORDAN’S RESPONSE TO KAREN:
Yeah, this is really straightforward. Just don’t be a pain in the ass, and it will all work out fine.
KAREN’S RESPONSE TO JORDAN:
I agree 100%. Do small little things that will help out around the apartment and no one will care.
What is the move? 