GRAZIA
With the cost of living crisis, more couples are rushing relationship milestones, such as moving in together, reports Alice Hall
FOR SASHA* , MOVING in with her boyfriend, Charlie* , wasn’t part of the plan.
They lived separately in London with housemates and enjoyed having their own space while meeting up a few nights a week.
But after Charlie’s landlord unexpectedly increased his rent, he had to find somewhere else to live. Already struggling to make ends meet as a ceramist, the work studio he rented had also recently shut down. All of this meant his best option was either to move back home with his parents – or in with Sasha.
‘Although we had been together two years, I wasn’t particularly keen on the idea of him moving in because it felt like such a rush,’ says Sasha, 27. ‘But equally, it was the only way for him to be able to stay in London. I knew if he left, it would have a bad impact on our relationship.’
Traditionally, moving in with a partner is seen as one of the big relationship milestones, up there with saying ‘I love you’ for the first time, going on your first holiday and getting engaged. But since the cost of living crisis took hold, more couples like Sasha and Charlie, 30, are choosing to accelerate their relationships to help make ends meet, in a trend that some have coined ‘inflationships’ or the ‘cost of loving crisis’.
A TikTok last year by @timelmoresays explains the concept: ‘ When Millennials or Generation Z see what inflation is doing today, their relationships are morphing. They may be getting together but sharing the cost of gas or groceries or rent or whatever just because it’s a pragmatic decision.’
You only need look at the housing market to understand why this trend is on the rise. Rents in the UK are now the highest on record, with the Office for National Statistics recording the biggest annual increase since its records on renting began eight years ago.
And when coupled with a rising demand for rooms, this creates a perfect storm. According to the flatmate finding platform SpareRoom, the number of renters looking for rooms has tripled since the start of 2021, while listings have declined over the same period, meaning there are now seven times more people looking than there are rooms available. For many new couples, moving in together is a no -brainer when they are already spending several nights a week together anyway.
But accelerating such an important milestone can also bring an abrupt end to the blissful ‘honeymoon stage’ that characterises the first year or so of dating. One minute you were swooning over each other in restaurants, now you’re bickering over the best way to stack the dishwasher.
This was the case for Sasha, who says although there were still some ‘nice moments’, her relationship with Charlie quickly be
