Pros and Cons of Our Current Living Arrangement

The hubby and I are in a somewhat weird living arrangement at present. Well, technically, we started with it right after we got married in 2012. You might ask, how weird? Read on.

On weekdays, we stay in Manila at my in-laws’ place. On weekends, we stay in our marital home in Bacoor. What we do each week is we would leave Manila on Friday night and drive to Bacoor and go back to Manila on Monday morning. This had been the case until the hubby started attending graduate school last month. From then onwards, we would leave Manila on Saturday night because his classes don’t get finished until 5:00 p.m of that day.

I may have already mentioned about this living setup before in some of my old posts. But this one’s more detailed. I have actually listed down the pros and cons of it today:

Pros:

1. We get to save on transportation. When we computed it, the actual cost of going home everyday via car is P250. If it’s via commute, it’s even higher at P272. (Those amounts are for the both of us already.) Did you know that my in-laws’ place is just a stone’s throw away from where we work? All we do is walk a few meters every morning to go to work. Talk about comfort and convenience. Haha.

2. We get to save on food and electricity. Why? Because these (and so much more!) are provided by my in-laws for free. Normally, when we go home from work, my MIL or my FIL has cooked food ready for us to eat. My PILs don’t even obligate us to contribute to household expenses because they understand that we have mortgages (car and house) to pay and we’re still building up our emergency funds.

3. It is convenient for us to clock out from work late. This comes in handy when we need to work overtime for deadlines that we need to finish.

4. It is convenient for us to meet with friends after work given this kind of setup.

5. The hubby gets to check on his parents regularly. And so do I because my family lives just a few steps away.

6. The setup makes us look forward to weekends (especially long weekends!) every time.

7. We get to have enough sleep every night. And since we have our own room at my PILs’ place, our privacy as a married couple is never compromised.

8. We don’t have to deal with heavy traffic on Roxas Blvd. and Coastal Road every night.

9. We get to strengthen our relationship with our parents and siblings.

10. We get to save money! Isn’t it a great thing?

Cons:

1. We have to always pack and unpack personal stuff in our individual backpacks as we go home in Bacoor and go back to Manila.

2. We miss our house a lot!

3. We have to inform my PILs of our whereabouts all the time. This is especially true when we have lakads outside.

4. In terms of pakikisama, they say it could be hard. Luckily for me, I don’t have any problems because my PILs are very kind and considerate people. My MIL can be preachy sometimes, but I have been used to it and to be honest, I think she’s the best MIL one could ever have. As for my one and only SIL, I get along with her most of the time. 🙂

5. We don’t get to experience living together (meaning, just the two of us) 100% of the time.

I can’t think of other cons anymore so let’s leave it at just five. Personally, I think having this setup at present is beneficial to the hubby and me. We can continue with this for a few more months. Or even years. Haha.

Some people may find our current living arrangement inconvenient or something that they will have a hard time dealing with. But believe me, it’s manageable and has been working great for us, so far.

Anyway, we plan to go home in Bacoor every day once we have children already. Because by that time, we really have to stand on our two feet and raise our own family na. 🙂