We are moving in together....? HELP!! Need advice for first time!

[crystaldragonix]

Here's the situation.

We have been going strong for nine years this june. We dated in person when I'm home from school.
We have closed the distance in the past year ---except we broke up when I got back home from school. (ironic considering I've been praying for this for years)
We got back together again in the past month - that is when I asked him to move in with me when I go back to my doctorate program. He will be done with school (I hope) so that's not an issue anymore thank god!

-My mom says we can move in (kind of too good to be true considering she's old school) But my Dad calls him his son-in-law and my mom trusts him with my life.
-We will be moving in Jan 2016 next winter.
-How do we prepare? Ive lived on my own before HE HAS NOT
-Job possibilities for him - pharm tech, work from home - industrial design - random job on campus
- Me - full-time student, free lance photographer
-How do we make sure parents are 100% convinced we are serious?

They said yes...but I kinda don't believe them - there must be a catch!

We both think its far fetched - how do we make it a reality?

Housing - i want to rent a house with a tub and dog friendly. Might have to search a little out of town since its a small town. When do we start looking? Any advice on leasing a house? Best way to not have problems with this?

Thanks LFDA community. You've helped me through some rough times.

[differentcountries]

When you say he has not lived on his own, how has he lived? With other students? With his mum cooking and cleaning? It all depends. SO had never lived alone before we moved in together (part time) but both with family and colleages he is used to doing his share, so really no problem for us, it is just a bit overwealming for him at times to have more responsability, to live alone (when I am not there. But we have got the cat) etc.

Since you plan to move together a year from now, you can start på searching in the area you want to live in, or for the kind of flat/house that you want (allowing animals, possably first floor etc.). Make an estimate on how much rent you are willing to pay and plot that into search engines, or just look at flats and see what the prices are. That way, when fall comes and you start to look for real, you will have an awareness of the housing market in your town/area.

Also, do you own any furniture, kitchen supply and so on? If you don't own that much, perhaps it will be best to rent fully or partly furnished. That is rather unusual where I live, but we rent fully furnished in Turkey and perhaps where you live too you can. If you want to rent unfurnished, perhaps you can get some cheap furniture second hand?

Check into what kind of qualities you want the flat to have and might get in the flat, like internet, electricity and so on. Notes of change of adress... There are a million things that you can check up forhand, and then half the job is done when the time comes.

When it comes to your parents, I don't see the problem - you are adults, so you can move in with each other if you want, and they even say he is part of the family, so perhaps the real issue is convincing yourself that you have a real future with him and not just a period before the next break up.