Living with your In-laws (idea)

A common living situation across most of the globe, but "the unthinkable" for most American newlyweds, living with your mother-in-law and father-in-law has its drawbacks and benefits.

In fact almost four percent of American households are multigenerational and this figure is growing rapidly.¹

OK, it totally sucks, but I'm sure some people have found themselves in this situation after getting hitched. When you move in you say "Just long enough to make the deposit on our new apartment!" and before you know it it's been six months. Here are the good and bad things about it:

• Free (or reduced) rent
• Free food (except for the Phish Food and Hot Pickled Okra
• The use of nice appliances (computer, disposal, grill etc.)
• Child Care
• Free books
• Developing a "close bond" with your spouse's parents
• Getting a multicultural understanding of what it means to live in a multigenerational household SUPER!
• Free utilities

Bad Things

• It sucks my bleeding hemorrhoid
• Seeing how dysfuctional you and your wife will be in twenty-five years via her parents
• Cooking for the family and the food being real bad (think: undercooked, crunchy potatoes)
• Having to compliment your mother-in-law's cooking when it's real bad (think: overcooked, rubbery pot roast)
• Having to "fuck quietly"
• Having to go out to drink alcohol
• Coming home blind drunk at two a.m. and meeting your in-laws
• Having your mother-in law ask you to do "favors" that require a fucking electrical, carpentry, auto mechanic degree or something
• Living with your wife's sister
• Hearing your in-laws say "Why don't you hang out with us more often?"
• Having to tiptoe around the house when staying up past ten p.m.
• The logical inferiority complex you get from your father-in-law

Well, upon contemplation, it seems like it pretty much sucks to live with your in-laws except that the word free appeared four times in the "good" list and nonce in the "bad" list. We do what we must do.

¹ Christian Science Monitor, November 2002