I’ve been doing a little side writing for this fantastic personal finance site called LearnVest.com. For those of you familiar with my math skills and history of personal finance, stop laughing.

My most recent piece was a really tricky one to write. As a fiercely independent female, I felt weird admitting to all the ways being in a relationship – and more specifically, moving in with R – has impacted my financial outlook and responsibility. More specifically, I was shocked at how much more focused on finance I became after we took that relationship step. I hemmed and hawed about it for a bit, then I got off my former single girl high horse, took a look at the myriad ways I’ve grown for the better, and wrote the below article.

Give a read! And feel free to share your own financial trials and tribulations, live-in-girlfriend edition.