Living close to home and family can be great! You have more fun family get-togethers to go to, more people who can babysit (and usually for free!), more people to talk to, and just an all around feeling of moral support from you family. If you live close to your family, you probably love it.
But just beware that when you get married, spending too much time with your family can become an issue in your marriage if you spouse feels like they aren’t your priority. This can happen if you family always wants your over for dinners and get togethers, and you end up spending more time with your family then you do with your spouse.
When you first get married you need to have time to become your own family with your spouse and not rely on your own family as much anymore. Your spouse is your family now and should always be your number one priority. Sometimes you need some space from your family to really learn how to rely on each other.
I have been married for a little over a year now and both my husband’s and my family live nearby. Having family close hasn’t been a huge issue in our marriage but i can definitely see how it could be. Depending on your family and what characteristics they have, it could be a great thing for you to be close or it could be a terrible thing.
The main thing i have found about living close to both of ours families is that there are issues with holidays. Since both of our families are close we have to split the holidays up. Both of our families are pretty chill about holidays so it hasn’t been a huge deal. But a lot of the time we have to deal with where we are going to go for what. And this sometimes ends up in arguments.
Luckily, we both get along with each others families, but that could be a major issue in our marriage if we didn’t. Especially if one of us were to side with our family members in a situation or argument. Make sure that no matter how well your spouse gets along with your family, you always need to have your spouse’s back in serious situations.
The other thing i have found about living close to both our families is that we need to make time for OUR family. Like just us two. We are a family and sometimes we want to have sunday dinner to ourselves, or we want to have a movie night with just us. If your families have a tendency to be a little overbearing you need to make sure you make time for the family you have started.
The smartest thing you can do is to know that this could be an issue, and talk to your spouse before it does. Make sure you both have an agreement that you are going to make each other a priority and that your families aren’t number one anymore. Obviously they are very important to you, but you can’t spend all your time and energy helping them and hanging out with them. Make sure you are always communicating to each other how you are feeling and if it is becoming a burden on your marriage.