Unsought intrusions into others’ lives are not advised, unless there’s a direct, necessary request for information

Q As news of the pandemic gained momentum, I realized that I didn’t want to be separated from my girlfriend of two years whom I loved. So I invited her to move into my apartment. It’s a one-bedroom with nice views. When there alone, it felt pretty spacious. I’ve since been working from home and still earning the same as before. However, my girlfriend’s retail sales job ended when the store closed completely, so her income stopped. However, money isn’t what’s bothering me. It’s her lack of neatness and organization. In a living space surrounded by windows, there’s less room for furniture and cupboards in the main living area. Keeping clothing on the couch, or over chairs just makes for clutter, especially when we each have a cupboard in the bedroom and one to share in the entrance hall. I use an end of the dining table for the computer, with the printer and other needed items on the wall unit behind me. My girlfriend just puts her laptop wherever she was last sitting and piles books/notepad/markers on the floor at her bedside. We also cook very differently, but she makes some great dishes (so I just clean up and shut up). I know these are unusual stress-laden times, but I’m left wondering if my girlfriend and I are just not suited to each other since we can’t get through normal living adjustments without arguing and shutting down. Limited Space, Big Fights A Moving in together suddenly sounded alarms for you two. Things had gone smoothly enough while just dating, for you to ignore her messiness, and her to sidestep your controls. Yes, “controls.” You asked her to move in. That put a new label on the glass-walled haven — it’s a shared accommodation, a home for two. It doesn’t even matter that you’re paying the shot. I’m not talking ownership; this is about sharing a refuge, and even little kids learn that sharing means give and take. You appreciate her cooking, so you accept her culinary style. Apply that to her as a person. In considering your future together or apart, the operative clue is “love.” You felt it before you found her books on the bedroom floor, and now must decide whether you still feel it. She needs to consider whether she can still love someone who’s continually monitoring her. The pandemic will eventually pass. Will you both have learned about your own natures, that future stress is inevitable, and that it takes two to compromise? If so, you might both be happy together again.