I'm cohabitating. I think the difference is elsewhere. The US is a much less gender equal and much more materialistic culture than (for example) Sweden, which results in stuff like this.

Here's my relationship "blueprint".

Chores:
I cook and buy groceries.
She does the dishes and cleans.
We both wash clothes together.

Economy:
We share rent, electricity and food costs.
Stuff that we both use (furniture and toothpaste for example) we share the cost.
Stuff that only one person uses we pay seperately (clothes for example)

Occupation:
She works full time as a nurse
I play poker part time and do politics/volonteer work part time (I'm running for city hall and helping immigrant children with home work).

Hobbies:
She does her stuff (like painting), I do my stuff (like games), and there's some stuff we do together (like football).


Having a well functioning, balanced and equal relationship is very +EV in all ways.

Your reality does not equal everyones reality, and you can change yours. That is the point I am making. Many of my friends manage just fine being married and with children but keeping a balance, some don't. It's about people and just as no two peoplke are the same, no two relationships are the same. Saying something is like it is only works to discourage change.

And if I wanted to "trade in" my girlfriend it wouldn't be that much easier than if we were married or had children.

Just wait till you get married stone.

I admire your optimism, lets leave it at that...good luck dude, if she looks like any of the swedish women I've ever known, you're a lucky (but surly and balding it appears, ) dude.

Didnt mean to state with authority that my way is right (I'm no KCB here), just saying that in my case, showing the wife some tangible results of my long sessions with the laptop (while she and the baby are sleeping of course) goes a long way.

ship a swedish woman nh.

I earn 2-3 times the salary of my partner (exc. poker income). She cooks for me most evenings, does 90% of the housework and is continually thinking of ways to improve our surroundings (unlike me, who is a caveman at heart). I cook for our youngest, do all the washing up, a bit of housework some weekends, and all the driving (not much).

It does seem only fair that I give her part of my poker earnings (which she often spends on things for the house, anyway).