Shacking Up: Does it Still Mean Living in Sin?

Why buy the cow when you can get the milk for free, right? Isn't that the scary cautionary line that (used to, if ever?) keeps singles who have not yet been declared someone else's official betrothed living alone?

Well, maybe like, decades ago, but every since Lindsay sang to Stevie in "Go Your Own Way," "... shacking up, it's all you wanna do," the notion of couples living together meaning they were living in sin has sort of vanished into the ether like the sock hop — certain demographic factors notwithstanding.

Jezebel picked up on a study done at the "Smart Marriages/Happy Families" conference that may alarm some who are still aren't buying that people are cohabiting because it's the post-modern way of doing things (it may especially alarm their parents).

To wit: The U.S. Census Bureau reported 13.6 million unmarried, heterosexual couples living together in 2008.

The study revealed that most couples move into together, not as a testing ground or trial run for marriage, but because it just happened as a natural progression, usually because they like spending time together. Or, if you live in New York City, because the F train is so slow.

But the good news, Mom and Pop, is that 50 to 70 percent of couples who marry lived together first.

So, maybe the cow is okay after all, or something like that.

Read more here.

Photo courtesy of Leovdworp @sxc.hu