There's No Place Like Home

Due to the current financial climate and recession, it has become necessary for some families to move in to one home.

Whether you have moved in because you were the one in need of a place to go or because you are trying to help out a family member/friend in need of financial assistance, the sentiment is still the same: you feel like an interloper.

When you have a roof over your head, you are among the fortunate. You know where you are going to lay your head. You know where your things are... sometimes. But having a roof over your head is not the same as having a home.

It is hard to move from your house where you've established your own way of living with your own set of rules into someone else's home where your rules become all but invalid. Doesn't matter if it's a family member or a friend; it doesn't matter if you've known the person for years. When you move in with someone else, you are moving in with someone else. No matter how long you stay, it will never feel like home because you now have to take the other person's feelings and thoughts into consideration. You have to worry about if you are leaving enough of something; you have to make sure that you don't touch the "untouchable". Then, of course, there are the seemingly forever changing rules.

Regardless of who moves in with whom, one of the people (if not both or all parties) essentially becomes "homeless". The person who is helping you out or whom you are helping out loses his/her privacy. The person's house is no longer their home. Even if you can live contently without reason for a blow-up, you will still feel some uderlying animosity because you have lost your "home" (the helper and/or the helpee).

All that being said, try to be considerate to everyone in this situation. Remember what they're giving up and what they've lost. It's not an easy situation to be in, but if you put yourself their shoes for a moment, it might make things go a little easier.