My girlfriend, Mary and I had been dating for nearly two years when we moved in together. It seemed like a really great way to save on rent and utilities. We are both recently graduated from college, not making much money, and struggling to pay off student loans. We’ve now been living together for nearly a year, and I can’t wait for the lease to be up. Living with Mary is costing me a fortune, and she’s driving me insane. We both agreed we would take every opportunity to cut costs, but she’s constantly wasting money. When Mary gets the groceries, she comes home with imported cheese, exotic fruits, gourmet cooking oil and chocolate. When she leaves for work in the morning, she never bothers to adjust the thermostat. I often come back to an empty apartment and find either the air conditioner or heating unit blasting at maximum capacity. Last winter, the outside temperature was 28 degrees, and the heating system was struggling to meet demand. It kept running and running, and yet the apartment felt downright chilly. I finally noticed a freezing cold draft and discovered that Mary had opened the bathroom window. She apparently wanted to let out the steam, and never considered how much we pay every month in heating bills. When I got angry over it, she accused me of being insensitive. I don’t complain over her buying new shoes every month. I have no problem with all of the worthless stuff she orders online. But since we share the cost of utilities, I’m not going to let her open windows while the heating or cooling system is running.