"Casual" relationship - moving in?

Hi everybody, new here!

I'm not sure if this is the right place to post this thread so someone please correct me if it should be somewhere else....and SORRY THIS POST IS SO LONG.

I have a couple questions. I've been dating my boyfriend for a few months now but we started out more as friends, and that slowly developed into a casual relationship. Things are getting a little more serious lately, but I'm a little confused so it is hard to gauge HOW much more serious it is becoming. I mean, we are acting a little more like a real "couple" than we used to, but in general it doesn't feel that much more serious. Also, I feel like he has a lot more affection for me than I have for him. This doesn't bother me at all because I'm very happy with this relationship, it's one of the best ones I've ever had (probably because I'm treating it really lightly and carefree).

So my first question is a classic one. How do you figure out how serious your relationship is? How do you know if one partner has more affection for the other, and to what scale? If the difference is huge, is that a big problem? Especially for the below situation? (sorry I posted this kind of backwards haha)

Here is the second part. We are both in college, but he says he feels like he needs to take a semester off, but wants to live near the campus and get a job to make some money. I was joking around and asking him if he would visit me at school often now that he wants to go off and be a busy working man, and he replied "all the time." Then I said completely without thinking, something like "then maybe we should find an apartment together because then you'd be wasting your money on paying rent." Also, last semester, he practically lived in my room for 2 months in a row, so we get along really well living together "unofficially" but after that popped out of my mouth I realized that signing a lease together is a completely different story.

However, we both were mostly excited about the prospect of saving money. He'd be splitting his rent in half, since some single/double/triple apartments cost around the same range in that area (I know, weird right?) and I would be saving a sh*t-ton because campus housing is MAD expensive.

Of course, it is common knowledge that it is generally extremely bad practice for couples to live together unless they are getting very serious.

I just wanted your opinions on if we signed the contract just "as friends" to save money, getting a 2 bedroom apartment and making some understandings about what would happen if we broke up or had other complications. But this also depends on how attached he is to me. For me, this relationship is casual enough that if we broke up, I'd probably be sad for a day or two, then be fine with seeing him around as a friend.

If it should end up as a messy breakup, I can't really imagine anything worse happening other than one of us moving in with another friend until a second apartment could be found.

So I guess my question is, can there be exceptions like this where moving in together would work out at such an early stage in a relationship, or is it a hard cold rule that couples should NEVER move in together? Also, it is only temporary housing during the semester, not like we're permanently moving in with each other, so that's why I thought it might be okay. I know some of you might think I'm crazy even asking this question, but I just don't feel like its an issue to me for some reason. And I know that I should ultimately talk to my boyfriend about this, but I just wanted some other peoples' opinions first...thanks!

You're treating this moving in thing as two friends looking to share rent. Thats very different than a couple moving in together because their relationship is ready for that step.

I think its a horrible idea. Just my two cents.

I think you need to clarify it more with him, expectations, where are you heading, etc.

I just don't know what to say.

The reasons for moving in, in my opinion, are wrong.

And if the relationship isn't very well established, considering you can't even gauge how serious you two are..it could go either way. Continue going casual till you drift apart, or become serious. But you both need to be on the same page, with the same expectations.

I'd just find other roommates if you're doing it for convenience and saving money.

But if you're not going to be upset at things getting ruined, then you don't really have anything to lose.

I'd rather get established in my relationship and keep my relationship one thing, and my living arragenements another. Not combining it and acting like its a friend thing, when you clearly are not just friends. You're keeping it casual by stating you're friends getting a place together.

Have yall had sex yet?

Agree with this 100%.