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The Financial Disadvantages of My Solo Polyamorous Lifestyle
Despite the advantages of self partnership and living alone, there’s a high price to pay for my independent life
It is ten o'clock on a chilly, slushy, snowy Friday night. I'm exhausted from another emotionally draining workweek, and honestly, I don't feel like leaving the comfort of my warm, dry home. However, I must venture into the downpour because I've received an alert from an app that my bank account is overdrawn. I found a check to bring my balance slightly above negative. This triumph will be short-lived because, at some point, an unexpected expense will set me back negative again. This is my current reality as I live paycheck to paycheck due to my vocation as an educator and alone as a self-partnered, solo-polyamorous person.
Fifteen years ago, I lived a very different financial life. As a junior in college, I married my former husband, and we lived together like many newly married couples. I was also in my senior year of college and didn't want to give up my job as a resident assistant, so I bounced between my on-campus residence and an off-campus apartment with my new guy and stepson.
Looking back, I did what many newly married women were taught decades before: I relied on my older husband to care for many…
