It’s been nearly 8 months since I made the move from suburban Virginia and roommatehood to DC and livingalonehood. To be frank, there are some things I miss about having roommates, and some things I really appreciate about living alone, so I decided to break it down for myself.
Food
When living with roommates, there usually is a lot of food in the house. Not all of it is yours, however, so if you want to partake of other people’s food, you must ask. Living alone you have only the food that you buy, but you know for a fact that when you want a four meat and cheese hot pocket when you get home at 3am after drinking that it will be waiting for you and not have fallen victim to a roommate who didn’t ask. For that peace of mind… Advantage: Living alone
Activities
I cannot accurately tell you the number of times I either asked or was asked “I’m going to such-and-such, wanna roll?” when I was living with roommates. Whether it was the bar, the movies, or to the 24 hour Taco Bell or McDonalds at odd hours of the night, when it was spur of the moment, there was almost always someone around to go. Sadly, those places tend not to be puppy-friendly, so the four-legged companion won’t be going with. Advantage: Roommates
Modesty
I’m not saying I walk around naked (so far as you know), but if I want to now I can. Options also available: peeing with the door open, scratching myself. BIG Advantage: Living alone
Companionship
You and your lusty individual of choice are in your room. The door is closed, and things are ramping up. You hear the front door shut but continue on unabated, knowing that it’s just your roommate. Unbeknownst to you, your roommate is meeting up with a bunch of people at the bar and, after seeing your car out front, knows you’re home and wants to see if you want to go. They’ll either knock on the door or, worse, open it. I guess it’s not always an advantage to have people around to do things with. BIG Advantage: Living alone
Upkeep
Around the house there are always things to be done. Vacuuming, cleaning, dishes, and trash are all necessary evils whether you live alone or with roommates. It should go without saying that it’s preferable to split those duties whether than do them all yourself. That’s presuming, of course, that the others keep up their end of the deal. Advantage: Roommates
At this point, living alone is ahead of roommates with a bit of room to spare. I tell you all of that to tell you this: I’m very close to purchasing my little slice of DC residency, which means I’ll be locked into living alone for at least the immediate foreseeable future. I mean hey, if things change I can sell it or rent it out. Things they are a-changing.
Filed under: transition
I think I need roomies so I don’t turn in to one of those people who has dishes on the floor. Keeps me clean.
At that point you might as well just throw them out and buy new ones. Kinda like when someone has no underwear and no time to do laundry, they just buy new ones. Uh… not that I know anything about that.
I prefer living alone honestly, because when I see dirt and dirty dishes the only person to get angry at is myself. However, I only managed to get 2 months of living alone before Nick moved in and now I have plenty of people to blame.
Another roommate plus, paranoia…like if you arrive at home at 12am and realized you left the door unlocked and proceed to be freaked out for the next week.
I think living alone wins, but I still occasionally pine for roommateness.
They’ll either knock on the door or, worse, open it. I guess it’s not always an advantage to have people around to do things with. BIG Advantage: Living alone
In my old place, I shared a bathroom with a roomie… that was IN my bedroom. AWK. WARD.
Wow! I don’t even know what I’d do then. Go to a hotel for the night?
That’s cool about the potential purchase! I hope it goes through.