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When you are fresh out of high school or college, choosing to live with roommates is a natural course of action. You may have friends you want to stay with or simply are not ready to have a whole apartment to yourself. However, many people feel that you are supposed to grow out of this.
Unfortunately, buying a place of your own is becoming more difficult than ever before. Even if you find a good deal on a condo or co-op, with affordable co-op insurance, you’re going to be paying a hefty sum of money every month. Choosing to rent with roommates instead saves you a lot of money. Should you lose out on this benefit simply because you’re ‘too old’?
There are, of course, no hard and fast rules. The reality is that whether you are too old to be living with roommates depends on your personality. Ignore what everyone else may think, and consider how you feel about the following.
Do you crave space?
We all spend the first eighteen years of our lives living with ‘roommates’. Until we leave home, we don’t experience what it is like to live alone. This continues to be the case for most people as they spend a few years in college and getting their career started.
Some people prefer to keep it this way. Living alone can be isolating and you can feel very vulnerable when something goes bump in the night. You may not care that you rarely have the entire place to yourself.
But if you crave space or the ability to be alone, you may well have grown out living with roommates. This often has more to do with where you are in your life than your age. After a long day of work, you may want the space to just relax without anyone else around.
How important is privacy to you?
As is the case with having the space to yourself, privacy is something you don’t get much of growing up. Not everyone misses this thing that they never had. But depending on what is going on with your life, privacy can suddenly become very important.
This is especially true for people in serious relationships. You want to feel free to use your home as you wish. This is not just about physical intimacy, either. The lack of privacy makes it tough to have important conversations or necessary arguments.
Also, your partner may care more about privacy than you do. While you may not mind having roommates, your partner might not want to spend time at your place around them.
What do you need the extra cash for?
Money is a huge consideration when deciding whether to live with roommates. If you can’t afford a place on your own, it doesn’t matter how old you are. You will need to live with roommates.
But you don’t need to be desperate to choose to live with roommates. You may want to free up funds to improve your quality of life, to invest, or just to save. Living with roommates can be the best financial decision.
However, if the extra money is about quality of life, consider how living with roommates is affecting your life. Is it making life harder? Are you constantly wondering if it’s time to move out?
If so, having the extra money to spend on other things which enhance your quality of life may not be worth it. You could benefit significantly just by living on your own.
The reality is that you may be going out to restaurants or events more often because you don’t have that much space to yourself. You may not need whatever you’re spending your extra money on if you are getting what you need by living on your own.
There is no age limit to living with roommates. However, as you get older and move into different phases of your life, you may find that it is no longer an ideal living situation.
Last Updated on by Icy Tales Team