the good and the bad of having roommates

disclaimer for my current roomies: y'all are awesome....but you know that these are true :)

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the GOOD

[1] You're [almost] never alone.

I'm pretty social...and I like to have people around, which is great when you have roommates because there are almost zero times when there's no one to talk to. In order to be lonely, you have to try to be lonely.

[2] Sharing chores.

What's not to love?? It's not all on me to keep the house clean, and that's fab.

[3] Community food.

LOVE it when someone buys too many oreos or has left over chicken salad/guac/etc

[4] Party people.

When you live with 4 other people, there's almost always have something to do....my social calendar is almost never without options.

[5] Splitting utilities.

This is nice....to heat this giant house and pay for it on my own would cost a small fortune...

the BAD

[1] You're [almost] never alone.

...we all need our alone time. And as Beth has said, walking around naked would be nice.

[2] Sharing chores.

While I really love having a clean home, if I know that someone else will pick up the slack if I don't clean my area of the house this week,it's easier for me to just not pull my weight. And my education in social psychology tells me that social proof usually takes over, resulting in everyone slacking off....no bueno.

[3] Community food.

Sometimes I'm not sure what food is mine....in the same way, it's easy to fall into a resentful "omg did she eat my mac and cheese??" mindset when in fact you've already eaten your mac and cheese....

[4] Party house.

Having an active social life is exhausting. Sure it's nice to have options, but if you want to be alone and there are 15 people over and your only option is to hang out in your room which is on the first floor....well, that kind of defeats the "being alone" mentality.

[5] Splitting utilities.

How could there be a downside? Well...despite sharing utilities, I've run into this issue with roommates I've had in the past... hate to be the lights Nazi, but when your electric bill has been over 200 for the past 3 months, it gets kind of ridiculous. If it were just me, I would only have myself to blame.

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If you paid attention, you'll notice that the good and the bad are the same things. As much as I've loved living with roommates over the past 5 years, I am getting SO PUMPED to live on my own come August. eek!!!

xo, mo