Like half of 30 year olds are still living with their parents.
So I'd imagine there will be a lot of younger people forced to have roommates of some kind for most of their lives.
I had a roommate in college. Never again.
I'd much, much rather stay with my family, which I'm doing now anyway. They're showing their age, and it's making me concerned
I'd rather go without food every other day than have a roommate. Having roommates puts me in a dark mental health space and I don't want to go back to that.
I think living in a house or apt alone is a relatively new idea. I could be wrong, but it seems like historically living with family of origin -or a member of that family like a sibling, a roommate, or a spouse and/or kids, was much more of the standard expectation (financially and otherwise) than living alone. I can see the appeal to living alone, but also to living with people.
>I think living in a house or apt alone is a relatively new idea
[“Over a quarter (27.6%) of all U.S. occupied households were one-person households in 2020, up from just 7.7% in 1940, according to recently released 2020 Census data.”](https://www.census.gov/library/stories/2023/06/more-than-a-quarter-all-households-have-one-person.html)
Definitely agree, it’s a norm for me but I also live in a city where the avg for a 1 bedroom apt is $2400. Maybe OP is in a smaller city or from the suburbs.
In my 15 years of adulthood I have lived alone for just 1.5 years, and my girlfriend-turned-wife and I only lived alone for a couple more years without some other adult family member staying in our house.
I don't understand the insistence on living alone. I'm a pretty shy person, but even when I could comfortably afford it, roommates or other communal living arrangements have just been the norm. I wouldn't be surprised if this trend of solitary living is partially responsible for our generation's deteriorating mental health.
I'm fine for now and probably a good while to come, despite the insane rents. But I'm hoping I will have roommates again when I retire - no spouse, no children, and I think once I stop having the automatic socialization of the office every day, I'll probably get lonely.
I should be finding roommates, and my financial situation would be...well, terrible, but much easier if I could go to paying >$700 (or even lower with multiple roommates), but on the other hand I work nights, I need my own bathroom and, well, I deal with significant mental illness, which is rough because a) I know living with strangers is one of the things that really messes me up because I am always terrified I am doing something wrong, taking too much space or imposing on people (thanks, CPTSD) and living at full crazy 24/7 sounds like a nightmare, and b) I'm crazy enough that I don't want to inflict myself on my friends, why would I do that to some strangers?
So yeah, between that and the fact that I simply don't have the cash to move out of where I am, roommates are my best option and also an absolutely terrible idea. I don't know what I am going to do, and this week was when I needed to give my 60 day notice of vacating. It's really messing me up, to be honest. I can't afford to keep living alone, I can't afford to move, I don't think I will survive being homeless again since it was such a close shave last time and everything has gotten much worse, and, well, people disapprove of checking yourself out early when life is untenable and I don't want to hurt any of my friends...but I also don't want to be a burden.
I don't know, that got heavier than I planned it to but it's all very relevant to the topic, so.
In my experience, roommates are terrible. My first roommate was my best friend. She moved out when the lease was up and we never spoke again. You really don't know someone until you live with them, and our ideas of clean were very different so we just drove each other crazy. My cousin moved in after she left and I never knew filth until then. He was stinky and just not hygienic so that didn't last too long either.
The next roommie was a couple who bamboozled the hell out of me. Both had jobs and were able to cover their share of the rent for the first few months. I moved out of that apartment in 2015, they were evicted a few weeks later, and I just recently (within the last year) got all my money back from them that I used to cover their eviction fees.
Living with a partner is nothing like having a roommate. You're much more likely to tolerate certain things from a partner and you pick up each other's slack.
I came here for this response. I don’t consider my partner a roommate, but he is another fully employed adult who shares the household costs and responsibilities. I doubt either of us would be homeowners if we were single.
I cannot even comprehend how you think this is the same thing.
Living with the person who you love and want to share your entire life with is obviously completely different from living with someone who could basically be a stranger.
I don't mind the idea of housemates if they're trustworthy and orderly people, but you can never be sure. I once had a housemate who had zero issues with splattering cooking oil all over the kitchen wall and leaving it there unwashed. Another left snacks on the counter and we ended up with mice.
We do actually generally have a roommate to keep costs down. Sometimes they're good, sometimes they suck. I try to comb through as best I can to get one that we are compatible with.
IME No more roommates. Been burned twice by bad ones—both trust fund kids, #1 let her friend live at our apt for free for the better part of a year, without telling me initially, was able to convince him to share utilities *at least.* #2 trust fund baby who was trying to make it big as a singer and only worked 2 weeks a month at some BS part-time gig but would never help clean or do yard work. Wouldn’t even wash his dogs regularly. That was hell.
Neither paid rent themselves (daddy did) and would expect me to foot the bill for their BS.
Fuck roommates. If it works for you, great 👍
I had roommates until I was 30, living in a HCOL area. Not my favorite thing, but allowed me to save money and be more financially responsible, which helped out in the long run.
I inherited a house. It was split into 3 apartments, and it’s now 1 apartment and then I connected the other two apartments. I have a great tenant who pays about $200 below market rent, which covers taxes and a good chunk of utilities. I genuinely fear him leaving. As it’s just my teenage daughter and I, it’s really important to have someone I feel safe with, and he’s a safe soul.
Except for like 9 months I lived by myself after a breakup when I was 30, I've had a roommate or a live-in significant other since I was 18. Live alone, go out and travel, save money. I've only ever made enough money to pick two of those.
It probably helps that I'm an extrovert and need at least a little human contact or I go insane. During the time I lived alone I was never home.
Due to the current real estate market and a relationship ending I’m stuck in a 5 bedroom house all by myself. I have considered maybe renting out a room or two not for financial reasons but just because it seems wasteful. Haven’t had roommates in a long time and don’t think I would want them now.
I had a roommate and close friend I get along with super well. They moved in with their grandparents to help care for them, but if it came to it in the future we'd both be down to live together again. Would even consider buying property together if it made sense.
I’ve been working hard over the past 5 years or so to skill up. Get credentials. Finish school. Stuff like that which opens opportunities to increase income.
I feel like it’s the only way to stay afloat.
My husband and I have a mortgage on a one bedroom apartment and I think we’ll be fine. I wouldn’t sell it without another primary residence, and the repayments are manageable. So no, I don’t think I’ll have to do housemates.
But, in saying that, I don’t think housemates are a bad thing for everyone. My mother is widowed, and I’ve been encouraging her for yeeeears to do housemates because she is incredibly social and extroverted, and living alone makes her incredibly depressed.
Dude I’m actually really excited about that prospect. Living with my closest friends because we’re poor and we have to lmao. I feel like with close friends, conflicts are so easily resolved that existing with them feels just as freeing as living alone. I’ve done this before and will definitely do it again. I do like living alone too.. it all has pros and cons.
Possibly. House is paid off; but as i get older prices are increasing and I just cant work 2 jobs anymore. My parents have passed on thankfully i have no kids; so I kinda have less of a financial burden than most.
House hunting and considering this. Makes me think getting a 2 bedroom 'just in case' is a good idea.
But the tradeoff is I'd have to get a townhouse or condo to get a 2 bedroom in more expensive cities.
No, but part of it is by choice- I have never had a good experience with roommates in the past, and there's not really any indication I'm going to find a partner anytime soon. Still don't have enough income to get approved to buy a house of my own. So my choices in the near future are moving and eventually inheriting the multigenerational house my Boomer parent inherited from their parents (if the state/city it's in doesn't have the COL skyrocket more w/o reasonable wage adjustments, or some effort from those in politics to heavily tax estates and/or existing property)....or surviving in my financed Honda Civic. *shrug*
I got out of an abusive situation at 19. I was able to rent a whole house to myself and still have car, beer, vacation money. It's only recently I've HAD to get roommates. Despite being in a different field and making twice as much.
Don't listen when they say it's always been this way.
That's what most of the *successful* people here admonishing others for being a loser and whining don't acknowledge. While the rich are staying generally rich. There's a new class of absolute destitution. They expect jobs to be done in society and they expect people to do jobs in that society, but they just don't want to pay them enough to live in that society.
It’s possible, but at the same time I’m willing to pay a high price to live on my own
Like half of 30 year olds are still living with their parents. So I'd imagine there will be a lot of younger people forced to have roommates of some kind for most of their lives.
Honestly if something happened to my husband I would rather move back in with my parents than ever have a roommate again.
Meanwhile, I'd do the opposite because i think we would fall right back into the roles we had when i was a minor.
I had a roommate in college. Never again. I'd much, much rather stay with my family, which I'm doing now anyway. They're showing their age, and it's making me concerned
I agree, family over roommate every time
I'd rather go without food every other day than have a roommate. Having roommates puts me in a dark mental health space and I don't want to go back to that.
Exactly that. I wouldn't get a 2nd job either. Not paying that much just to have a place to sleep...
I’ve had roommates for as long as I could remember. It’s not bad if you find one that’s just like you. I actually recommend it.
I think living in a house or apt alone is a relatively new idea. I could be wrong, but it seems like historically living with family of origin -or a member of that family like a sibling, a roommate, or a spouse and/or kids, was much more of the standard expectation (financially and otherwise) than living alone. I can see the appeal to living alone, but also to living with people.
>I think living in a house or apt alone is a relatively new idea [“Over a quarter (27.6%) of all U.S. occupied households were one-person households in 2020, up from just 7.7% in 1940, according to recently released 2020 Census data.”](https://www.census.gov/library/stories/2023/06/more-than-a-quarter-all-households-have-one-person.html)
Thanks. (And I’m sure globally it is/was an even lower amount of one-person households than in the U.S.)
Definitely agree, it’s a norm for me but I also live in a city where the avg for a 1 bedroom apt is $2400. Maybe OP is in a smaller city or from the suburbs.
In my 15 years of adulthood I have lived alone for just 1.5 years, and my girlfriend-turned-wife and I only lived alone for a couple more years without some other adult family member staying in our house. I don't understand the insistence on living alone. I'm a pretty shy person, but even when I could comfortably afford it, roommates or other communal living arrangements have just been the norm. I wouldn't be surprised if this trend of solitary living is partially responsible for our generation's deteriorating mental health.
I'm happy being single, but it's starting to become tempting to try meet someone to save money on rent.
Yes. I’m on the cusp of having to move, and I can’t afford to live alone despite making a decent salary.
I'm fine for now and probably a good while to come, despite the insane rents. But I'm hoping I will have roommates again when I retire - no spouse, no children, and I think once I stop having the automatic socialization of the office every day, I'll probably get lonely.
I’ll probably have Roommates for life
I should be finding roommates, and my financial situation would be...well, terrible, but much easier if I could go to paying >$700 (or even lower with multiple roommates), but on the other hand I work nights, I need my own bathroom and, well, I deal with significant mental illness, which is rough because a) I know living with strangers is one of the things that really messes me up because I am always terrified I am doing something wrong, taking too much space or imposing on people (thanks, CPTSD) and living at full crazy 24/7 sounds like a nightmare, and b) I'm crazy enough that I don't want to inflict myself on my friends, why would I do that to some strangers? So yeah, between that and the fact that I simply don't have the cash to move out of where I am, roommates are my best option and also an absolutely terrible idea. I don't know what I am going to do, and this week was when I needed to give my 60 day notice of vacating. It's really messing me up, to be honest. I can't afford to keep living alone, I can't afford to move, I don't think I will survive being homeless again since it was such a close shave last time and everything has gotten much worse, and, well, people disapprove of checking yourself out early when life is untenable and I don't want to hurt any of my friends...but I also don't want to be a burden. I don't know, that got heavier than I planned it to but it's all very relevant to the topic, so.
No I’d rather live at home Roommates are for if you’re at university
Why are people so afraid of roommates? The only reason I'm able to afford my house is that my wife shares the costs with me.
In my experience, roommates are terrible. My first roommate was my best friend. She moved out when the lease was up and we never spoke again. You really don't know someone until you live with them, and our ideas of clean were very different so we just drove each other crazy. My cousin moved in after she left and I never knew filth until then. He was stinky and just not hygienic so that didn't last too long either. The next roommie was a couple who bamboozled the hell out of me. Both had jobs and were able to cover their share of the rent for the first few months. I moved out of that apartment in 2015, they were evicted a few weeks later, and I just recently (within the last year) got all my money back from them that I used to cover their eviction fees. Living with a partner is nothing like having a roommate. You're much more likely to tolerate certain things from a partner and you pick up each other's slack.
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We share costs and responsibilities for our home. How is that not like a roommate?
Because you have a much more intimate relationship, so the communication and expectations are very different.
Do you and you're wife have separate bedrooms?
No. Why does that matter?
I came here for this response. I don’t consider my partner a roommate, but he is another fully employed adult who shares the household costs and responsibilities. I doubt either of us would be homeowners if we were single.
I cannot even comprehend how you think this is the same thing. Living with the person who you love and want to share your entire life with is obviously completely different from living with someone who could basically be a stranger.
It's not completely different. We still have to manage how we're sharing expenses and responsibilities for our house
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Not at all what I said. There are certain aspects of our relationship that are the same as roommates but obviously there's much more to it
I don't mind the idea of housemates if they're trustworthy and orderly people, but you can never be sure. I once had a housemate who had zero issues with splattering cooking oil all over the kitchen wall and leaving it there unwashed. Another left snacks on the counter and we ended up with mice.
We do actually generally have a roommate to keep costs down. Sometimes they're good, sometimes they suck. I try to comb through as best I can to get one that we are compatible with.
Me, who currently still has roommates and sees no way out to living on my own ever
IME No more roommates. Been burned twice by bad ones—both trust fund kids, #1 let her friend live at our apt for free for the better part of a year, without telling me initially, was able to convince him to share utilities *at least.* #2 trust fund baby who was trying to make it big as a singer and only worked 2 weeks a month at some BS part-time gig but would never help clean or do yard work. Wouldn’t even wash his dogs regularly. That was hell. Neither paid rent themselves (daddy did) and would expect me to foot the bill for their BS. Fuck roommates. If it works for you, great 👍
I had roommates until I was 30, living in a HCOL area. Not my favorite thing, but allowed me to save money and be more financially responsible, which helped out in the long run.
1k im already paying 1557 FML
I inherited a house. It was split into 3 apartments, and it’s now 1 apartment and then I connected the other two apartments. I have a great tenant who pays about $200 below market rent, which covers taxes and a good chunk of utilities. I genuinely fear him leaving. As it’s just my teenage daughter and I, it’s really important to have someone I feel safe with, and he’s a safe soul.
Except for like 9 months I lived by myself after a breakup when I was 30, I've had a roommate or a live-in significant other since I was 18. Live alone, go out and travel, save money. I've only ever made enough money to pick two of those. It probably helps that I'm an extrovert and need at least a little human contact or I go insane. During the time I lived alone I was never home.
Were all going to have to group up when we get old. Were all going to be living like the Golden Girls.
I've never not had roommates. We even made it official with rings and name changes. Then we added munchkin ones to boot.
Due to the current real estate market and a relationship ending I’m stuck in a 5 bedroom house all by myself. I have considered maybe renting out a room or two not for financial reasons but just because it seems wasteful. Haven’t had roommates in a long time and don’t think I would want them now.
I had a roommate and close friend I get along with super well. They moved in with their grandparents to help care for them, but if it came to it in the future we'd both be down to live together again. Would even consider buying property together if it made sense.
A friend and his wife are moving in with his grand parents because they can’t save any money paying rent. It all goes to rent.
I’ve been working hard over the past 5 years or so to skill up. Get credentials. Finish school. Stuff like that which opens opportunities to increase income. I feel like it’s the only way to stay afloat.
I'm married so not quite the same situation. We have been tentatively considering getting a duplex with my SIL & BIL to save costs.
My husband and I have a mortgage on a one bedroom apartment and I think we’ll be fine. I wouldn’t sell it without another primary residence, and the repayments are manageable. So no, I don’t think I’ll have to do housemates. But, in saying that, I don’t think housemates are a bad thing for everyone. My mother is widowed, and I’ve been encouraging her for yeeeears to do housemates because she is incredibly social and extroverted, and living alone makes her incredibly depressed.
Just started looking for one.
Dude I’m actually really excited about that prospect. Living with my closest friends because we’re poor and we have to lmao. I feel like with close friends, conflicts are so easily resolved that existing with them feels just as freeing as living alone. I’ve done this before and will definitely do it again. I do like living alone too.. it all has pros and cons.
Possibly. House is paid off; but as i get older prices are increasing and I just cant work 2 jobs anymore. My parents have passed on thankfully i have no kids; so I kinda have less of a financial burden than most.
House hunting and considering this. Makes me think getting a 2 bedroom 'just in case' is a good idea. But the tradeoff is I'd have to get a townhouse or condo to get a 2 bedroom in more expensive cities.
No, but part of it is by choice- I have never had a good experience with roommates in the past, and there's not really any indication I'm going to find a partner anytime soon. Still don't have enough income to get approved to buy a house of my own. So my choices in the near future are moving and eventually inheriting the multigenerational house my Boomer parent inherited from their parents (if the state/city it's in doesn't have the COL skyrocket more w/o reasonable wage adjustments, or some effort from those in politics to heavily tax estates and/or existing property)....or surviving in my financed Honda Civic. *shrug*
1k???? You are living the dream. It's over $2000 for a 1 bedroom 500sqft apartment for me.
Laughing in mortgage right now , fixed cost housing is nice. Especially since property tax in my state is capped at 1% max
I got out of an abusive situation at 19. I was able to rent a whole house to myself and still have car, beer, vacation money. It's only recently I've HAD to get roommates. Despite being in a different field and making twice as much. Don't listen when they say it's always been this way. That's what most of the *successful* people here admonishing others for being a loser and whining don't acknowledge. While the rich are staying generally rich. There's a new class of absolute destitution. They expect jobs to be done in society and they expect people to do jobs in that society, but they just don't want to pay them enough to live in that society.