After having my fair share of roommates (believe me, some have been absolutely awful) I decided that living alone was well worth paying double rent. Here are ten things that make living alone worth every penny.
1. No roommate. No rules.
I don’t have to sit down with myself to set ground rules, boundaries, and curfews. I come and go as I please, and I don’t have anyone questioning where I’m going when I leave the house after 6pm.
2. No pants.
I hate roommates, but I hate pants more. I was able to kill two birds with one stone by getting rid of my roommate, and now I can walk around naked whenever I please. (Pretty much any time I’m home for more than five minutes.)
3. No food sharing.
Whether I make or order something, it is all mine. Nothing is more irritating than going to the store, spending your money, then getting in the fridge to find your groceries have been eaten. Thankfully whatever I put in the fridge stays in the fridge until I decide otherwise.
4. The house stays how you left it.
This is probably one of my favorite things. I used to spend hours cleaning the house, only to discover is destroyed and in worse condition shortly after. Now, if the house is dirty its my own fault. Which it never is anymore, because no one COMES INSIDE MY FRESHLY CLEANED HOUSE WITH MUDDY BOOTS ON.
5. Nobody enters your home without you being okay with it.
The fun thing about roommates is they come home with other people unannounced. That’s right, that girl who makes you want to strangle kittens is sitting in your kitchen, loudly talking to your roommate while they turn on their shitty Spotify playlist. It’s totally NBD you have a huge test in the morning and need to study. Whatevs.
6. Nobody else it hogging the washer and dryer.
Without fail, every time I needed to do laundry my roommate was magically downstairs five minutes before me starting a load. Thankfully, she would leave her clothes sitting in the washer or dryer for the entire week to ensure I couldn’t do my laundry then either.
7. Shower schedule? What’s that?
If I want to shower in the morning, I can. If I want to shower in the evening, I can. If I want to take a bath at 3:30 on a Thursday afternoon, I can. I no longer have someone trying to beat me to a shower, using all the hot water, or blaming me for making them late because I “took too long.”
8. No listening to music/watching shows you don’t like.
Remember aforementioned shitty playlist? I no longer have to hear that. Ever. I also don’t have to watch parts of shows that I will never care about. If there is music or tv on, it is what I want. If I want to come home and watch murder mysteries, I do. And that’s pretty great.
9. No asking someone to be quiet or vice versa.
Nothing is worse than when you are trying to study and homegirl decides to have a small rave in her room. You casually ask for the music to get turned down and are greeted with an aggressively closed door. Ten minutes later, you have to ask again. No change. Thirty minutes later your sanity is gone, the music levels are the same, and you are wondering why you ever got a roommate in the first place.
10. You get to become your best self.
When you get to a point that you are happy being alone, it is a true game-changer. I can now say I love my alone time, and have truly grown from it. Oh, and my GPA is at an all time high, while my stress is at an all time low.