I wrote this post about a year ago on a different blog site. I still stand by it, and I wanted to include it into my blog here. I included more into the post this time. And now, I live with my boyfriend which has become an entirely different, wonderful adventure within itself that perhaps I’ll also have to put on my writing-to-do list. In the meantime, here’s this one!
Enjoy!
From the time I was born, I have always been living with someone else. Whether it was my family or roommates in college, I’ve never truly had a place to myself.
Now, I do.
And this is why everyone absolutely should, in fact almost NEEDS to live by themselves at least once in their lifetime.
THE WINS
1.) All the food in the fridge is YOURS.
Growing up in my household, if you weren’t sitting at the table when dinner was served to protect your turf, you were SOL (shit outta luck) if you didn’t get to eat. That is, at least when it was a delicious meal vs when Mom would get a wild hair and try some crazy weird recipe that no one was enthusiastic about. As amazing as my mother is at cooking/baking, there has been some doozies every now and again that not even the dogs wanted to eat off the floor. As for the dinners that were to die for, if there did happen to be any leftovers left, the chances of getting to eat them later after your mouth drools for them all day is so slim to none it physically hurts. You know in your soul someone got to the fridge before you did. Even if you wrote your name on a takeout box, you know it’s going to be empty and in the garbage when you finally get to it.
Living with roommates for me meant everything I bought that was in a shared area needed a label to distinguish it was mine. Not saying my roommates were going to eat my food by any means, it was more for ME to remember what food was safe for me to eat without someone wanting to cut my throat.
Skipping the step of having to write your initials on every piece of edible deliciousness or not having to worry about someone else eating what I had my mind set for all day is just straight luxury.
2.) The only MESS you’re cleaning is your own.
Being slightly germaphobic and a fairly clean person (minus clothes being strung on the floor more times than not) I love the fact that there’s no mess unless I make it. The only mess I’m cleaning up is my own. No resentment is created from you being the messy roommate or someone else being the unorganized one. Also, the mess stays there until you clean it up. It’s not in anyone else’s way but your own.
3.) Be naked whenever you want.
Whether you wanna poop with the door open or just wanna let everything hang out while you’re eating dinner, you got nothin’ to lose but your clothes! Who cares, be free! Nobody is going to be walking out of their room to see in my case, a very white rear end flappin’ around the living room.
4.) Decorations (or not)… all your choice.
You wanna decorate your place by covering it in neon colors and Christmas trees or cat posters covering every inch of your place, guess what? Nobody’s stopping you. Nobody’s telling you how they think it should be. You get to make all the decisions here, so you do you!
5.) Privacy.
Unless you have incredibly nosy neighbors or you’re noisy with thin walls, anything inside your place is your business. Simple as that.
6.) You pay for everything. (The good part)
At least living by yourself, all of your expenses are only what you personally have used on a regular basis (unless of course you have company over). You don’t have any additional factors other than your own. For example, if a roommate runs the air conditioning on 55 degrees all summer long jacking up the utilities bill and you’d rather only run it on hot days, you’re not splitting a bill and paying for more than what you use/prefer.
THE NOT SO WINNING PART
1.) You pay for everything. (The bad part)
There’s no “mixing of possessions” when you live alone. With roommates, usually someone has a couch. Someone else has a TV or kitchen utensils. So you share all these things together, it’s usually fairly inexpensive and not a big deal. Well living alone, you have to get all that stuff yourself. Or guess what, you don’t have it. Also, there’s no splitting of the rent/utilities/internet/cable bills which can be pricey for just one person to handle.
2.) Don’t burn the house down.
Things like forgetting to lock the door or turning off a candle warmer, etc. are all on you. With family or roommates there’s a good chance you can just call and someone will be there or on their way home to take care of it. Doesn’t work so well if you’re the only one living there and you’re halfway to your destination already by the time you remember you left the door wide open.
3.) You get to kill all the spiders.
Or be eaten alive by them in your sleep. Your choice.
THE EXTRAS
1.) You are (most likely) naturally forced to find yourself.
When you are no longer surrounded by people throughout the majority of your day, you have more time to think clearly. You are your only form of entertainment. You’ll start to discover where you have gaps in your life and where you want to focus more of your energy. You’ll figure out who you are, who you want to be, and how you want to get there. Even if it’s a little bit of a bumpy ride, it’ll happen.
2.) You are (most likely) forced to grow up a little bit.
Living on your own, all the responsibilities are yours. Bills, cleaning, getting groceries, cooking, you name it. If you have any pets, you are the only person they have to rely on for survival. Basically, any inkling of adulthood related nonsense has your name on it, even if it sucks.
3.) Additional perks:
No one can judge you for how much or little you enjoy having a drink. Or how often you get Domino’s delivered. Or how you devoured an entire gallon of ice cream in a matter of two days. There is no judging! Hello freedom to literally do whatever you want!
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Gotta learn to live in your own company and enjoy it sometime in your life! Or you’ll never be happy with anyone no matter how hard you try. Maybe now’s the time to work on you.
-J
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Did you enjoy this article? What other ideas do you have? Please comment below, I would love to hear from you!