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Should I live alone or with roommates? That’s the ultimate question for anyone who’s renting. Whether you’ve had amazing or nightmare-level experiences with roommates in the past, it doesn’t mean that’ll happen to you in the future.
You must consider whether you’ll thrive more in an environment by yourself or with others. That’s where the Moving Help® Marketplace is here to assist you. We’ve provided five topics when it comes to living alone or living with roommates and the pros and cons for each side.
This should help you answer the living alone vs. roommates debate. Don’t have time to read all five topics? Jump down to the one you care about the most.
- Topic 1: Money
- Topic 2: Privacy
- Topic 3: Independence
- Topic 4: Social Interactions
- Topic 5: Routines
Should I Live Alone or With Roommates? 5 Pros and Cons to Consider
This question is highly personal, so the first place to start is to ask yourself what you care about most. Do you care about saving more money on rent? Do you care about having your own personal space in your entire home? Do you have an unusual work-life schedule? Do you love socializing at home?
These questions will guide you to make the best possible decision for you. With that said, we’ve broken it down to five personal topics. The Moving Help Marketplace will discuss each topic along with the pros and cons of living alone with that topic and the pros and cons of living with roommates for said topic.
Topic 1: Money
Money will be one of the largest reasons as to why you might want to live alone or with live roommates. Obviously, if you can’t afford a place on your own, you’re going to need to find roommates.
What if you made enough money to not necessarily need roommates though? Let’s dig into it.
Living Alone Pros
The pros when it comes to money is you earn enough money to be able to live alone. Not many people can say they can afford to live alone while paying for other life expenses. By living alone, you also get to choose where you do or don’t want to exclusively live.
Living Alone Cons
Obviously, the largest con with living alone is the price it costs to live alone. Individuals who rent alone can pay about $10,470 more per year than those sharing a household, according to Zillow. Living alone can drain your bank quickly, which can leave you vulnerable to multiple unexpected costs, take a hit on your emergency funds, and have less money to do fun activities — like eating out with friends or going on fun vacations.
Living With Roommates Pros
This is probably the most common benefit people can agree on when it comes to living with roommates, which is money. By having roommates, you’ll save more money. You won’t have to pay rent, utilities, and other housing costs all on your own. Someone will share that burden with you. By having roommates — you can save or spend your money — that would’ve gone toward rent if you lived by yourself.
Living With Roommates Cons
Even though you’re supposed to save money with your roommates, that always isn’t the case.
Depending on how your lease is set up, you could be on the hook for rent and other monthly bills if your roommate can’t make them. That’s why it’s important to figure out ahead of time whether you’re responsible for your roommate’s missing rent, and if that situation arises, what you need to do.
Topic 2: Privacy
Privacy doesn’t just include being home alone and doing what you want. It also includes having privacy even when your roommates invite company over to your apartment. Some people care way more about their privacy compared to others.
Living Alone Pros
When you get to live alone, you get to do whatever you want, whenever you want. You’re not bound by anyone else because you’re the only one in your home. If you want to keep the thermostat at 65 degrees and cover yourself in blankets, you can do that. If you want to cook in your underwear in your kitchen, you can do that as well.
Because you get to live by yourself, you only need to serve your own privacy concerns.
Living Alone Cons
While you’ll have all the privacy to yourself, you will be alone. If an emergency comes up, no one will be home to assist you. Depending on where you live, you might need to take precautions to ensure your safety while living by yourself.
Living With Roommates Pros
The pros of having roommates when it comes to privacy is odds are someone can help you with an emergency or in a tight bind. If your fridge is leaking and you have no idea what to do, go find your roommate.
Are you using the restroom and you forgot to restock the toilet paper? A roommate can toss you a roll while you’re on the toilet.
Living With Roommates Cons
When living with roommates, you have little to basically zero privacy. The only sole privacy you may have is your own bedroom. Depending on your living situation, you may have to share your bathroom with another roommate or two.
You’re never alone, and people will come and go as they please when you have roommates, but it can get tiresome rather quickly for some.
Topic 3: Independence
Some people love being totally independent. Others like to rely on others while still maintaining a certain level of independence.
Independence can mean something different to each person.
Living Alone Pros
By living alone, you’re totally independent. You get to do whatever you want, whenever you want with zero consequences of bothering someone inside your own apartment. You get to create your schedules and plans. You get to clean when you want to clean, and if you leave your dirty dishes in the sink for a couple of days, who cares? No one but you.
Living Alone Cons
While living alone to maintain independence has its perks, it also has its disadvantages. One point is that you have no one to take care of you. While you’re living your best life, this doesn’t seem like a huge deal. When you’re sick or dealing with an unknown illness, it can be hard. No one wants to cook, keep up with the laundry, and complete other tasks. Most people don’t want to do anything while being sick, which is fair, but it’s also hard because you must complete some tasks to help you feel better.
Living With Roommates Pros
The best part about living with roommates is you’re never truly alone. Whether you’re dealing with apartment maintenance issues, work drama, or everyday life stressors, you’ll most likely have someone to lean on and discuss your problems, which would be your roommates. You and your roommates will go on a journey that is called life independently and separately together.
Living With Roommates Cons
The worst part about living with roommates is you have to rely on them. Whether that’s for them to take out the trash can, clean their breadcrumbs off the table after eating, putting their laundry away after running them through the washer and dryer, or to pay their bills. You’re not 100 percent dependent on your roommate, but you’re definitely not 100 percent independent without them while living together.
Topic 4: Social Interactions
Whether you’re an extrovert or an introvert, everyone needs their time to have social interactions with others while needing time to decompress and recharge your social batteries. Having roommates or living alone can help or hinder these opportunities for you.
Living Alone Pros
When you get to live by yourself, you don’t have to deal with any small talk. You’re no longer required to feel obligated to talk to your roommate when you’re in the same room because you don’t have any roommates. You can choose who you want to invite into your home, for how long they’ll be over, and how often you invite them over.
You get to control the social interactions in your own home environment, which could be key for an introvert.
Living Alone Cons
You have no one to talk to when you’re at home. Unless you own a pet, you’ll be stuck in your own thoughts, and you’ll have to make sure you talk to people via text, phone call, or video chat. You’ll also have to make the effort to invite people over for social interactions or go out in public to hang out with friends and family. If you’re not careful, living by yourself can get lonely quickly, which might not be best for an extrovert.
Living With Roommates Pros
Unless your living situation is strictly transactional among your roommates, you’ll always have someone to talk to when you’re home at the same time. You and your roommates can discuss life, current events, dreams, goals, and more. You won’t feel alone because you’ll have someone to start a conversation with, who is seconds away from your bedroom.
Living With Roommates Cons
The problem with living with roommates is someone is always home that you must talk to throughout the day. You might feel obligated to sit down and talk to them vs. doing your own activity. If you’re mentally or physically drained from a super long day at work, it can feel emotionally exhausting to entertain or interact with your roommates when you get home when all you want to do is veg out on your own bed.
Topic 5: Routines
Some people have normal routines. Some people have unusual routines. Some people may not have routines at all. What one schedule might work for someone might not work for someone else.
Living Alone Pros
When you live by yourself, you don’t have to worry about anyone else’s routine. You only have to worry about your own routine. You get to create your own schedule and change your schedule as you please. Want to stay up late? Great. Want to put off doing laundry until the weekend? Awesome. Do you want to play slightly loud music in your living room? It’s not going to bother anyone else in your apartment. You — and you alone — are in charge of your routine.
Living Alone Cons
While it can be great to only have to worry about your routine, it can feel mundane or boring. You might get yourself into a rut when you complete the same tasks over and over again. It’s easier to slip out of a routine with no one around you in your home. You also might develop unhealthy habits with no one there to hold you accountable.
Living With Roommates Pros
When you live with roommates, you can rely on some consistency if you and your roommates know one another’s schedules. This can help figure out when someone needs quiet time, when someone needs to work from home, and when someone will have company over. Also, if you don’t come home at your usual time and you aren’t expecting to be late, your roommates can check in with you to make sure you’re alright.
Living With Roommates Cons
On the flip side, you must balance your own and your roommates’ schedules. Some might start working early. Some might start working late.
You might get home late, but your roommate might get home early. Sleep schedules can change and vary throughout the year. It can be hard trying to balance everything on your own plate while making sure you minimize the number of distractions when it comes to your roommates’ schedules.
Should I Live Alone or With Roommates Is a Personal Choice
We can’t answer the “Should I live alone or with roommates” question for you. This is an entirely personal choice. Only you can answer such a personal question yourself. You have to figure out what’s best for your life and your situation.
You need to think about what you care about the most when it comes to your own living situation. You can then create a pros and cons list of your choice and decide whether or not those pros outweigh any cons to make it worth it for you.
Luckily, living with roommates or living alone isn’t a 100 percent permanent decision, so if you make one choice and end up not liking it, you can always go the other route.
Should I Live Alone or With Roommates Guidance
No matter what choice you make, you’ll try to make the best decision for yourself and your situation. Luckily, when you’re ready to move, the Moving Help Marketplace will be ready to assist you with all your loading and unloading needs and other labor-only moving services. Moving Helpers on the Marketplace can get you situated into your new home faster, so you can start enjoying life in your new home faster.
