Several weeks ago, Jonathan at MyMoneyBlog highlighted the benefits of shared living – and I whole-heartedly agree.
I share a 2 bedroom / 2 bathroom apartment with a girl I know from college, and I’m very fortunate that she is not only a great friend but also a great roommate.
The financial savings are unmistakable – I am spending AT LEAST $200 less a month on rent because I share. Utilities and DSL are also cut in half. All in all, having a roommate means I am $300+ ahead per month (probably closer to $400+). That $300, in turn, is enough to pay my car insurance and student loans.
I know many people want to live alone – quality of life issues have to be balanced against personal finances. And I’ve heard the roommate horror stories… when I really think about my current living situation, I realize how lucky I am. My quality of life is improved having my friend as my roommate. What a perk that my financial life is as well. 
When you have a friend you can live with it is great. It is probably much sticker when it is strangers.
I love LOVE living alone. But if I could live with a friend, I would. For financial reasons, and because I’m sure I would enjoy that as well.
Lucky you!
Plus, you can live in better places and still save money.
Glad to hear it. My only roommate horror story involved my freshman dorm roommate (poor hygiene and a propensity to get arrested), but all of the people I chose to live with have worked out great. Of course, I’m married to my current “roommate”.
I lived with a roommate throughout undergrad, lived alone for 2 years of grad school, and lived with a roomate for 2 years of grad school. While living alone was awesome, it is nice to have a roommate to hang out with every once in a while, and you can save a significant amount of money. Now that I moved out to California, the roommate thing is almost essential to having a reasonable monthly rent.
I didn’t mind living with roommates in dorms, but I have had bad experiences with roommates in an apartment. I had two close college friends live with me one year, and it started out great. We agreed to all split the costs of food and everything evenly. Then halfway through the summer (2 months in) they decided that they didn’t like this system because they didn’t eat peanut butter or yogurt (seriously, those were the only two items) and so then we had to split every grocery bill in thirds based on who ate what and when.
It made everything super strained. Ugh. I live with Ry now and it’s great.
I lived with roommates for 10 years, in dorms and apartments, and just got my own place in February. It’s costing me about $500 more a month, and it is worth every penny. I will never share a living space again (unless it’s, you know, a significant other/husband).
I’m glad you have a good roommate situation. I had great roommates my freshman year of college, but my second year, I had a bad potluck roommate, so switched rooms. The girl I ended up with was even worse — cocaine addict, party animal, delusional. But I didn’t want to move a second time, so I stuck it out. It never got better so I just tried to spend most of my time at school or in friends’ rooms. She got worse and had a mental breakdown on the last day of finals! I was so happy to get out of there. The next school year I planned to live with a girl who had been a good friend, thinking it would be much better, but by the time we moved in together, we had grown apart and she had gotten really weird and antisocial. It was a miserable year that got worse and worse, and by the end we weren’t even speaking and I moved out early. Thank goodness that summer I lived with a sane friend.
As you can imagine, I lived alone my senior year. Because I have a serious boyfriend, having that kind of privacy was fantastic. I signed a lease to live alone again, and have now been doing it for over two years. There are definitely ups and downs. I really hate that I am spending so much more money on rent and utilities — my budget would be SO much more flexible if I had a roommate. But I have had such bad experiences and I have learned to enjoy the privacy so much that it feels impossible for me to go back to that. A friend of mine who lived alone for the last year just went back to a roommate situation, but I don’t think I want to. The only person I see myself wanting to live with is my boyfriend of three years, but he is about to sign a lease to live with his guy friends one more year. He feels like it’s the last time in his life he can do that, so I have to respect it.
It’s a hard decision. While my wallet would be so much happier if I lived with a roommate, and I’d be a little less lonely in the evenings, getting the place to myself and being able to walk around naked when I want to is priceless sometimes. The fact that my boyfriend as around so much was one thing that really irritated by second bad roommate, so it’s nice not having to worry about that and do whatever I want. Yikes, sorry so long — I just have a lot to say on this topic
Having a roommate in California is definitely a must. My rent is $800 a month plus utilities, tv, etc., but I get to enjoy living in a 4 bedroom house with a nice backyard. I’d take that any day over having a small one bedroom apartment by myself.
I found my original two roommates on craigslist. One didn’t work out, so we found a replacement from roommates.com. I actually think living with strangers (in the beginning) is better than living with friends. In case it doesn’t work out, you don’t have to worry about losing a pre-existing relationship. It also helps that there are no preconceived notions on how living together will be.
Living with roommates also helps if you’re traveling a lot. I’d hate to leave an apartment for more than a week with no one watching over it for me. And lastly, a roommate provides an automatic happy hour partner!
I’ve had really bad experiences with roommates in college, mostly with girls. Although I did have one guy roommate who was really hairy and would walk around without a shirt on all the time.
Now I live with my fiance, and thank goodness! I don’t think I’d be able to afford anything else!
As I’ve been planning to moving out, I’ve considered getting a roommate but am quite wary of the potential problems in living with a complete stranger, or with a friend. Am still unsure of what I’m going to do because it’s still a bit far off, but sure hope I don’t run into some of the nightmare roomies that other people have endured!
I loved this entry! I live with my best friend and it works out perfectly, so I agree totally with you
Roommates can be the best things for your wallet, but the worst things for your sanity.
My first roommate in college was an ex-stripper who brought her freshly released convict boyfriend to live with us (yes- in a 13×13 room). It took the university a while to kick her out. Once they did, they informed me that it would be an extra $100 a month to keep from getting a new roommate for the rest of the semester.
That was the best $300 I ever spent.
To be fair, roommates aren’t that bad. I’ve lived with girls who worked at the same company as I did so our daily commute was a good way to prepare. We also lived in a big house with cheap rent, a dishwasher and a backyard so there was plenty of space in case we were sick of each other. We just meshed really well.
I also lived with boys while interning in different cities each summer and they’ve always been more than helpful. They were neat, tidy and the kitchen somehow was always spotless despite cooking all the time.
My only roommate to date has been really great. The marriage thing helps, I think.
Doesn’t hurt that he’s my absolute best friend, either. Though having him gone now… The house is empty and it’s just plain weird.
[...] Roommate = great! at Well-Heeled, with a mission [...]
Taking a roommate to save money can be tough — the roommate can suck, and sometimes, you can get along too well with your roommate and start partying with them and spend more money. Also, if you are the only person who ever pays any bills or buys toilet paper, it can be unpleasant getting paid you can end up paying more than your fair share.
On the other hand, the savings can be far larger than anything else you can easily do.
It’s best to address the financial stuff straight up. When finding a potential roommate, say “look, I’m doing this because I need to save money”. If that seems too direct and makes you seem cheap, say something like “I’m at a point in my life where I need to learn financial self-discipline. I need a roommate who will help me with that.” Especially if there are more than two people, using a service like http://slackerfactor.com/ or http://buxfer.com/ to keep track of even tiny bills and split everything can come in handy.
If you have a roommate you like to socialize with, take advantage of that and socialize cheaply at home instead of going out. Having a once a week movie night and inviting several friends over is a LOT cheaper than going out. You can make little traditions, like cooking breakfast on Saturday and inviting friends over, or dinner one night a week, that can easily pay for themselves when compaired to other entertainment.