After high school and college, the idea of constantly being with your friends may have already left your mind. Since you’re too focused on building your career and life, you may have forgotten about the benefits of having strong emotional bonds. But if you realize that living independently isn’t for you, here are five reasons why you should consider living with your friends:
1. You can split the bills and save money
Having the opportunity to live alone is a privilege in itself, but it also comes with its disadvantages. After all, with great power comes great responsibility. Sure, it can be exciting to have your own space and manage your finances, but when the bills come at the end of the month, it won’t be that fun to be living independently.
Face it, with the average salary today, it would be impossible to afford a house, the utilities, the groceries, and all the other expenses that come with being a homeowner. But those can be more affordable if you have friends that you can split the bills. Plus, this way, you can save more money.
For instance, when the time to decorate the house arrives, you won’t have to shoulder all the expenses because your roommates will be there to share the burden. But that also means that you’ll all have a say on the decor, such as when you’re picking out the patio sun and windscreens that you’ll be installing in your backyard.
2. You can treat every day like a sleepover
As fun as childhood sleepovers were, they all inevitably ended at some point because everyone had to go back to their homes and live their lives. But if you’re living with your friends, the sleepover will never end because you’re all living in the same house. This means that you can have countless movie marathons, game nights, and parties whenever you want.
Of course, it’s still important that you all have your personal space because you’ll grow tired of one another’s presence easily without them, but they’ll still be within arm’s reach. So if you like having your friends over a lot, you might as well just choose to live together if your budget allows it.
3. You won’t have to be apart from each other
One of the biggest obstacles of friendships is distance. You’re lucky if all of your friends are in the same city or hometown. But if you all live in different states or countries, you’ll have to rely on video messaging apps and chats for most of your social interactions. And that can be hard when you’re itching to tell a story, but you have to deal with the time difference.
However, if you’re all living in the same house, you won’t have to be apart for too long. Of course, you’ll still have your schedules and activities throughout the day, but because you share the same space, it will be much easier to nail down a time slot where you can just get together over dinner and talk.
4. You can share your wardrobe and things
When you’re living alone, you’ll have to rely on your own resources for whatever event or activity you have. But if you live with your friends, it will be easy to borrow clothes or items from one another—with consent, of course. This means that you won’t have to splurge money on a piece of clothing that you’ll only need for a costume party or a formal event.
And the best thing about this is that anyone can share their wardrobe or items. Since fashion and personal style are gender fluid, it won’t matter if you’re living with a boy, a girl, both, or anyone in the spectrum. The point is that if you’re comfortable sharing your things, you’ll have an extensive wardrobe for any occasion. Just make sure to return them afterward to avoid getting into big arguments.
5. You won’t have to feel lonely
Finally, the last reason to share a house with your friends is so that you’ll never have to feel lonely. Living alone is all fun and games until you’re unconsciously isolating yourself from the world. Plus, it can be difficult to get over the loneliness if you can’t the right schedule to meet with your friends because you all have different lives.
So if you easily get lonely, you might want to consider sharing a home with your closest friends. Even if you all have different schedules and activities, you still come home to the same house at the end of the day. This means that there will be at least one or two people you can count on whenever you’re sad.
Of course, there will always be disadvantages with all the advantages of living with your friends. But those obstacles will only make your friendships stronger through time. So, if you’re willing to put your friendship to the test and get all the benefits of sharing a house, float the idea with them. Who knows? This time next year, you might all be living and having the time of your lives together.
