[ECHOES]

Anyone in or have experienced shared living? Sharing a house or apartment with another adult with whom you are not in a relationship, friendship or more.

How did that work for you?

I am considering it but just don't know if it would work for me.

[splitimage]

When I graduated from uni and moved into Toronto to work, I wasn't making much money and couldn't afford my own place. I got hooked up with an acquaintance by a mutual friend who was also looking for a room mate. We wound up renting a nice two bedroom with 2 baths than neither of us could have afforded but together we could. It worked out really well.

Some things that helped. We split the cost of a cleaning service every 2 weeks so that neither of us were stuck with heavy cleaning. We didn't see eachother all that much during the week but we made a point of having dinner together every Sun. night and took turns cooking it. We decided we'd each buy our own food and no sharing, so there was no arguing over who was paying more than their fair share or what. We eventually became quite good friends. Altogether we lived together in that apartment for about 3 years then moved in with a 3'rd person and rented a town house together for another 3 years.

If you're clear about things like bills and cleaning and upfront expectations sharing can be a great way to save money on housing.

--splitimage

[Junerain]

Yes I have had roommates for five years now, with not much luck, save one, a dear friend to this day..

Overall I DID enjoy having someone there to come home to, to bounce ideas off of, to be asked how my day was...

One of my roommates actually hit me, though, so I asked him to move out of my condominium at that point......

He had been a great friend at certian times before that, and he was the one that encouraged me to go back to school, and now he no longer speaks to me, and I miss him......

We were at odds in respect to our personalities...I was feeling oriented, he was practical minded, we helped each other out in some problems, yet his selfishness and temper erupted one too many times, and all the good traits and times were not worth it in the end..

Now I am having my roommate move out due to lack of finances on her part and leaving me to take care of her 3 cats while she only comes home twice a week....

I think I need to be a better judge of character........on to roommate #4

My heart will not give up on having that cool roommate, I can always dream/pursue my dream....

[moonrise]

I was a roommate once. Unfortunately I was at a bad period in my life, and my roommate came home to the squad taking me out for a suicide attempt. Needless to say, she made me leave (totally understandable). The thing is, I presented as very normal, stable, and healthy. She had no way to know I had serious MH issues. I would never had admitted it to her, and if she asked, I probably would have minimized it.

Another time I had roommates in my house. They had stinky animals they weren't taking care of, they were loud at all hours, and when I told them they needed to move, they stole from me.

growing up with mom when she wasn't in a relationship she always had a roommate. Who for some reason always seemed to be the teens with tattoos and weird hair and piercings all over... which I think is kinda funny looking back, but they were always really cool, nice people. Not all roommates are bad, though we've also had some bad roommates before too