Room for Two
So what do you think of the new layout? Every once in a while I get a bug to switch things up a bit. When I was a little kid I loved to move the furniture around in my room. Yes, even though I had a waterbed, I still managed to change the furniture several times a year. I’m sure my parents loved helping me drain my bed every few months so I could try out a new room configuration. As I wrote this, I realized that in my last apartment, I didn’t change the configuration at all. And I kind of doubt I will in this apartment either. I think it’s the lack of space and feasible furniture configurations that constrains me. Anyway, that was a lot of talk about nothing.
One of my friends here wants to move out sometime in the summer, so we’ve been talking about rooming together. This excites me and scares me at the same time. My lease expires in February, but since my friend won’t be ready until at least May, we’ll have to wait until my next lease expires in August. What excites me about rooming with her is the ability to get a bigger apartment and save more money at the same time. I’m working on building up my emergency savings fund (since it got a bit depleted moving here), but I’d be paying less for rent and utilities per month if we roomed together. Plus, we’ve been looking at 3-room apartments with two bathrooms (she’s insisting on her own bathroom which is fine with me), and it would still be less than I’m paying now for my little 1 bed/1 bath apartment. So the possibilities of living somewhere nicer and bigger are definitely eye-catching, plus I can save more money.
And now the part that scares me: rooming with someone. I haven’t done that since college, and since we were in the dorms, I don’t really have any experience with living with someone out in the real world where bills have to be split equitably and paid on time. I trust my friend, but it’s still a thought that crosses my mind because I have no experience with it. The other thing is the selfish self-centered part of me that realizes I’ll have to make some compromises. Even in the best matched pair, compromises are inevitable. Right now, living by myself, I get everything my way. I can put everything exactly where I want it, and it’s still there when I get back.
Yet, I don’t think that the compromising issue should stop me from rooming with someone. I’m going to be honest now and say that I do want to get married in the future, and suffice it to say, I won’t be getting my way all the time. Compromises come with marriage too. Part of me thinks that rooming with someone is a good thing in order to stay away from the selfish and self-centered territory that naturally becomes ingrained in your when you live alone. And I think that having someone in your life who you have to compromise with and negotiate with is a good thing.
So we shall see what comes of this, and in the meantime I will continue pondering it.