Pros and Cons: Living with Friends vs. Living With Strangers

February 23, 2021 | By Stella M AuthorMy First Apartment

In our Pros and Cons series, we weigh the advantages and disadvantages of important decisions that apartment dwellers are making every day. In 2015, approximately one-quarter of Americans between the ages of 18 and 34 lived with roommates. If you currently live with other people and are lucky, your roommate might be your friend, whether…

Help! My Roommate Never Does The Dishes

March 30, 2020 | By Stella M AuthorMy First Apartment

It’s a situation many apartment dwellers face: You want to keep your apartment clean and tidy, but your roommate’s dishes go uncleaned in the kitchen sink for days. How do you address your situation with a roommate who never does the dishes? Find the best steps to take below. We, not me When dealing with…

Three Ways to Make Space for Your Roommates’ Privacy

February 28, 2020 | By Stella M AuthorMy First Apartment

When you live with roommates, you have to put in a bit of work to maintain your privacy. In apartments with thin walls, shared bathrooms and other common spaces, and frequent guest visits, it can be challenging to carve out a sacred space where you can feel totally, blissfully alone. You can become so focused…

3 Simple Rules for BF/GF Visits When You Are Living with Roommates

September 28, 2018 | By Katherine AuthorMy First Apartment

We are re-posting these rules for BF/GF visits to help all of you who are living with roommates for the first time to avoid roommate drama. There are three issues that can turn a roommate relationship ugly: splitting expenses, housekeeping chores and roommate’s BF/GB overstaying their welcome. I have already covered how to handle splitting expenses…

What Makes a Good Roommate?

July 28, 2018 | By Marisa AuthorMy First Apartment

Living with someone is a huge commitment; you have to share space, interact and deal with finances together. Sometimes you are thrown into a situation where you don’t have a choice of who you live with, but for when you do have a choice, you may be wondering – what makes a good roommate? Good…

Moving In with New Roommates

May 29, 2018 | By Sarah AuthorMy First Apartment

Living with roommates is a rite of passage for many first apartment dwellers and a great way to make moving out on your own more affordable. Often, you get together with friends, find a place, and all move in together, but what do you do when you find the perfect place that already has roommates…

Confronting Annoying Roommate Habits

February 22, 2018 | By Sarah AuthorMy First Apartment

There are perks of living with a roommate… and for a lot of people, splitting bills is at the top of the list. The happy-go-lucky roommate situations that grace television shows are much more rare than the roommates that simply live together instead of sharing their entire lives. That’s no problem! But, what happens when you…

The Art of Rejecting A Potential Roommate

November 2, 2017 | By Sarah AuthorMy First Apartment

Once you move into your first place, like clockwork, you will likely hear from a friend or a friend of a friend who asks if they can move in with you for a short time. Maybe they’re between jobs or almost have enough money to move into their first place, or are simply looking for…

Help! My Roommate is A Bad Money Manager

July 13, 2017 | By Sarah AuthorMy First Apartment

We all know that person…the one who just seems to be a terrible money manager! From over-spending to under-saving, this friend is the one always scrambling to make ends meet because they simply spend money they don’t have. The situation is much worse when this friend is also your roommate! What to do when your…

3 Tricks for Dealing with a Nosy Roommate

July 5, 2017 | By Sarah AuthorMy First Apartment

There are few things more irritating than a person who can’t help putting their nose where it doesn’t belong! However, a roommate that does so may be near the top of the list. Although they likely mean you well, you need to find ways to let your roommate know how you feel…without losing your cool!…