Roommates, Good or Bad?
A typical story of roommates:
After graduation, most people want to move out and away from everything they know. By doing this, they transition into the enchanted world of a "college life". The steps are:
1) Get accepted into a college
2) Find an apartment
3) Find a roommate
-- Step one is typically not so bad, but when most get to the last few steps they realize the actual idea of a roommate and paying for rent.
-- Roommates are good for one thing: Splitting the costs, no ifs...and.. or buts... That is all.
-- Why is this all that they are good for? Well roommates cause arguements, take food, and blame the other for reasons why the fridge is empty. It is all of the drama that one thought would be left behind, inside the doors of highschool. This concept is completely false.
How to survive the lease:
In a few steps we can easily survive the lease, or back out of it but most leases have a cost to leave that is much too high for the average college student.
-- Buy a mini fridge
-- When buying groceries, do not buy for the "house".
-- Label your things
-- Make a list of who takes care of what within the apartment : This way one person is not stuck with all of the cleaning, and other chores.
-- Make sure to spend as much time with outside friends: This helps one relieve stress by venting about the drama outside of the problem.
-- Also, if one makes enough to get out of the lease, if things get bad enough. LEAVE! $$$
The easiest way to avoid these issues is to really look into the lease agreement and what sort of roommates are optional for the apartment, because even a close friend can be a horrible house mate. This can either work out wonderfully or end a friendship. Sadly, more friendships are ended, because we do not live with our friends as we build the relationships... We have that time away; the time that is not given once the lease is signed.