I got insanely lucky to get a great roommate freshman year that I continued to room with for the next two years (if you find a good roommate hold onto them). It's been rough the last couple years finding people to room with; here are only a few of the reasons why.
1. Hurt feelings
This is one of the hardest things I have had to deal with when finding roommates the last couple years. I hate saying no to people and just disappointing people in general. In the past, I have had to turn down people that wanted to live with me and some of those have been good friends.
I am always worried that it could be the end of a friendship whether I say yes or no. No: obviously I worry that they will be offended I don’t want to live with them, and yes: I worry that we would kill each other if we were actually forced to live with each other.
2. Cleanness equivalent/noise equivalent
My roommate and I got really lucky that we both have the same equivalents on a lot of things. We both like places clean but aren’t neat freaks and we go to bed around the same time and know when we need to be quiet. That is very rare.
Finding roommates that just know when to be quiet without having to nag them is not easy if not impossible. I hate few things more than nagging which is hard sometimes because for some reason people can’t always read my mind (Also, I’m the mom friend if you haven’t been able to tell yet!)
3. Money
Money, in general, is stressful, adding other people into it, relying on others for it, is a whole other level. I like to see the best in people but I have heard horror stories of people not keeping up and paying for rent and when they don’t their roommates are forced to make up the difference.
Even worse they could back out of the lease in the middle of the year and leave you trying to find ANOTHER roommate mid-semester! Then there is just the general making sure everyone pays on time and hoping that everything goes through okay.
4. When they want to move in
Some people want to move in right after finals. Some people want to move-in in June. Some people want to wait until August. Some people might think if they don’t move in until the middle of August they should only pay half a months rent! Working out when people can move in and what leases you need to look for is, say it with me, stressful!
5. NO ONE KNOWS WHAT THEY ARE DOING
Literally. College is already crazy but I swear when it comes to figuring out what people are doing next year for housing they are like a chicken with their head cut off. They don’t know what they are doing or who they are rooming with, when they want to move in, or where they want to live.
All in all though, everything has worked out really well for me the last couple years so I guess I can’t complain too much… but what would be the fun in that and WHAT would I have to write about!
