How would you advise selecting a roommate, and how can you decide if you actually need one?

A big part of becoming an adult is living in a place of your own or with a roommate. There are multiple things that a person needs to take into consideration when they are thinking about getting a roommate. A few examples include financial standing, transition cushion, personality traits, domestic responsibility, and how to successfully search for a roommate(s).

Financial Standing

Your own financial standing was the leading determining factor if one needs a roommate or not. Financial standing is whether or not you can support yourself financially or not. That being said, when looking into getting a roommate or not the first thing to look into is finance. Sometimes a roommate is not necessary because if you can afford to live where you want without any help then most do that.  

Transition Cushion

That is unless one was in need of a transition cushion into adult life. For example, if you had lived with roommates throughout college or you aren’t comfortable being home all by yourself, or if you are in a new city where having a live-in friend to show you the foreign place is beneficial.  The idea of transition cushion is that you need to find the right person who can match your comfort level, with what you are looking for. According to Kyle O’Brien, “it’s a social factor because they don’t want to live alone and need companionship.”  

Personality Traits

Next on the list on searching for a roommate are personality traits. The person’s social life will determine who is over and how often they’re out/at home.  Find out what their interests are to see if there is compatibility.  Another factor in determining whom to live with is how they live in their space and the mutual understanding of domestic responsibilities. 

Domestic Responsibility

Finally, domestic responsibility is a key factor in choosing a roommate because it matters how you’re going to split the housework within this living situation. According to Kyle O’Brien, “responsibilities that would be shared, paying bills, grocery shopping, and meal preparation with the roommates is important” Irene Lowry also believes that “other factors such as sharing chores, keeping shared spaces clean, etc, are big factors” 

Finding Roommate(s)

On figuring out how to find roommates there are mixed opinions so it depends on your own personality; if you are more comfortable living with a friend or if you think living with a friend will strain your relationship others opt for strangers as roommates because it’s easier to talk about money and responsibilities with a stranger because it’s harder to hurt their feelings. Dolly Nabokov believes that “You don’t have to be best friends with your roommate, but it should be comfortable enough for you to want to come home at the end of the day.” People have found success in living with friends, friends of friends, friends of coworkers, or online. It’s best to ask a perspective roommate about their living habits and about their personality before taking the big step of living together.  

This page was developed from interviews with:

Colin Miller, Dolly Nabokov, Kyle O'Brien, Irene Lowry