Sometimes moving in with a friend can be the most amazing experience of your life. Other times, it can take a turn for the worse. How can you possibly know how things will turn out for you unless you try it?
Here are the things you need to ask yourself before moving in with a friend:
1. Find out Why They Want to Move in With You
Do they need to move out of home to study or work? Or maybe just for ‘fun’? Are they trying to escape their current living situation because someone they live with is ‘annoying’? Whatever the reason may be, you need to know. If they don’t actually need to move in with you, then ask yourself if you really need a housemate.
2. Find Out What Their Previous Living Environment Was
Do they speak positively or negatively of their current housemates or family members? Do they treat them respectfully? This might give you some insight of what it could be like to be in that position. Sometimes people can have bad relationships with the people they live with, but how they communicate says a lot about the person.
3. Think About How They Communicate With You
Do they talk to you about their problems openly, or do they bottle things up? It’s important to be able to communicate properly with your housemate, otherwise things could turn sour quite quickly.
4. Ask Them About Their Sleeping Habits
Are they a morning person? Do they stay up until , and sleep until the afternoon? Do they get angry when they get woken up in the morning? You need to know these things if you don’t want to be tiptoeing around them all the time. If one person has to get ready in the morning while the other wants to sleep in, this could cause some problems.
5. Do They Care About a Clean Home?
Do they clean up after themselves? Are they a messy person? You need to make sure that you can both compromise and share the housework.
6. How is Their Money Situation?
Can they afford both rent and bills? Will they pay their part on time? Do they save or spend money more often? You need to make sure your housemate can actually afford to move in with you, even if that’s as simple as putting in money towards furniture. You probably don’t want to pay for everything yourself.
7. Do They Have a Good Personality?
Are they hot-headed or cool, calm, and collected? Do they like to get what they want all the time, or are they willing to compromise? You need to make sure that if you ever have any disagreements that you can both communicate calmly.
Sometimes you don’t really know a person until you move in with them, so even if you have asked yourself these questions and decided to go ahead, sometimes things don’t work out. If that happens, don’t beat yourself up. Take it as a lesson and move on. Or maybe, things will turn out amazing. You never really know.
Featured photo via Unsplash
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