As the cost of living in cities is ever-increasing, a shift from traditional housing arrangements to more modern alternatives has seen a boom in recent years. One of these is co-living, which proves to be a popular choice among newer generations looking to build connections and budget better. If you're a young professional who hasn't lived with other people in shared spaces before, then read on to know if co-living is the way to go for you.
Know The Difference: Co-Living vs. Getting Roommates
While essentially similar, co-living and traditional housing with roommates have a few distinctions. Most co-living spaces have communal bathrooms per floor, gaming areas, laundry areas, and WiFi areas, with most of the rooms fully furnished already. Meanwhile, traditional condos or apartments mostly have bathrooms in each room, and might need some tweaking from you and your roommates as far as style and usability goes. Co-living areas usually have a private bedroom while traditional setups are typically composed of multiple beds in one area.
So now you know the difference, what else should you learn about co-living spaces to see if they're livable and ideal for you? Below are 7 things you need to assess with yourself to gauge how much you'll like or dislike a co-living setup.
1) You like your own space and you like company too
If you like your own space, then it wouldn't be ideal for you to live with strangers. However, co-living offers both privacy and company of people in some shared spaces. This means that as much as you'll be dealing with some noises, quirks, habits, and conversations near you, you'll also have some time for yourself to focus on school, work, or just chill after a long day.
2) You get along with people easily
It definitely helps if you're friendly, approachable, and quick to establish rapport with strangers (and potential friends). If you're the type to invite people to dinner or for a walk on a nearby park, then there's a higher chance you'll get to know your co-living neighbors beyond pleasantries and even share a genuine bond with them.
3) You need to cut down on expenses
We need compromise sometimes, especially if we're new to the corporate world (or whatever our chosen field is) and we don't have a lot of financial capital at our disposal. Co-living allows you to pay less on rent and home furnishing, and even on laundry costs and other house-related expenditures. Depending on your living arrangement, you can even save yourself from worrying about nudging your roommates to pay up if you get individual room leases.
4) You don't want to do some chores alone
Household chores will continue to haunt you even if you've moved away from mom and dad's. If you want some sort of labor division and avoid getting burned out while juggling employee/entrepreneur workload and house-related work, then co-living might just be your best bet. Don't forget to have a clear system: assigned chores for each floormate (including yourself) or just plainly cleaning up after your own mess.
5) You want to be part of a community
And by community, we mostly mean co-living space-wide parties! While some landlords or condominium owners and developers don't allow room parties, co-living spaces can actually have designated rooms for partying and it can be quite fun and chaotic at the same time. If you're cool with booze, some loud upbeat music, and a bunch of people having some fun a few rooms away, then co-living would be a great choice for you.
6) You like accountability via individual room leases
If you don't want to stress yourself out with roommates that are late on rent, co-living offers something that could help you out: individual leases from your lessor. This not only promotes responsible paying (a.k.a. paying on time) but also accountability for your own right actions or wrongdoings. There's no domino effect among a group of responsible payers and one who doesn't really care: if some of them fail to pay, they're the ones who'll get the warnings or eviction notices.
7) You want a sustainable, minimalist lifestyle
Sharing your area means eventually sharing some pieces of furniture, appliances, and a bunch of other things that are fine for communal use. No pots to cook some pasta in? The girl next door might have one. Vacuum too big for the nooks and crannies? A smaller vacuum you can use might just be one conversation away from a person in the same floor. If you have more friends in your co-living space, there's more usable equipment in rotation, and all of you are less likely to spend on new things. This is very economical in anyone's book.
Would You Co-Live With Strangers?
If you're more willing to take a chance and build new bridges, then you can give co-living with strangers a good shot. While on trial period, strive to connect with them and give it time for your relationship to blossom. You may not start off as close as you expected, but being civil and friendly with each other should be good enough.
Always remember to be kind and responsible so you maintain a good relationship with those you live with. But if you choose to just live by yourself, then that's alright as well. Either way, it's still a blessing to have a living space you get to eat in, sleep in, and work in for both good and bad days.
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