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Flat Mates

There comes the day when you finally make a decision to move out of home. You decide that you are ready to leave the safe haven of home and release yourself from nagging parents, annoying siblings, boring chores, following silly rules and sticking to an uninteresting routine. You want to do what you want, when you want and wherever you want in South Island. Then you have to consider where you want to live, how much you can afford, what exactly you are looking for, will the flat be furnished, do you have to buy your own furnishings, the list is endless. But the most important question is whether or not you want to live by yourself or to share it with someone. If you're not too sure about wanting to share a flat with someone yet still uncertain about living by yourself, here are the pros and cons about sharing with a flat mate.



PROS

  • Having someone to come home to
  • Having someone to entertain you and vice versa
  • Eating by yourself isn't that pleasant, sharing a meal with someone is nice
  • Splitting the bills in half
  • Being able to borrow something that you may not have (clothes, books, car, etc)
  • Having someone help provide food, cutlery, furnishings, etc helps reduce costs
  • Feeling more secure knowing you have someone with you
  • More social events as they bring their friends around and you bring yours
  • If your sharing with someone you are intimate with, it will bring you closer (hopefully)
  • You learn to tolerate and have patience as you live with them and their habits
  • If your sharing with someone from another culture, you expand your knowledge and embrace their differences
  • You don't have to do all the cleaning and cooking and household chores, you split it between each other


CONS

  • Sometimes you want to be by yourself and having to tolerate another person in your living space can be frustrating
  • Not wanting guests or entertainment but having to deal with it unless you want to hide in your room
  • Your flat mate could constantly be asking to borrow something
  • Having someone ‘forget' to pay bills or ask to borrow money
  • Having a stingy flat mate who doesn't want to coff up their share of providing cutlery, food, furnishings, etc
  • You may not get along with their friends
  • If your sharing with someone intimate, it may bring you further apart instead of closer together, as intended
  • If you unfortunately end up with a lazy flat mate, you may be doing all the chores and have to clean up after them
  • If your sharing with someone from another culture, you may not accept their differences which obviously leads to a difficult situation
 

Whatever you choose, make sure you decide the pros and cons about living by yourself or with a flat mate. As well as this, ensure you choose a decent suburb in South Island as that greatly affects your living situation.