The Pros And Cons Of Living Alone

It’s a Wednesday at 7:30 PM, and you’ve had a long day at the office. As you endure your long commute home, you’re already looking forward to the peace and quiet of arriving home, eating a quick dinner, and binge-watching your favorite TV show all by your lonesome.

But is all that freedom worthwhile, financially? Here are the pros and cons of living alone…

Healthy Financial Habits Are Quicker To Build

When you live alone and don’t have to share with anyone, there’s no need to consider the likes and dislikes of another person, or their lifestyle and habits.

You can also be free of any influence that isn’t relevant to your financial situation. Consider, for example, if you wanted to spend less on certain items, while your potential roommate wanted to splurge.

Mental Alertness For The Win

While some do enjoy sleeping in the same bed as another person, having the bed to yourself allows you to spread out and adjust everything exactly the way you want. Whether you like having it hot or cool, bright or dark, having white noise or silence – you get to choose.

The deeper and more consistent your sleep, the better you’ll feel first thing in the morning, and the happier and more productive you’ll feel overall.

Why does that matter? If you’re never getting enough sleep, you’ll end up in a perpetually down mood, less healthy, and it’ll be difficult to concentrate throughout the day.

Lack of sleep often leads to self-medicating behaviors, like splurging on takeout because you’re too tired to cook. You’ll generally make better financial decisions if you’re well-rested.

Freedom Of Spending

It can be pretty incredible to not have to answer to anyone at all. When there’s no such thing as compromise, you can spend whatever you want whenever you want. Eat what you want, play the music you want, decorate your place the way you want, and do whatever works best for you.

There’s nothing quite like personal freedom when it comes to spending; that will help you learn solid habits like creating a budget for your hobbies and cutting expenses (since you’re the only one around).

You Pay for Absolutely Everything

Unfortunately, when you live on your own, there’s no option to have someone else help you with everyday expenses, or help pay the bills – like splitting the water bill or monthly rent.

Over time, this can cause excess stress on your body, mind, and overall health, not to mention your wallet. We could all use some help at one point or another.

More Privacy, More Risk

You’ll have all the privacy you could ever want, but you might be exposed to a greater level of financial risk since there’s no outside perspective on your spending. In the case of emergency expenses or medical costs, it can be extremely difficult to get the appropriate funds in time.

In a physical sense, not having a roommate limits your monthly rent-spending options, which may see you end up living in a more dangerous part of town, in order to find something you can afford.

Excess Spending

At first, living alone can seem like an absolute dream – nobody else’s rules, feelings, needs, or noises have to be considered, and you can just focus on yourself.

But the downside comes when you find that your spending gets out of control, and there’s nobody to point that out to you, or give you an outside perspective on how to fix it.

In Summary

Depending on your lifestyle and how you like to live, living alone may be a great option for you – but it’s important to consider how much money you need to have in order to live by yourself in the manner in which you’d like.

It’s different for every person, so consider whether you’d prefer to have your own space, or your own sounding board and safety net.