Life

This Will End Your Search For A Roommate

by Eliza Castile

Roommate horror stories are like unpleasant snowflakes: they're all pretty much the same, but each one has its own particularly nasty variation that makes it unique. Living with a virtual stranger sometimes works out well, but half the time it goes down in flames like a Taylor Swift relationship — which is why the Room Ring, a roommate-matching website that uses your social media accounts to find potential roomies, was founded in the first place.

The Room Ring cofounder Josie Hubschman told Bustle that she and her fellow founder Lia Wayman came up with the idea after Wayman had an "extremely tough time" finding someone to sublet her room when she moved to Boston last summer. She managed to find someone before turning to Craigslist, but the process was so stressful that the she and Hubschman decided to come up with a way to turn the difficult process of finding a roommate into something "

fun, care free, and simple." How exactly do they propose to do that? By using social media, of course! When you sign up for the Room Ring, you can choose whether you're looking to move in or have a vacant room yourself. Like most roommate matching services, profiles can include details like price range, whether you're willing to share a bathroom, going out habits, etc.

<img alt="" src="http://s3-ec.buzzfed.com/static/enhanced/webdr06/2013/8/5/14/anigif_enhanced-buzz-3429-1375727564-6.gif" class="article-body-image" title="Image: http://s3-ec.buzzfed.com/static/enhanced/webdr06/2013/8/5/14/anigif_enhanced-buzz-3429-1375727564-6.gif"/>Best of all, your profile is synced to your Facebook account, so matching is based on mutual friends, along with your profession and the college you attended. Basically, they're trying to cut down on the chances of an early bird medical student having to room with a bartender-slash-musician who likes to practice at 3 AM.Once you're matched with someone in your "ring," you can chat with them and/or stalk them on Facebook to your heart's content before making any decisions. Sure, living with three randos might lead to fun and wacky shenanigans in New Girl , but 95 percent of the time it ends with someone defriending someone else on Facebook, complete with all the ensuing drama. So if you're looking for a roommate, give it a try! I tested it out for you guys, and signing up literally took about 45 seconds. It can't hurt to keep your options open. Besides, if you're anything like me, you're willing to sign up for as many websites as necessary to avoid someone spraying Lysol in your face when you're sleeping off the flu again.

<img alt="" src="http://media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m6fw553BBr1r1c47w.gif" class="article-body-image" title="Image: http://media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m6fw553BBr1r1c47w.gif"/>Images: Ray Mickshaw/FOX, raestarshines/somethingsomethingisuppose/Tumblr