7 Things You Get Away With Living With Friends

It's the question on everyone's mind when it's time to find a roommate: is living with friends a good idea, or a terrible one? The main argument against doing so seems to rest heavily on the idea that if you start to hate a friend that you’re rooming with, you not only have a miserable situation in your home, but you also might lose a friend.

My response to that is: check your cranky self. Anyone who you live with is going to get on your nerves sometimes, and often for reasons that make zero sense. How much more awesome is it to come home to a smiling face (or even to a grumpy face) that you know than the indifferent face of a stranger?

I’ve had great roommates, one horrible roommate, and a roommate whose stuff was the only thing I ever saw of her. The best roommates, in my experience, were ones who I had established and healthy relationships with before sharing a living space with them. Seriously though, beware of living with brand new friends… any surprises are likely to be rather unpleasant.

There are plenty of worthwhile perks that you can only enjoy when living with friends. For example, they are bound by the pirate code to uphold all of your grudges. They understand your texts that are composed of 100 percent emojis (dog, poo + wrench, shower, snowman, angry face), and always at least tolerate your choice of pizza toppings. They won't even get mad at you when you're being a hangry mess. Roomie-friends play an important role in our lives as young adults, and prepare us to be better roommates to any future partners.

If you're really lucky, you'll find a significant other who is just as much a bestie as he or she is a lover so that this dream never has to end. Otherwise, make sure that you live close to your last roomie-friend so the fun never has to stop. Here are some things you can only get away with when living with a friend:

1. Skipping work and/or class to watch rockumentaries

Everybody has priorities, and sometimes those priorities involve watching VH1 for two hours absorbing the comprehensive history of punk rock, and then talking about it over mozzarella sticks for an additional two hours. The best part about living with a friend is that you have someone in your home who will reinforce the benefits of blowing off your pre-scheduled engagements to learn valuable things about CBGB, The Ramones, or whatever it is that’s got the two of you glued to the television this time.

2. Telling funny stories that aren't very funny

You’re funny — everybody loves your stories, but that comedic timing doesn’t always just happen out of the box. When living with your friends, you have a live-in sounding board for your best material. Next time you get a huge laugh at a dinner party, thank your roomie-friend for helping to polish your delivery.

3. Gossiping about literally everything

It really does help to have a second pair of eyes sometimes. In the immortal words of Lauren Conrad, “Homeboy wore combat boots to the beach! You do not want to call that your boyfriend.” When living with friends, they can act as the proofreaders of your life. You spend endless dinners chatting about conquests — past, present, and future. You give *everybody* code names, and talk so frequently that you’re almost speaking in a roommate language all your own.

4. Stalking your ex online

While your live-in bestie can question your judgment on occasion, she is responsible for reinforcing your every negative belief about the people you would like to have disappear. She will sit next to you, developing a deep seated vicarious grudge, as you “accidentally” track down the embarrassing digital past of every ex and enemy from here to Kalamazoo. She will enable the in-depth dissection of still-public Xanga diaries, questionable rap albums, and ancient Instagram photos. This is a two-way street.

5. Nonjudgmental showtune singalongs

Let’s be honest, if you’re not living with girlfriends, you’re probably not going to have anyone to sing those Wicked duets with.

6. Those random weeknight drinking sessions

After a rough day at work, sometimes you just need to drink a beer with a pink label, or all of the leftover skinny girl margaritas from last weekend. When living with friends, there’s no pretense or ado necessary; you can throw up a messy bun, put on some mascara, and be out the door (or just at the kitchen table) in five minutes or less.

7. Eating the whole tube of cookie dough

Doing this alone would bring on at least a little bit of guilt, but with a friend next to you with a spoon… no shame!

Images: NBC; Anna Kendrick/Instagram; Giphy (7)