Every year, tens of thousands of people all across the country move in with a roommate for the very first time. While most people would rather live on their own, having a roommate can actually be quite the positive experience if both parties communicate clearly and are honest with each other whenever problems arise. Let’s take a look at some of the most beneficial parts of having a roommate in your life.

Perhaps the single best reason to have a roommate is for security purposes. If you have a roommate, not only will there be someone else home more often than if you lived alone, if a problem ever arises, you will have two people there to help solve it instead of just one. It will make your unit less likely to be a target of crime and you can sleep easier at night knowing you aren’t all alone.

If you can find a roommate that you have things in common with, it gives you a built in friend to hang out with and do things with on a regular basis. You can also tap into each others friends and see if you have things in common with them, too. Having a roommate really opens up a whole new world of friendship and things to do.

Finally, having a roommate means being able to split up housework. You can take turns doing dishes, vacuuming and everything else so that one person is never saddled with all the responsibility at once.