I've lived in NYC For 10 years. Moved here when I was 19. I've always had a roommate. Sometimes multiple roommates. I moved pretty much every year to a new part of the city. When I was 24 I booked a show on Broadway and was still living with a roommate but started to put money away to buy a place of my own. Then finally at 27 a year after my show closed and 1 year into working as a real estate agent, I closed on my first co-op, a one bedroom all to myself. Here are a few things I've learned since being on my own. Disclaimer They may only apply to me.
ONE. Your Seamless Bill Grows Exponentially
I mean, we're talking HUGE, like 1000% more in a year than what I had paid previously. When I had roommates I was much more motivated to cook; or eat their food. But seriously, a roommate is like having company over all the time, and we always ended up cooking in the kitchen together. Now I don't remember the last time I was in my kitchen that wasn't to grab a fork to eat my chicken tikka masala with.
TWO. You May Never Wear Pants Again
When I come home pants come off, pants don't come back on until absolutely necessary. I have to make a phone call? No pants. Seamless Delivery? No Pants. It's 2AM and I have to do Laundry? NO PANTS (can be slightly awkward if somebody else is also up late) but if I could go to the office in no pants, I would.
THREE. You will learn a lot about yourself and grow in doing so (You'll also probably start to go slightly crazy)
I see plenty of people throughout my day, in fact both my day job and my main job require human interaction. At night when I go home to my nice little one bed however, I get to be alone with my thoughts and one good days it's GREAT but on bad days, or just days where there is something small nagging at you, it can be, well, not so great...Ever spend consistently too much time taking a hot shower while helplessly trying to decipher the meaning of the last text from your significant other using only your shower thoughts? Well, you can take as much time as you need when you live alone...nobody coming to bother you...which brings me to my next point...
FOUR. If You Don't Live In Manhattan Nobody Is Coming To Visit
Now this one is NY specific but has been a very learned lesson in my time here. I live in queens, and not in normal queens, further queens. Am I far from Manhattan? No, I work there, I'm there literally everyday, it takes me 25-30 minutes. In a new yorker's mind, however, queens is on another planet, it's not really even part of NYC. Asking a friend to go to queens is like asking someone from Boston to come visit California, not happening unless it includes a free trip somewhere warm, which in this case, it does not. If I want to see my friends I go to them, because there is no way in hell they're coming to queens.
FIVE. It's The Actual Best
After 8 years of living with roommates. I can remember what I enjoyed about each experience, but I can't imagine ever going back to that. Living alone is the ultimate freedom, you are your own boss. You can eat ice cream for dinner, you can skateboard indoors, play on the fire escape, draw on the walls, you can do whatever the hell you want, in fact, if there is a con, sometimes there are too many choices, but at the end of the day, your home is yours, to make what you make of it, and you can't put a price on that. Except for real estate brokers. They put a price on that. And it's probably high.