The Pro’s And Con’s Of Living With Your Best Friend

There’s no denying it, living with your best friend is the dream, but there are some serious pro’s and con’s which shouldn’t go unrecognised. At the end of the day, a best friend is sort of like a sister, and sisters don’t ALWAYS get on! You find out a lot about someone from living with them, you get to know each of their quirks and habits, some more tolerable than others…This sort of living situation doesn’t come without its highs and lows, so here are 10 of the main pro’s and con’s of living with your best friend! How many can you relate to?

Pro – What’s Theirs Is Yours

Possibly one of the greatest perks of living with your best friend is the unspoken agreement that you share everything. Going out and can’t find something to wear? Relax, you’ve got a whole other wardrobe to raid at your disposal. The rule applies to many things: clothes, condiments, make-up, cereal, underwear…

Con – What’s Yours Is Theirs

The downside of the unspoken sharing agreement is that your belongings too are at your best friend’s disposal. Maybe they borrow something you needed, or finish your mayonnaise, or lose your mascara…it’s a sacrifice which has to be made unfortunately.

Pro – It’s Comfortable

You’re comfortable enough with them to tell them if something about the living situation isn’t working, e.g. being messy, a difficult subject to tackle when you don’t know your flatmate well. You don’t mind nagging them to do their dishes or reminding them about the bills. They’re your best friend, they can take it!

Con – It’s Too Comfortable

They feel so comfortable with you that they don’t always respect boundaries – they walk in on you in the shower, they use your toothbrush, they take photos of you when you look your worst…Then again, most best friends wouldn’t bat an eyelid at this behaviour, at least it proves how close you are!

Pro – You Always Have Someone To Drink Wine At Home With

Drinking alone is no fun, and living with your best friend means you’ll always have someone to share a few glasses of wine with whilst watching Come Dine With Me, whatever night of the week! Having a bottle at hand in the flat will always come in useful…

Con – They Know Everything

You can’t keep anything a secret from them. If you go out late at night and don’t come back until the next day, they know what you’ve been up to. If you’ve binged on a share size bag of Thai sweet chili Sensations, they know. Don’t worry, it gets to the stage where you have no shame at all, believe me.

Pro – You Can Host Things Together

You can have friends over when you please, since you likely have the same friends. You can have parties and share mutual responsibility over hosting, while at the same time preventing chaos, without having to worry about noise complaints from other flatmates. You can even host dinner parties together, the dream!

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Con – Their Boyfriend/Girlfriend Becomes Your Boyfriend/Girlfriend

Ah, the dreaded third wheel. Nobody wants to be one, but if you’re single and living with your best friend, and they have a boyfriend, chances are you’ll be spending a lot of time together…It can be unhealthy for your friendship, but at the end of the day they could also just be trying to include you, which is (kind of) sweet.

Pro – You Get To See Each other All The Time

You don’t need to worry about fitting your best friend into your schedule, they live with you and you see them virtually every day! They can tell if you’ve had a bad day, and they know exactly how to lift your mood (Cheese and wine? A litre of ice cream? Chili Heatwave Doritos?)!

Con – You Might Stop Making An Effort With Each other

The downside of seeing each other every day is that you might stop making the same effort with each other that did before living together. Before, you probably went out more and made seeing one another more of a special occasion, but in exchange for this you have something completely different which is equally as valuable – sitting together in your pyjamas watching day-time TV, priceless!