I’ve been living alone for 25 years, and can’t imagine having to share space with someone again.
Back when I was single, I loved living alone. And even now, after 16 years of marriage, I miss it for all the positive reasons already mentioned. I just feel like I have more of my groove on (heh) if I’m all by myself.
I lived alone about 13 years ago. I liked it because I could control when and how I spent time with other people. I did get lonely though. Now I live with a wife and two kids, I can’t compare that to living with flatmates because these are people who I’ve specifically chosen to live with while flatmates are a big compromise. I spend two weeks away living in hotels and I like that, having my own space, but I get bored. I’m thinking of getting another Xbox360 to take away with me.
My partner and I tried living together when we lived in NYC. We discovered that we are totally incompatible as roommates, but totally compatible in every other respect. And we didn’t want to break up because of domestic problems. So when I relocated here to take care of my parents, my partner bought the house next door. Now my parents are gone, so we both live alone, next to each other. It’s perfect.
I also live in a MIL apt behind a house. Its kinda inconvenient coming and going but at the same time its small, easy to clean, and comfy.
I’ve been married and divorce twice and lived alone between the marriages for about three years and this time around for about six years. For the most part, I like it. I can do what I want, when I want, and the thought of living with someone again scares me because I like my privacy and the ability to arrange everything in my life the way I want to. Quite a few of my female friends, middle-aged like me, live alone, and they seem to enjoy it most of the time. It can, of course, get lonely, especially when you get home from work and have no one to talk to about your day. Sundays are often bad, too. I have friends, but sometimes no one is available and it’s just me–oh, and my dog. I have him, so perhaps I don’t truly live alone.
I’m an introvert (INTP), so I find many, many ways to entertain myself when alone. I would imagine it would be much harder for an extrovert.
Sometimes I’m concerned about how much I like living alone and wonder if I ever had the opportunity to live with someone again, whether I could do it. I think a person can get so set in his/her ways that adapting to being with someone else could be very difficult.
This is my dream arrangement. Now to find a partner who agrees with me.
I’m another one who loves living alone. I don’t have to be as tidy as I would think I’d have to be with someone else in the house, yet I don’t have to be bothered with another person’s messes either. I like the television and radio volumes no louder than normal speaking level. Too many people I know like it much louder. I can fart and belch and walk around nekkid with impunity, and if I snore, no one hears me. (What? Me snore?) :o
I haven’t ever been truely lonely at home. Or bored, for that matter. OK, maybe a time or two but not in a long, long time. I keep myself occupied and I enjoy my own company.
The downside is that I think it makes me a dull conversationalist since I’m so content being by myself and thinking my own thoughts. It’s hard to come up with things I’ve done that another person might be interested in and I find my attention drifts to my inner world when I should be focussing on what is being said by my companions.
The upside is that when people live together there’s bound to be some friction from time to time (Or maybe a lot of the time.) It’s nice not having that stress factor in my life.
Other-side grass = greener
(always)
I love living alone (now headed to residence halls living, and hoping that the people I’ll share the kitchen, living room and bathroom with won’t try to “socialize” me).
Mom hates it with the fury of a thousand supernovas but, since she’s not able to give us room and time of our own, neither of her two unmarried children is willing to live with her (in Spain it’s perfectly normal for an unmarried adult to live with old parents). We both feel like when we’re with her, we “exist” but we don’t “live.”
I’ve lived with roommates and girlfriends, and I by far prefer to live alone. Someday, I kinda think it’d be cool to live like panache45 and her SO do, but first I have to find a woman who doesn’t bore me or drive me nuts after a while.
Why do I like living alone? Pretty much the same reasons everyone else gave: it’s my castle, and I can do what I want, when I want. Chores at 2am? No problem. Play guitar for 4 hours? Fine. Listen to thrash or death metal at jet engine decibel levels? WOOT! Can do!
And then there’s the whole not-having-to-worry-about-someone-else’s-portion-of-the-bills thing. Always hated that part of living with someone else.
Could I, and would I, live with someone again? Yes, but not until we had been dating for a couple of years and I was at least sure I wouldn’t resent her presence. I mean, who wants to live like that?
I haven’t lived alone for over thirty years but I loved it. As others have said you only have to clean up after yourself (or not, if you prefer). You can eat heathily or live on toasted sandwiches for a year.
I did have a six week period several years ago when my husband was in hospital and my sons were overseas. Nothing against any of them but it was blisssss.
I’ve never lived alone before, and I’m sure it is a different (and presumably better) experience than just having a shared house/apartment to yourself for a week when your housemates are all out of town, but I hated those experiences. Sometimes I need privacy to read, write, do the dick around and can get immersed in some solitary activity for hours, but I miss people and get intense loneliness pangs if I don’t have someone else in the house, interrupting me with their lovely, organic din.
Although, I don’t think I could tolerate having a roommate again. I need a place to be messy and naked and unashamed.
I have been living alone for 9 years now and absolutely love it. I like doing what I want when I want without having to fit in with anyone else. I love that TV and radio are only on if I am listening or watching and they aren’t on while I am playing guitar. I enjoy the fact that every meal is something I am happy to eat.
I have a nice routine. Usually I go out a couple of nights a week so those nights I just come home and go to bed anyway so I would see little of any housemates/family. I really like my job so I don’t need a homelife that compensates for crappy days at work.
I have friends to visit once in a while if I feel like company and have fairly regular sleepovers at my place for sex.
Years ago, before my current relationship, when I was internet dating I mentioned in my profile that I was too selfish to live with anyone else now that I had discovered that living alone is my preferred choice.
I’ve been living by myself for about 18 months and wouldn’t change a thing. The last few years of living with the soon to be ex was a nightmare in more ways than one. Family and friends drop by on a regular basis. Plus I can lounge around the house naked and nobody complains. Well the cats might but I just ignore them.
I got my own place nearly 3 years ago, and I thought I’d hate it. I couldn’t have been more wrong. Living alone is fantastic. I do get lonely at times, but I’d rather encourage visitors or visit other people than move someone in.
I have a rugrat sharing the place with me now but she’s not yet big enough for me to consider a housemate so I still say I live alone.
I’ve found it’s a love/hate situation for me.
In general, I like living alone. I get to do what I want, watch what I want, and keep it clean without having to clean up after anyone else. My only problem is that living alone makes it a little too easy to feed into my own antisocial tendencies. Sometimes I need to be forced to get out there and socialize with other people and, if I don’t, my own state of mind tends to suffer. Having a roommate doesn’t allow for this to happen because it can’t.
Thinking back, this was a major source of contention in my last breakup. She is the kind of person who always needs someone around. It’s inconceivable for her to be alone. In fact she and some of her friends talked seriously about starting a commune. (In the entire year I knew her, there was one night that she had to spend alone. She found it to be surprisingly peaceful and pleasant.)
I, on the other hand, found her life to be constant chaos. Constant TV, video games, kids yelling, dog barking, cat – chilling, friends and family constantly coming and going. She wanted me to move in, but I think if I did I’d have become homicidal within about a month.
There is no way in hell that I would have a roommate ever again. I made a break from that as soon as university regulations allowed in college. I simply am not cut out for it. This caused serious problems even with my ex-wife and I understand that but I can’t change my personality. The only people allowed over to my place now are my two young daughters who I view very differently than everyone else.
One of my favorite times in my life was when I lived in a large farmhouse in Vermont alone on 80 acres for 4 months. I literally had no mailing address, no phone, and no internet connection. It was impossible for anyone I knew to reach me unless they wanted to take a long drive or a plane flight and just show up even if they could find the house but that never happened. OTOH, I realize that type of lifestyle isn’t always healthy mentally or even physically.
One of my biggest goals in life is to live alone.
I started out living with my mom and sisters, went to foster care, lived with a roommate, lived with my boyfriend, lived with my grandfather, and now live with my sister and her family.
I love my family.
But, I want to live alone. I like being alone. I like peace and quiet. I like walking around naked. Seeing your loved ones is much more pleasurable when you don’t see them every day.
I doubt I’ll ever be able to get married, or live with another boyfriend. One of my problems with my last relationship was that I frequently just wanted to be left alone, which is a problem when you live with a significant other.