What it’s like to live on your own at uni

I got 99 problems but housemates ain’t one

7 years ago | UPDATED 6 years ago

"Do you, like, not have any friends?”

Is the usual response I get when I tell people I live on my own.

After reassuring them that, yes, I do have friends who live just down the road, and no, daddy’s not paying my rent, they still struggle to grasp the fact that a third year student would actually make the decision to live on their own.

As a student you're meant to pay far too much for a boxy room in a grotty house that you share with all your mates.

Sharing a tiny house with 6 friends in second year, I experienced the dirty surfaces, the heated arguments, the mice. It's pretty clear why I decided I just wasn't cut out for the student life.

Living on your own in Leeds can be cheaper than some shared houses and I worked hard to save for the extra rent. My studio is tiny, but it’s clean, and it’s mine.

It might be small, but it's all mine

I get to be as extra as I like, decorating it with fairy lights, white marble and gold and fresh flowers, without fearing the post pre-drinks atomic bomb I'll wake up to.

But although a clean (or just, you know, not gross) living environment is what pushed me to move in on my own, there have been so many unexpected benefits.

My friendships have improved

I do have friends, I promise…

People ask if I get lonely, and the honest answer is no. If I fancy company, I pop out to the pub or round my mates’ houses. If I’m knackered after a long day, I get to light my candles, snuggle under a blanket and enjoy the peace.

The quality of conversation with my friends has improved. Now I’m not around them 24/7, we have things to catch up on when we do see each other. I get all the best parts of the friendships without having to see them when they’re moody af.

I. Sleep. Like. A. Baby.

Know what it’s like to have a 9am and be woken up throughout the night because your housemates are screeching at the top of their lungs, falling down stairs, throwing up, banging pans together in the loudest way possible?

Equally, when I come back at 4am and decide it’s a good idea to cook eggs, I can make as much noise as I want without fear of being shouted at.

I don’t have to wait around to start watching a film or go to the pub

Film or pub nights with your housemates are all good and lovely. That’s until you’re sat waiting for one housemate to get back from the gym, another to finish having a shit, another to finish a reading. By the time everyone’s ready it’s gone 12 and you decide to sack it off for another day.

And repeat the following night.

Having the freedom to do what you want, when you want without waiting around for people is the most liberating thing about living on your own.

No more heated arguments over whose dirty teaspoon is by the sink

We all think we’re tidier than we actually are.

As that pile of dirty washing up gets bigger and bigger, so do the snide comments and the indirect messages on the group chat.

Not my problem anymore

A spiral of denial, blame and anger inevitably leads to a heated argument, or in my case me angrily doing all the washing up whilst plotting how to murder all my housemates.

I haven’t had to clean my kitchen once since I moved in on my own, because it just doesn’t get messy. No arguments and spotless surfaces is my idea of a good life.

Have you ever seen a student kitchen so clean?

I don’t have people commenting on every aspect of my life

Little comments on what I was doing, what I was wearing, or even what time I was going to bed wore me down when I lived with other people.

Now I don’t have to stay up until 12 doing nothing because it’s socially acceptable, if I want to go to bed at 9 and wake up bright and early at 6am to get work done, I can, without someone asking if I’m ill.