For 18 years, we lived with our parents. We followed their rules because we were under their roofs. Then we went off to college. The biggest change was adapting to taking care of you most of the time. Remembering to eat at the correct times of day (or just all the time if all else fails), remembering to do laundry, shower, you know, the basics.

(OK, hopefully by the time you’re 18 you can shower without your parents reminding you, but who knows, some of you were sheltered.)

My first year living on my own was easy: the dorms made it easy to adapting to living on your own because food courts were no more than 100 feet away from you at all times and the laundry facility was just in the basement of all the dorms (personally, did my own laundry and made my own meals for years before I went to college, but again, I know a lot of people didn’t). Yes, you may have had a roommate, but maybe you didn’t know each other well and didn't feel any obligation to help each other out in the dorms.

Fast-forward to my sophomore year, where I am now sharing a one bedroom apartment with my roommate, but she also happens to be my best friend. Why a one bedroom, you may ask? We’re broke and it’s cheap. It’s a place to sleep, so we don’t complain. We grocery shop-both separate and together, we do laundry at the laundry mat up the street (not as often as we should), and, yes, we shower daily.

The problem is, I’m that ‘mom’ friend that everyone has. I literally go behind people cleaning up after them for no reason. I don’t say things like “this gives me OCD” (because that doesn’t make sense) or whatever; I just like to have things tidy. What I do have is anxiety, and that’s the main reason I’m such a ‘mom’ to my roommate. She loves me anyway, though. The difference between taking care of yourself in the dorms and taking care of yourself in an apartment with a roommate is that you have an obligation to each other: to make sure you both pay rent, utility bills, keep food in the fridge, etc.

As a result of being the mom friend, feeling the need to obsessively tidy after everybody in my apartment, and the guilt from all of that, has led to my decision to live in another one bedroom for my junior year, but by myself.

To a lot of people, living on your own in college sounds boring. Who do I hang out with at home? Who do I go out with if my friends don’t live with me? But, to me, in my mind, it makes living on my own and having to take care of myself a lot easier. My anxiety makes it so I feel the need to take care of my roommate, and myself - and that’s not of any fault to her. With the stress of already having to feed myself, study for exams, and attempt to graduate in four years as a double major with a minor, I just decided that it would be easier on me to live on my own so I can focus on school more than the way my apartment looks.

Let me be the first to tell you, though, that one bedroom apartments in Bloomington, are not cheap. It only makes sense that the smaller the apartment gets, the cheaper it gets. No. In a college town, it might as well be the complete opposite. The reason my roommate and I live so cheap now is because of our distance from campus (that’s tip #1 if you’re trying to save money on rent- get away from downtown/campus).

Next year, I’m living in a 300 square foot apartment and I’m so excited. AND it’s pet friendly. If I have to clean up after someone, I’ll gladly do it for a cat or dog.