Between 2010 and 2020, the number of child-free, single-person households in the European Union increased by 20% (source: Eurostat). This is a quantum leap.
Perhaps females are becoming less willing to put up with testosterone-induced nonsense in their personal lives. 😅 Perhaps there is a strong correlation between this surge and the overall aging population. Who knows!
One thing’s for sure: living alone truly has a multitude of benefits. I would argue the advantages far outweigh any disadvantages, even the most notorious of them all: potential loneliness.
Is Living Alone Lonely?
Loneliness does not necessarily have anything to do at all with living alone. You can be in a room full of people, or live with your spouse and/or children, or work with colleagues in an open office space, yet still feel dreadfully lonely.
Loneliness is a state of mind, and it’s subjective. It’s defined in medical literature as e.g. “a distressing feeling that accompanies the perception that one’s social needs are not being met by the quantity or especially the quality of one’s social relationships.”
Conversely, you can spend time alone, or live alone forever, and never feel lonely.
I’ve lived alone since I was 18, give or take two or three excursions to that popular, yet frequently disappointing town called Co-Habitation. For me personally, it was a form of living marked by disastrous experiences with the opposite sex, which I’ve happily abstained from ever since.
Is It Scary Always Being Home Alone?
The idea of living alone for the first time can seem a bit scary and may spark a bit of nervousness, especially if any degree of solitude is new to you. However, living alone doesn’t mean loneliness or fear.
For many, the first time living alone is a big decision – moving out of your parents’ house or saying goodbye to your roommates starts a new chapter in your life. Yet, this step is far from being a shackle. Instead, it offers an invaluable opportunity to grow, recharge your social battery on your own terms, and cultivate a lifestyle that better reflects who you are.
There’s nothing much to fear if you follow commonsense safety for solo dwellers. While it may seem daunting at the outset coming home to an empty place or suddenly have total control over your own house rules, living alone will quickly shift from being a bit scary to deeply satisfying.
The Pros of Living Alone
I could likely fill an entire book as to why living alone is the smarter form of dwelling, at least until retirement, but I shall not burden you today, Dear Reader. Instead, here’s my shortlist of the six biggest benefits of living alone.
1. It Makes You Independent & Financially Savvy
People who live alone have learnt to rely on themselves and take full responsibility of their own living space. They develop real-world skills out of necessity.
They can deal with a clogged up sink, electrical outages, paint jobs, and frustrating superintendents who crack snide sexist jokes.
Solo dwellers emerge stronger, more self-sufficient and less needy because they’ve had to tap into their full potential and make decisions independently.
Ultimately, they’ve gotten to know themselves, so they’re comfortable in their own company and have a good sense of self-awareness. Other positive side effects: independent people are considered attractive and make better managers at work, too, particularly if they are female.
Living alone means you’re going to have to intentionally budget, and this builds your financial acumen. There’s no one to spot you cash when you’re short for the delivery guy, or help you when you’ve missed a credit card payment.
You learn quickly to manage your money, and over time this translates into better planning for savings and investments. In fact, many people who live alone report improved credit scores as they take full control of their finances.
2. Your Home Equity Is All Yours
Speaking of money, if you are paying rent into your own pocket by owning your own condo or house, all that sweet, sweet equity is going to be yours alone when you sell one day. This is one of the significant financial advantages of living alone!
When you’re the only person on the mortgage, you don’t need to share the appreciation of your property with anyone else. For many single professionals, this represents one of their most significant wealth-building opportunities and a path to long-term financial security.
3. Personal Space Whenever You Want
When you live alone, there’s no one judging your choices 24/7. Go out when you want. Come home when you want. Or stay in and binge mindlessly on The Real Housewives of the City of Your Choice.
Invite a friend to come visit for the weekend. You don’t need to consult with anyone. You run on your own schedule and make your own rules. And you can break them whenever you feel like it because there’s no one around to bug you.
Speaking of space, you also need less of it when you live alone. Nobody will mess it up, either. If you leave a clean place behind you when you head out to work or school, it will still be clean when you come home at night. Your living space is truly yours.
There’s no picking up after anyone else. Even working from home is dramatically better when you live alone, because there is no one who will disrupt your physical or mental space. Your home office stays organised exactly as you need it, without compromise.
4. Peace and Quiet (or Heavy Metal) in the Mornings
This is probably my personal favourite out of all the benefits of living alone. There’s really not a human in the world I want to acknowledge with any sort of verbal intercourse before I’ve had 600ml of coffee and a couple of hours of alone time in the morning. 😅
The early a.m. hours are precious, productive, and give me a great head start on the workday. I enjoy doing rather administrative tasks during these quiet early hours, such as project planning, backend maintenance, or accounting.
For many years I also wrote morning pages: three hand-written sheets of a stream of consciousness. It helped me process a lot of emotional baggage at the time.
Figure out what works for you and how much time you need to yourself before work. Create your own morning ritual, and celebrate it each day without having to listen to any roommate’s background noise! Whether you’re an introvert who needs quiet time or an extrovert who likes to start the day with upbeat music, you can set the tone exactly as you wish.
5. You Can Decorate Your Home However You Like
Another big benefit of living alone may sound banal at first, but I feel it’s a worthy mention because it really underscores the degree of complete creative freedom you experience at home: You can design your interior entirely as you like. Want an all-pink Barbiecore interior? Go for it. Prefer minimalist Scandinavian design? That works too.
There are absolutely no compromises you have to make and if you enjoy decorating, you really come to appreciate the creative liberty you have in your own space. You’re essentially only bound by your own time and budget constraints!
Your furniture arrangement, wall colors, art choices, and even how you utilise each room is entirely up to you. Want to turn the living room into a yoga studio? Or convert the guest bedroom into a craft space? When you live solo, your space is truly yours to monopolise however you see fit.
6. Complete Control Over Your Daily Routines
Living alone means you call the shots on all aspects of your daily life, from meal planning to sleep schedules. For one, it’s just easier and more economical to do the grocery shopping and any meal planning for a single-person household.
Plus, if you spontaneously decide you don’t feel like cooking, you’re not obliged to. It’s only you, after all.
Cheese and crackers with a glass of wine for your #girldinner? Go for it.
Meal skipping? Totally.
Cold pizza for breakfast? Absolutely.
Pot roast leftovers four nights in a row? Heck yes, it was delicious after all.
Beyond food, you can set your thermostat to your perfect temperature, take long showers without worrying about using all the hot water, and leave the bathroom door open if you want to.
Perhaps most importantly, living alone also brings the benefit of controlling your own sleep environment. You can go to bed when you want, wake up when you need to and not when someone else’s alarm goes off. You don’t have to deal with anyone else’s snoring, temperature preferences, or late-night activities, either.
Many people find they sleep more soundly with complete control over their sleep space, and that ultimately has significant health benefits over time. Heck, it’s why even a lot of married couples have separate bedrooms!
Where Do You See the Benefits of Living Alone?
These were my personal top six pros of solo living. I did try to think of some disadvantages while writing this, but I could really only think of two! There is no one around to help you lift heavy things when you need to; you always have to call a friend or pay for help.
And there is no one around to give you a spontaneous hug and cuddle when you usually need it the most.
Can’t have it all, I guess.
Whether you’re considering moving out of your parents’ home, transitioning from a shared living situation, or just curious about the pros and cons of living alone for the first time, solo living does offer unique advantages that can’t be matched though.
Yes, occasionally you might need to socialise more intentionally, but most singles who choose to live alone find the benefits far outweigh any challenges. The independence, control, and self-discovery that come with living alone go a long way toward creating a fulfilling lifestyle.
If you’ve found yourself intrigued by the idea, it might be worth trying living alone, even temporarily. Many people who initially feel nervous about solo living soon discover they don’t want to share their space again.
Do you run a solo household, or have you in the past? I’d love to hear about your living situation and what your take is on the benefits of living alone. Drop a comment below!
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