In this article I have written the biggest problems I have found with sharing an apartment with friends of mine, after my two best friends and I decided to all move in together.

Privacy:
If you move in with a friend you can forget about having any privacy. With a roommate you don't know if you go into your room and close the door they will usually not bother you unless there is a good reason, but friends will want to hang out. Friends will also go into your room to borrow things when you are not home, because you would not mind.

My old roommate would always go into my room to borrow my things no matter how much I asked her not to, and every time I asked she would get insulted because it was her so it should be ok with me.

Money:
When living with a roommate you found in the news paper or on the internet, the person will be more considerate to you then a friend may be when it comes to paying the bill. A friend may ask you to pay it and they will pay you back in "just a few days", but a stranger will not burden you with this. They will make sure they have the money to pay the bills.

Another friend of mine was always taking days off from his job and at the end of the month was always in need of money when it came to paying the bills. He would then have to ask me to cover him till he could beg his parents for the money to pay me back, and several times he bounced his rent check and the land lord would always call me to complain because my roommate would not answer the phone when he saw who was calling.

Chores:
When sharing a place to live it is usually best to divide the chores around the house such as cleaning the bathroom and taking out the garbage. This is another example of something a stranger will stick to more then a friend will, sure a stranger from time to time may have something come up and they did not clean the shower on the day he was supposed to, but he will usually let you know that he will do it the next day or as soon as he can. Friends will put things off with no explanations at all.

The girl I used to share a place with was a neat freak if I cooked something and left a pot soaking in the sink for 8 hrs she would complain to me until I started cleaning them immediately after cooking, but she would always leave pots and dishes in the sink. When I confronted her about this she said that she can not stand to see my stuff in the sink when she comes home from work but her dishes in the sink do not bother her so I have to clean them immediately but she does not.

Power Consumption:
Unless your roommate has lots of money and lets face it if they had cash they would not need a roommate, then they will be looking to save money and not want to waste money on electricity, and once you agree on things like using the dryer or air conditioning two roommates who meet online or from an add in the paper will usually respect the rules better then two friends will. Friends will usually bend the rules, like leaving the computer on all day or running the ac all night.

My friends used to leave their Air conditionings on all day long and would often leave their rooms and even the apartment without turning them off, and instead of being more responsible for their actions they would make up excuses like "oops I forgot".