My Listerine in his bottle!

A friend once stated in all his wisdom that the stupidest thing you could ever do was to move in with another friend, particularly one you were very close with. It simply is a recipe for disaster he said. The friendship would inevitably end on bad terms.

Now that may seem a little excessive, but I have to agree with one aspect of his theory in that you need to be careful with who you choose to live with. One wrong choice and it could spell disaster or at least provide the friends who aren’t part of the disastrous living conditions with a whole host of hilarious anecdotes. Like it has for me…

One such friend has provided me with a barrel of laughs ever since moving in with some friends who make living with family a whole lot more appealing to anyone considering moving out. Tales of disappearing food that goes un-replenished, magical bottles of Listerine that seems to empty and refill in another’s after passing the ¼ mark, snappy mood swings and a general lack of privacy are just some of the entertaining stories I’ve heard about from what I dubbed “Green Acres”. I’m almost waiting for Eva Gabor and Eddie Albert to be standing in the front yard whenever I visit.

Other friends who have experienced far worse encounters with narcissistic wannabes belittling guests, flat mates who end up squatting to multiple break-ins. One frightening story was a girlfriend who moved to the bustling inner-city suburb of Richmond. It was one late afternoon as she hopped into the shower to get ready for a late night at work that drug addicts had broken into her home and stolen cash, a TV, a DVD player and a mobile phone. Mind you, the bathroom door was left ajar due to the fact there was no lock on it and she figured she was home alone. Apparently she wasn’t.

For me personally, I have been asked and invited by a number friends and acquaintances to become a housemate. For many however, I know that it would be friendship suicide if I was to ever do so, namely for the reasons that I know how they are and I know how I like things. I know that for me that I would have to live with someone who had similar home values as I did, purely to reduce the probability of creating fireworks.

Of course, even with those people who I know I could probably live with, there will surely be an occasion (or two) where we would disagree with each other. It’s to be expected. Yet, I know that I will have my friend’s theory at the back of my mind every time I decide to move in with someone new.

I guess its all part of the adventure of gaining further independence from the hand that feeds you when you’re growing up. Just make sure you don’t pour your housemate’s Listerine into your cheap no-label mouth wash bottle. Otherwise, I’ll never hear the end of it!