Lived with my parents til i moved out & started renting with mates/housemates etc.
Spent ten yrs doing that then bought this place ten yrs ago. The then-GF/fiancee moved in after 3 months & we lived together til we split up 2 yrs ago.

Since then i’ve lived alone. First time i’ve ever really lived alone for a good length of time. Current GF spends weekends here but i’m more than happy to be solo during the week.
Am i wrong to be enjoying this lifestyle in my mid-40’s?

No way dude! Embrace it

Similar to me, late 30s, been living on my own for about 4 years now. It’s ace.

No nagging, chores, ride when you want, and have a spaff whenever you feel like 😆

Like you I lived with my parents until I was 19, then I’ve pretty much lived with a partner until I split up with my last ex.

Make the most of it, I’m not planning on staying alone forever though.

if i ever became single again i’d spend a good few years enjoying it!

Does have it’s advantages, but sometimes it can be a bit lonely coming home to a dark, empty house..

Well, i say empty but two daft cats hurtling down the stairs at me make up for it! 🙂

I am happily married with two young kids but I loved living alone and sometimes still think of how great it was. Don’t think I ever will again somehow…

nope… you are one of the lucky ones… I promised myself that I wouldn’t ever let another partner move into my home.. I caved in and I now have my girlfriend and all her associated gubbins and rules and expectations.. an (admittedly quite amazing) 14 month old son and a ridiculous little poo and widdle factory of a puppy called Ducky.. all living in.. on and all over my castle..

hmph

No, you’re not wrong, but as with most things in life there are pros and cons.

Thinking about my own life now and I have never actually lived in a property on my own.

It wasn’t the lifestyle i had planned thats for sure.

I had the whole ‘wife & 2.4 kids’ idea going on but that kinda blew away.
Now i love the current MsDwarf but i’m in no hurry to even think about asking her to move in with me – once bitten & all that?

I don’t mind it when my wife goes away with the children for a few days and gives me some peace and quiet, but that rarely happens nowadays.

However, the contrast between 3 full-on young children plus wife and empty house is quite extreme and takes me a little while to get used to.

I luuuurvvee living on my own

The advantages are many, the disadvantage I can think of is never coming home to be greeted by a ready cooked meal…

No, nothing at all wrong in enjoying your current lifestyle. 🙂

Personally feel that some folk just aren’t suited to sharing a space. Perhaps it’s because I’ve done the marriage thing that I am now honestly happy living by myself. But … I would really love at least one dog to share my space. 8)

The advantages are many, the disadvantage I can think of is never coming home to be greeted by a ready cooked meal…

Hello, this is the 21st century. Keep up old chap. 😉

Got my own place at 21, lived alone until I was 30 – the now MrsSwadey moved in the weekend of my birthday – so now spent 11 years with her, the last 7 with kids as well.

There are times I would love to have a place to myself, but I have a great life. If I win the lottery I may buy a hose a couple of doors down as my bolt hole/bike bits delivery address……

Couldnt afford to live alone. Enjoying sharing with mates at the minute

Lol C_G, I hope you know what I really meant.

Cooking every night is a bit of a chore. Especially without an audience for my delectable master-chefery.

Now lived alone for 18 months. Been good to have my own space whilst I sort out the new me. Don’t think I even could have shared with anyone until recently.

Bad things? Always coming home to empty house.

Good things? Dont have to plan anything – I can disappear whenever I want. I can experiment in the kitchen without inflicting mistakes on others ( I’m getting good! ). I can choose my friends ( and they are an interesting bunch! ). My friends can stay when they like. I can stay at my friends when I like.

Rachel

It really doesn’t seem to bother me in the slightest, but then again I have been doing it for so long now I don’t even give it a second thought

The first time I lived alone after flat sharing etc was when I moved to NYC to work, even then although I had been very happy flat sharing, it didn’t seem to bother me.

I’mn thinking of getting a dog. Something to watch Orange County Choppers, Grand Designs and American Hotrod with. It’s a man’s life. I quite like living with some of the flatmates I have had, not others. Not in a hurry to get an new flatmate. Just work a bit harder to cover the rent. We’ll see. I’m 40. It’s basically ok.

Lol C_G, I hope you know what I really meant.

No, you’re normally so succinct. ❓

I have an idea – “Come Dine With Me” hosted by STW’ers. TSY kicks off the first one.

Cool.

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ICKToz7BLLA[/video]

How does the lady like her pot noodle cooked?

How does the lady like her pot noodle cooked?

that’s how it is man, that’s how it is 🙂

20 years and counting. Not a choice as such, just how it is.

….I forgot Extreme Engineering…it’s the million dollar shovel tonight. Ace.

oh wait….they’re pulling a plane….yay!

Oh dear, are we mainly a bunch of anti-social misfits unsuited to the demands of cohabitation then ? 😆

😆 @ trailertrash… that’s almost poetry.

Ok C_G I’ve worked on my menu..

Starter : French Onion Soup
Main : Beef Wellington avec Veg
Desert : Eton Mess

I’m going for a gastro pub style French/Anglais fusion.

….last winter I threw myself into Max4Live (Ableton Live anyone?) to pass the time and things got a bit weird head-wise around mid February as a result. Buggy software dudes. I sold it not long after. This winter who knows what CRAZZINESS could happen…..a bit of in depth Excel perhaps?

You lucky, lucky, lucky bastards.

I do get to keep my bikes in the front room, but that’s about it.

Otherwise I queue for the bathroom, get shouted at for having a poo, get the stringy legs of the chicken I cooked for tea, get to spend a thousand million pounds in the supermarket, get my undies stolen, get my socks stolen, get to wait up for the offspring to come in, have to pay for a million bus fares, get abused for daring to walk to the bathroom without clothes, have to agree to various piercings, haircuts, fashion abominations, act as a go between twixt siblings who are not talking to each other, work like a dog, get shouted at for moaning, get shouted at for not moaning, have to take the rubbish out, have to clean 4 other peoples skin off the bath, always end up washing my hair in soap because they’ve used all the shampoo, drag the miserable feckers to see their grandparents, buy cheap bike stuff to save money for Xmas rubbish that gets broken or discarded by Boxing day, wear crappy old clothes to pay for the latest fashion garbage and share my bedroom witha shoe collection that Imelda Marcos could only dream of.

You lucky, lucky bastards.

Only joshing fellas….

@Crikey….Brilliant stuff!

Shall i tell you about my sex life as well crikey? 😆

post of the week 😆

Sex life?

SEX LIFE?

I don’t even dream about a sex life anymore, I can’t even get to watch a sneaky bit of Countdown!

Vintage stuff that crikey, life is good huh 😯

Crikey,
Your post is so true and superbly worded.
Thanks for making me laugh at the end of a long day.

Great post crikey,.
I often hanker after living alone. It was ace, I see that now. I thought I had all the time in the world. Give it back god! I will now use it properly.

i’ve been living alone for the first time in my life since July (well apart from the 3 days a week I have my 3 kids with me).

It’s OK, nice to be able to watch what I want, eat what I want etc etc

Does get a bit quiet though – I feel kind of out of step with the rest of the world as literally everyone I know is married/ got young kids etc

I could do with a few more single friends to go drinking with or whatever at the weekends

Nah not weird at all, 3 of my mates flat together (38,42,42) they seem to enjoy themselves (the flat is called the pubic triangle). All professional sporty guys, they have gf’s but none of them seem to want to move anywhere !

My wife and i obviously live together but we both travel variously for work so htere are periods where its one of use at home for a week or some on their own or at least a few days every couple of weeks. We have independent lives and get on with it but also maintain a ‘couples’ life so you can make it work as long as you don’t stress about it too much. She was away a week and came home to find my mtb in the living room, my roadie on the turbo trainer and sh1t everywhere. She didn’t even bat an eyelid.

Live and let live!

‘Living apart together’ is an increasingly common arrangement and it affords all sorts of benefits and possibilities. People should not doubt themselves if they do not conform to the stereotyped nuclear family.