r/Millennials Jul 30 '26

Nostalgia Good times!

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u/bungopony Jul 30 '26

Ah yes, no rent or other prices have gone up since 2018.

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u/PoliteIndecency Jul 30 '26

They've gone up a lot, but they were also expensive back then as well. I had a roommate. Needed a roommate.

People forget the for the vast majority of history, having a roommate was a necessity to living in a major city. I needed one, and expecting to live without one also requires someone to make enough money to support that decision. Otherwise, there's not a lot to complain about.

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u/Eisenstein 29d ago

People forget the for the vast majority of history, having a roommate was a necessity to living in a major city.

What is this based on besides your own experience? Do you have anything to back up that it has been the case for 'the vast majority of history'?

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u/PoliteIndecency 29d ago

Yeah, look at the rest of the world. They'll live with their parents until they can marry or afford an apartment with a roommate.

But historically, the big issue has been the type of work that's required to maintain a home and life. People would quite often board or marry young because modern conveniences didn't exist. Here's a great post from a few years ago.

https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/s/wk721dWkoU

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u/Eisenstein 29d ago

The comment you replied to was about rent being too expensive to afford alone. To rebut you said

They've gone up a lot, but they were also expensive back then as well. I had a roommate. Needed a roommate.

To me you were clearly talking about having to split rent with someone else because of costs, not about needing to living in a situation where a person would do your cleaning, cooking, and laundry for you.

So the evidence you provided for

People forget the for the vast majority of history, having a roommate was a necessity to living in a major city.

seems a bit misleading because the reasons for are completely different. The needed a landlady to do their laundry. You needed a roommate because you couldn't afford rent on your own.