Active discussions

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

House sharing at 40

34 replies

Mooshamoo · 10/11/2023 19:53

I'm 39. I was living alone there for a while.

The way things have gone in the last year, I think Im going to have to move in with strangers next year.

So I'll be house sharing with strangers at 40. It's not the norm and I'm a bit embarrassed but I have to do it.

Has anyone else done it on here?

OP posts:
ConsuelaHammock · 10/11/2023 21:21

Theres no shame in house sharing at any age if you are struggling to live alone. I think that housing is incredibly under occupied.

ProvisionsOnTheDock · 10/11/2023 21:21

Could you get a second job? (assuming you have a first one!) I would rather do almost anything to make more money than house share in my 40s.

gofullpelt · 10/11/2023 21:16

Watch five bedrooms on iPlayer. It made me want to house share!

Disco50 · 10/11/2023 21:00

I had to rent out a room in my precious little post-divorce empty-nester house.
When I bought it two years ago I could afford it alone.
It won't be forever (I tell myself).

Missingmyusername · 10/11/2023 20:04

I used to work in housing OP, so many people are coming in to this bracket now. Even if you work full time, earning 30k, you’d struggle to get something that didn’t eat your entire wage leaving you very little left to enjoy life with, let alone save.
The way some houses are let mean the landlords are better off letting a 5 bed house to 5 unrelated individuals, rather than a family for example.
It’s very hard, please don’t feel you’re alone.

If your name isn’t on the housing list please register, it may take years but at least you’re on the list.

Zanatdy · 10/11/2023 20:03

Don’t be embarrassed. I’ve given up judging myself against others now, or what my parents generation had or didn’t have. There might be some negatives but also positives too.

QPWO · 10/11/2023 19:58

I’ve been in a 4-5 person house share that included people in their 40s and 50s and I’ve shared with one other woman while we were one each side of the 40 mark. Sharing with one other person is much nicer when you’re older I think, but there are ‘grown up’ ways of doing both. In a bigger houseshare could you afford to have an en suite? If you have time can you first find the person (or two) who you’d like to live with then look together for a place?

OneAtATime · 10/11/2023 19:58

i don’t think it’s embarrassing. It’s a tight time for people financially plus post pandemic things have changed - do you wfh? A housemate or two could work out well for companionship, better property than you might get alone. I’m 43 btw. I’ve never lived alone and don’t think I could.

Thepeopleversuswork · 10/11/2023 19:57

I wouldn't be embarrassed about it. It sounds very sensible tbh. The cost of living crisis makes it unsustainable for many people to live alone these days. There's no shame in trying to find a financially sustainable solution.

People are very negative about flat-sharing scenarios but if you share with the right people it can be really nice.

Swipe left for the next trending thread