Living alone could be better -- and is better for many apartment renters. Sure, it costs more, but you're paying for indispensable amenities of peace and quiet, privacy, and knowing that when phone rings, it's for you. Nobody eats your groceries, leaves their clothes on floor, or arrives home at 2 a.m. and interrupts your beauty rest with slam of a door. On other hand, single life has been known to become lonely on occasion, perhaps even claustrophobic. When weekends roll around, you social butterflies are climbing walls. And should your plans fall through, you find yourself having a lively conversation with your dirty laundry. Yet, still others love solitude that a roommateless existence allows. Self-determination is their mantra -- ability to go any place they want, any time.

So there are two very valid sides to this coin. If you find yourself with roommate from hell, there's precious little you can do about it if you're both paying rent.

If you decide to get a roommate, you're going to need to sit down first and discuss anything and everything. Even if you already know your roommate, you probably don't. Talking about these subjects up front initially may seem callous, cold, and calculating, but better you clear air now than to discover later that you made a serious mistake. Here are a few suggestions for your discussion:

Money

Marcy* was diagnosed with Tourettes syndrome at age of sixteen. Due to this disease, she is unable to work and thus is forced to depend on government for money. "Do you know how much states give us to live on each month?" her friend Joan* asks, "It's not even poverty level." Due to a lack of funding, Marcy had to move back home. "It makes me feel like I'll never be able to have my own place," she says, "I'll always depend on someone... and that's not my idea of fun."

Joan also suffers from a disability which prevents her from working. Due to a rare neuro-muscular disease called Kearns-Sayre syndrome, she will soon be wheelchair-bound. "When people buy or rent places they don't have to think about two years down road. I have to. I know I have to be on ground level. No stairs. Inside there must be lower counters. The bathrooms must be accessible. There have to be ramps." Looking for somewhere meeting all of those requirements which also fit into her budget was difficult. "It made me feel alienated."