20 Reasons Every Girl Should Live By Herself At Least Once In Her 20s

Due to soaring rent prices, our perceived loneliness and the pressure to move in with that special someone, most of us will bypass that small window of time in our lives in which we can live on our own.

To be clear: This means the only other thing breathing in your living room is either a plant, a pet... or both.

While there are certainly pros to perpetually dwelling with another person, it is equally important (if not more) to learn to live on your own for an extended period of time.

For one thing, you can finally face the fact that it is you creating the mess in the hallway. For another, you can finally clean it up without having to wear pants. See, you're still winning even without someone to blame it on.

Living alone as a female doesn't mean you're The Spinster With A Million Cats. It means you're independent, self-sufficient and enjoying all the glorious things in the world that were previously unavailable to you when you had a roommate.

And here they are: the reasons every girl should live alone at least once in her 20s.

1. Every food item in the fridge is YOURS.

You don't need to label it out of fear that someone will steal your last yogurt as you're running late to work. Yes, you drank that entire bottle of wine all by yourself.

And you definitely were the one who drunkenly mixed the peanut butter with cream cheese. The only person you have to blame for that one is Svedka yourself.

2. You can dance naked to Beyoncé at any moment and not worry about anyone coming in unannounced.

Go on, get down with your bad self! Seriously, you can dance like no one's watching because no one IS WATCHING.

3. You don't need to apologize for your emotional breakdowns.

You can come home, throw your cell phone against a wall, cry about it and the only person who has to know is your pillow.

No one will be around to make you feel weird about it afterwards. Or worse, capture it on YouTube.

4. You come to understand your basic needs.

Living alone helps you realize what fulfills you. Whether it's quiet time with a box of Oreos for dinner or filling the space with a steady flow of guests, you come to understand what you want, what makes you happy and what extraneous clutter you no longer need to hold on to.

5. You learn how to budget.

No one can cover the water bill this month while you're busy trying to get your finances in order. Paying bills on time, budgeting for rent, remembering to turn off the lights -- you've got to learn to do these things for yourself at some point.

6. You can stick to your healthy diet regime without a skinny-fat roommate ruining it.

If you don't buy the Reese's, they won't be there to tempt you. VitaTops just don't seem as appealing when they're sitting next to the real thing.

7. No one judges you for casually picking your nose on the couch.

Or letting one slip in the kitchen, or eating noodles off the floor, or leaving the bathroom door open, or screening your mom's phone calls.

You can be your grossest, most outlandish and unattractive self without the side-eye guilt or a text message that says, "You need to clean your hair out of the drain. Thx."

8. You can freely explore your sexuality.

Maybe you enjoy it more when you're loudly moaning from your upper register. Maybe you like it super kinky. Or maybe you just want to eff all over your couch and kitchen counters.

Without roommates, you're able to invite over whomever you want, at any hour, armed with multiple kinds of toys and no one will be offended by it. It's the ultimate safe space for you to let loose however you choose.

9. You learn to hold yourself accountable.

When there's nobody to blame but yourself for the messy state of the apartment, you have to face the fact that you are a disorganized individual. Glad we got that out of the way. Good talk.

10. You learn how to be comfortable in your own silence.

Especially when it feels like the world around you is going 100 miles per hour and you can't keep up, it's nice to be able to escape to your own space, shut the door and carve out this "Me Time." You'll get there.

11. You can be super shady.

In fact, living alone means that your life is one big stream of shadiness. No one knows what you’re up to unless you tell it to them. Privacy is the ultimate luxury.

12. You learn how to take responsibility for yourself.

This includes replacing the toilet paper, taking out the trash and locking the door behind you. We know, it's a tough job, but someone (read: you) has got to do it.

13. You can drink it straight from any container of your choice.

House germ rules. You can even lose the cap and really go wild.

14. The only person you answer to is yourself.

You can come home after a rough day, go straight to your room and not have to field any questions about why you're so upset.

When you want to be alone, you can really have just that.

15. There's no wondering who used your fancy conditioner.

You never have to hide your $75 bottle of under-eye cream in slight suspicion that someone else is using it too.

There's never any weird, passive-aggressive, "Sooo, did you maybe try out that La Mer stuff on the counter?"

16. You can stay in without the guilt.

You can actively disappear into sweatpants on the weekends and you won't have roommates nagging you to go out. No one puts Baby in a corner except Baby!

17. The DVR is all yours.

No one else can junk it up with TLC shows and bad reruns of "Real Housewives." What happens on the DVR, stays on the DVR and it doesn't get deleted until you say so!

18. You're in charge of your own plans.

If you want some intimate time with a friend, or to meet up with a few buddies, you don't have to worry about your roommate or partner deciding to tag along.

You can make your own schedule without having to check-in with the other housemates.

And conversely, you learn how to make your own fun without relying on roommates to figure out what you should do on Saturday night. Let's hear it for getting your sh*t together, one dinner-date at a time!

19. Unlimited privacy.

You don't need to go into the Starbucks bathroom downstairs to take mysterious phone calls. You can have "visitors" over at any hour.

You can have pizza for breakfast delivered with zero shame. And you can have crazy, wild, out-of-control parties and not clean up for days afterwards and no one will yell at you for it. It's like growing up 2.0.

20. You understand what YOU want.

From decorating tastes to how you spend your free time, living alone opens you up to a whole new world completely of your own making.

Finally, at last, you have a place you can 100 percent call your own.

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