'AITA for not wanting to pay for decorations and being okay living in a concrete box?'
"AITA for wanting to live in a 'concrete box' instead of paying for my roommates' decorations?"
Organic_Talk_79 writes:
I (18F) live in a rent-by-bedroom apartment with two other people (33F and 23F) who both moved in at the end of August. I’ve been here since late June, and my previous roommates, who had lived here for a year, took all the decoration and extra furniture with them when they moved out.
Personally, I do not care about decoration at all. My friends make fun of me and say every room I’ve lived in looks like a concrete box or jail cell, but I hardly spend time in my room and find no joy in decorating.
Recently, my roommates brought up buying decorations together because, to be fair, the common area is completely empty except for basic kitchen stuff and one couch. I told them I don’t mind and that as long as they followed the lease’s rules on alteration, I don’t care what they do to the common area.
They insisted that we should all go shopping for decorations together and said that because I also use the common area, I should contribute. I still refused because I genuinely have no interest in decorating. I also said that I didn’t want to spend extra money on it.
Working 20 hours a week, I can pay my own rent and utilities and still have some fun money left over. My parents are gracious enough to cover the remainder of my tuition after scholarships, along with food and other expenses.
Somehow my roommates came to the conclusion that because I recently bought some clothes from the mall and because my parents still support me, I should have plenty of money to spend. For context, they are both independent adults and pay for everything themselves.
I told them again that they can do whatever they want, but I’m not going to contribute. It has been a week or two and I still don’t see any decor in the living room, but the other day one of my roommates (33F) invited a guy over.
He made a comment about how sparse the living room was, and my roommate said it was because I specifically didn’t want to decorate. She said it jokingly, but given the context, it came across as passive aggressive.
I’m not going to be convinced, but am I the unreasonable one for not contributing to a shared space? My best friend did say my room and the apartment in general look pretty sad, but if I wanted to decorate, I’d just play the Sims.
People responded to OP's post.
Time-Tie-231 says:
NTA. They want you to pay for something for them and are sore because you won't! When they are being passive aggressive call it out. And point out their failing logic. E.g. 'I'm not stopping you.' I hope you don't get overpowered by your house mates. They are both older than you.
quincebush says:
NTA. What happens when one of move out? Argue how much of 1/3 of the depreciated value of a throw pillow you are owed?
Thari-97 says:
NTA. Kinda pathetic of them considering the age gap.
Jerico_Hill says:
It's not appropriate for a 32 yr old to be leaning on an 18 year old for decorating money. Same for the 23 year old but less so. If they want a nice space beyond functional, they pay for it.