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 decoration.
Recently, my roommates brought up buying decorations together because to be fair, the common area is completely empty except basic kitchen stuff and one couch. I don’t mind and told them 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 get decorations together and because I also used the common area, I should chip in. This I still refused because I genuinely have no use for any sprucing up. I also said that I didn’t want to spend extra money on decorating. Working 20 hours a week, I can pay off my own rent and utilities and have some fun money left over. My parents are gracious enough to pay for my tuition left after scholarships, food, and any other expenses. Somehow they came to the conclusion that because I recently bought a bunch 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.
Well, I told them no again and that they can do whatever they want, but I’m not going to contribute. It’s been a week or two and I don’t see any decor in the living room, but the other day, one of my roommates (33F) invited some guy over. He made a comment about how sparse the living room was and my roommate said it was because specifically I didn’t want to decorate. She said it jokingly but it honestly read as passive aggressive considering the context.
I’m not going to be convinced, but am I the asshole for not contributing to a shared space? My best friend did say my room and the general apartment was pretty sad-looking, but I’d boot up the Sims if I wanted to decorate.