Establish these rules very specifically, including how much time girlfriends and boyfriends are allowed to hang around during the daytime. If so, agree to host them as roommates. Agree that no parties will be held without the other roommate's consent. Perhaps most important, the two of you should discuss what will happen if any conflicts arise between you. The best roommate relationships, of course, are those in which either two friends remain friends while living together, or two strangers become friends while being roommates.
Roommates can provide a sounding board for each other.
Despite minor differences in lifestyles and habits, they can become confidantes if they communicate frequently and uphold their basic responsibilities. Even if the two of you don't hit it off as friends, however, consider yourselves successful if you're able to live together and remain pleasant and considerate of one another. Successful roommate relationships are excellent practice for real-world people skills that we need every day at work and in other relationships, most notably marriage. You'll be better roommates and better friends because of it. Courtney Ronan is a freelance writer who contributes a weekly column profiling various communities.