October 28, 2025 at 12:15 am

College Student Refuses To Pay For Apartment Decorations Because She’s Fine Living In A “Concrete Box,” So Her Roommates Call Her Out In Front Of Guests

by Heather Hall

Nice apartment but it's bare of any type of home decor

Pexels/Reddit

Some people see a blank apartment as an empty canvas, while others see it as perfectly fine the way it is.

So, what would you do if your roommates wanted to split the cost of decorating a shared space you didn’t care about?

Would you pay up just to keep the peace? Or would you refuse and tell them to handle it themselves?

In the following story, one young tenant deals with this exact predicament and doesn’t want to contribute.

Here’s what’s going on.

AITA for wanting to live in a “concrete box” instead of paying for my roommates’ decorations?

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 decorations 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.

The new roommates tried to convince her to chip in and buy decorations.

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 don’t mind and told them 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 get decorations together, and because I also used the common area, I should chip in.

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.

She has some extra money, but not enough to care about buying home decor.

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 of 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 who pay for everything themselves.

Now, they blame her for how the living room looks.

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 commented on how sparse the living room was, and my roommate said it was because I didn’t want to decorate. She said it jokingly, but considering the context, it honestly read as passive-aggressive.

AITA?

Yikes! To be honest, home decor is pretty cheap if you shop at the right places.

Let’s check out how the folks over at Reddit feel about this whole thing.

For this reader, more info is needed.

Home Decor 3 College Student Refuses To Pay For Apartment Decorations Because She’s Fine Living In A “Concrete Box,” So Her Roommates Call Her Out In Front Of Guests

Here’s someone who doesn’t blame her.

Home Decor 2 College Student Refuses To Pay For Apartment Decorations Because She’s Fine Living In A “Concrete Box,” So Her Roommates Call Her Out In Front Of Guests

This person thinks pooling money to buy decor is a bad idea.

Home Decor 1 College Student Refuses To Pay For Apartment Decorations Because She’s Fine Living In A “Concrete Box,” So Her Roommates Call Her Out In Front Of Guests

According to this comment, she doesn’t have to pay for items that she doesn’t want.

Home Decor College Student Refuses To Pay For Apartment Decorations Because She’s Fine Living In A “Concrete Box,” So Her Roommates Call Her Out In Front Of Guests

She should stand her ground.

If you thought that was an interesting story, check this one out about a man who created a points system for his inheritance, and a family friend ends up getting almost all of it.