Shared spaces can create surprisingly personal money fights.

This college student likes her apartment plain and her budget untouched.

Her roommates want decorations.

They also want her paying.

Read on for the full story.

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.

Here’s someone who doesn’t blame her.

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

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a community who realizes their mistake after restricting parking to residents only gets guests and delivery drivers towed.

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

This student doesn’t mind if her roommates decorate, but she won’t fund items she neither wants nor needs.

Her shopping habits and parental support don’t give anyone else a claim to her money.