Apartment Living

Well, I've been apartment hunting for a minute now. After budgeting my pay I can afford something for around $335 a month. So no, I am not going to be living in luxary, but I may have a place to call my own!

Now here is my dilemma.  To have roommate or not to have roommate.
My Plan A: Save up enough money to get my own place (no roommate) for the deposit and rent for a couple of months. Under my schedule, I was going to be moving out of my parent's in February. This would give me the time to get all the household essentials together without killing my bank account. I need furniture, dishware, cutlery, cleaning supplies, towels, etc.

Plan B: I think this was kind of thrust upon me and I am really leery about it. I was contemplating getting a roommate to afford a better place. I mentioned this to a coworker and now that she's having marital problems she's offering to be a roommate. The problems start with the fact that I don't know her very well. We get along great at work. I think we could even be friends, but I don't know how well I can rely on her. She is in a big hurry to get a new place, but she doesn't seem to realize how long the process can take. She wants to move tomorrow, and the place I was able to find will be ready the 15th. What is worse is that I don't trust her budgeting skills. She says that this week she can contribute $80 to the apartment. We need to pay a deposit, the first month's rent and pay to have utilities turned on, probably around $800 to finish everything up.
The only saving grace about this place is if I have to pay the full deposit and utility activation myself, I can keep everything in my name. I can even afford the full rent on my own. So, if she completely flakes on me, I won't be obligated to keep her around and can find a different roommate. 

Living on my own, I wouldn't have to rely on someone to supply the other half of the rent and utilities, if something went wrong it would be my fault, my failure. If I have a roommate, it would make things that much more affordable and make going back to school easier to pay for. It's just scary having to rely on someone else for so much!

Everything is happening much faster than I would have preferred, but it doesn't mean the end of the world. I think I can do this. I just have to take the bitch-slap life dealt me and go on.