While living with roommates is an exciting and new experience especially in big cities like San Francisco, New York, Los Angeles, it comes with its share of challenges. If you think living with a friend or a cousin makes things easier, you may be in for a surprise! When you live with someone, it helps you get to know a person, their temperament, and their habits.
It also enables you to discover traits about yourself that you hadn’t given a second thought till you started sharing space with another person. If you look at it positively, you’ll realize that the shared living situation pushes you and your roommate to become better individuals through compromises and an open mind.
Here's the complete guide to living with roommates while having the best time of your life:
1. Communicate early and often
Any successful relationship involves open, direct, and clear communication. The relationship between you and your roommate is no exception. Still whining about the dishes your roommate left in the sink? Just clear the air with your roommate about anything that doesn’t seem to agree with you or you find annoying. Don’t wait for it to blow out of proportion.
Think of anything likely to cause a future problem and deal with it right away. Leaving notes sends a wrong message of you being a passive aggressive roommate. Also, take some time to reflect on your habits, good and bad, and how they impact others, including your roommate. It’s important to understand each other’s preferences.
For example, your roommate loves to listen to music while she falls asleep but it might be jarring for you at bedtime. Nobody’s a mind reader, so unless these things are communicated upfront, issues will linger. So, build a workable relationship with your roommate by spending some time with them. Watch a movie or cook and have dinner together. Schedule one day a week to hang out and catch up, even if it is for a couple of hours only.
These lighter moments will give you a chance to learn about each other and have regular conversations, not just about your lives but also about co-living issues, without any awkwardness.
2. Make and follow rules
Prepare a set of ground rules and note them down immediately. These rules could include major tasks and healthy boundaries that both you and your roommate are expected to follow. Tasks should include cleaning the shared spaces, doing the dishes, buying shared items, checking the mail, and the like.
What about boundaries? Well, boundaries concern the use of personal items or consumption of food and beverages. If you want to use something that belongs to your roommate, check with them first. Put up the rules in a shared space for everyone to see so that there’s no way that you or your roommate can neglect your responsibilities.
3. Divide household chores
Splitting household chores with roommates and maintaining a chart is an easy way of keeping track of who’s responsible for what and when. It’s natural to forget things when you’re up to your elbows in work or other commitments.
So, this works as a reminder for you and your roommate to get things done on time. Since both of you are paying to live in the rental space, the onus is on your roommates and you to keep your abode clean.
4. Track and pay common expenses
Rent and utilities are shared, so it’s everyone’s responsibility to make timely payments. You don’t want to run out of money before the payment due date, nor do you want your roommate to make excuses about being low on funds at the last minute. Use apps such as PayPal, Splitwise, or Venmohttps://venmo.com/ to split bills and sort out the pending dues.
The last thing you want on your to do list is to find roommates once again. Better is to get together with your roommate once a month to discuss payments and set up a budget. Or you could add a reminder to your phone, maybe a week before the bills are due and collect their payment before paying for both.
5. Be aware of work schedules
It’s surprising but often roommates have similar schedules, whether you’re a student or a professional. To avoid clashes concerning the use of shared spaces such as the kitchen or the bathroom, it makes sense to know what your roommate’s schedule looks like.
Get a calendar or print one and assign time slots for activities such as using the shower or laundry or other common utilities. It will make your lives stress-free at least at home.
6. Give respect and personal space
Even if you have found a roommate with the best qualities, you should not forget that without respect, no relationship can thrive. So, respect your roommate and their need for personal space.
If your roommate wants to be alone in their room, check for signs like tone or body language that tell you to leave and let them enjoy their time and privacy. On the other hand, if you’re sharing a room with someone, have a chat and decide the hours you each have access to the room and can use it without any interruptions.
7. Demark common spaces
People often talk about the common spaces in their rental room ads but demarking them once you start living, is equally important. Discuss with your roommates and decide what hours in a day you’d like to use the common area like living room, the kitchen, and any other shared space, and let your roommate do the same.
Conclusion
Living with roommates has its flip side. At the same time, it’s crucial to understand that people are flawed and that the more you focus on them, the more you end up disliking someone. One way to compromise is to look for the good in your roommate and let it work its magic.!
