the roommate relationship

Co-habitating together, it really is possible.

There is nothing more annoying then when your roommate deliberately leaves dishes in the sink for weeks at a time or when it’s your roommates turn to take out the trash and he or she continuously forgets to do it.

Is it possible to live with a roommate without ripping eachothers’s heads off? Absoultely! The key is communication. First let’s explore all the irritating things that roommates do.

An inconsiderate roommate has zero disregard for the person he or she is living with. For example, an inconsiderate roommate will often times leave the bathroom a mess or will sometimes leave lights on all over the apartment and forget to turn them off. Also, an inconsiderate roommate will leave the common living space a mess or will blast the AC while having the windows open. There are a million little things that inconsiderate roommates do all the time that can easily be avoided.

The one major thing that can be done to solve these issues is simple: communication. Communication is the key in any relationship really, but especially one where two or more people are living together under one roof.

Talk it out. Set down rules in the beginning before move in time so there is no confusion about what is expected of one another. Plan a day and time to do all the bills together once a month so that everyone is involved and knows how their money is being spent.

If someone has a problem with the kitchen being a mess because another roommate forgot to clean up after himself or herself say something, do not just shrug it off and hope they keep up after himself or herself next time.

Keeping the common living spaces clean is probably one of the easiest ways to avoid unnecessary arguments because that is where everyone hangs out and spends most of their time together.

According to educationportal.com the top three tips for living with a roommate in college is establish rules, compromise and communicate. Easy enough right? You’d be surprised at just how difficult these three things might be. But if one puts forth the effort there is no reason why college students cannot live together successfully.

Establishing rules is simple enough. Discussing each other’s personal needs and habits. For example, your new roommate may listen to loud music at all hours of the day and night or your roommate likes to have people sleep over every night and eat all the food in the apartment. Things like this need to be discussed, what is okay and what is not okay to be done at home? When boundaries like this are established it makes it easier to live together.

Compromise is easily as important as establishing rules. Ego can often times get in the way of giving others what they want but it is also necessary in keeping a healthy roommate situation. If you live with a loud roommate who plays their music constantly, letting them have their music loud a few times a night is a good compromise but when it becomes excessive that is when you need to step in and say something.

So again, communicate. Being in college means being an adult, we are no longer in high school where every day dramas make the world go round, we live in the real world now which means we have to act maturely. The only way for two roommates to be completely happy is to talk to one another, maybe have weekly meeting to discuss how things are going and kind of touch base. Communicating does two things, for one it keeps you in contact with the person you live with everyday and two, if there is a problem with your roommate it can be addressed head on instead of hiding issues that really bother one another.