Moving to a new city and meeting a tonne of new people can be extremely exciting but also extremely challenging. Everything is new, including fending for yourself. This includes learning to do your own washing, cooking, and cleaning, whilst learning to share your space with new housemates.
You will either click straight away with your new housemates or it may be a very slow burner. For the latter we have put together some tips to help you deal with awkward housemate scenarios.
Cleaning
Have you ever heard the horror stories of never-ending piles of unwashed dishes, overflowing bins and even dirty plates put back in the cupboards (yes people use this tactic to get out of their turn of washing up)… well I hate to break it to you but the rumours are very much true. You would be super lucky to get into a flat or house with a bunch of clean freaks… I just don’t think it will happen.
You can however try to get ahead of it and avoid an awkward housemate scenario by putting together a cleaning rota. It might sound really old fashioned and you may feel lame for suggesting it but trust me your housemates will thank you when they aren’t living in a mess. This also avoids you or anyone else always ‘taking out the bins’ or ‘cleaning the kitchen’. There are also cleaning rota apps out there if you want to go paperless.
Hopefully this works for you and no cleaning wars break out… We heard rumours it got so bad for one flat that they resorted to putting the dirty plates in one housemates bed who wasn’t doing their fair share of cleaning…
Paying the bills
It can be extremely tempting to spend your student loan as soon as it hits your account BUT you must at all costs avoid doing this. Not only will you create great stress for yourself but you’ll have a bunch of housemates hating on you.
Luckily for you there are useful apps like acasa which helps you to avoid anyone not paying the bills. It is super simple to set up and all you have to do is tell them what bills you have as a household. They will then contact the suppliers to set up the billing for you. Then each housemate will be charged their share of the bills on a monthly basis. The app also sends useful notification reminders and takes payments via direct debit. This takes away the stress of being responsible if your housemates don’t pay and also numerous hours of chasing housemates via Whatsapp or Facebook groups.
Those 3am after parties..
Now there aren’t any parents at home to tell you no, it’s super easy to get carried away and start inviting the whole club back for an after party back at yours. BUT we would strongly advise to approach with caution. It’s important to take into account your housemates and make them aware of your plans. The last thing you want to do is have a house party and your flatmate has an exam the next day or an important interview. It goes both ways as well….
It’s also important to ask your guests to respect the house and keep rooms out of bounds you don’t want to get trashed… Taking these two tips will help you to avoid any awkward housemate scenarios.
Sharing your space
It will take a bit of adjusting to start with sharing a house with new people, sometimes up to ten people who might all need to share one toilet and shower. We would recommend setting some ground rules, otherwise you may find yourself showering once a week.
Hopefully you’ll have housemates who have different uni schedules to you which should eliminate the line in the morning for the bathroom. However you may still want to think about creating a schedule for the bathroom… i know it sounds lame but it will cut down on stress later on.
Partners
We all know that one person who has a partner from back home or someone they’ve met at uni who just happens to be at the house every single night… We honestly advise avoiding this situation at all costs. Yes it’s great you have a girlfriend or boyfriend but you want to split your time equally. You want to give yourself time to interact and build strong relationships with your housemates, not to mention your housemates might hate you if your partner is always around raising those house bills…
Good luck and remember just to respect others and they will reciprocate.
