Disclaimer: I’ve never lived in a sorority house, so this may or may not relate to that. I have only lived in an off-campus apartment building. That being said, here are my tips and tricks for surviving and thriving.
- The first important guideline to follow is to set some rules about what you and your roommates think constitutes a comfortable environment. There is nothing worse than realizing halfway through the semester that the naïve claim “we’ll just all do our part and it’ll work out” is not true. Perhaps for the first few weeks of living together everyone was considerate 24/7, but eventually this wears off. People tend to get comfortable at this point, failing to realize that certain habits are annoying to those they are sharing the space with. Rules can stop this from being a problem and give you something to refer to.
1. The summer before you go off-campus, do yourself a favor and learn some easy recipes. When I first moved in I knew I had always been a good baker and the few things I’d ever cooked had turned out fine. However, when my parents left and my dining plan was no longer, I was truly thrown into the deep end. The first few weeks I survived strictly on bagels and take out; this got old. The online food account Tasty saved me, but it would’ve been so much easier if I’d have come to college with some go-to recipes.
2. On the subject of food, try and figure out where and how you’re actually going to get your groceries. I initially figured I could easily Uber to the store, soon to realize that each ride comes with a $20 price tag. My two roommates both have boyfriends so they don’t really have the same problem, but there are other options, such as services that do your shopping for you. I use Shipt; while it’s not always the most reliable (they’ve missed my time window all but twice), it’s super easy and helps me manage what I spend.
3. Get into the habit of tidying up after yourself. This goes for the shared living areas and your bedroom. During busy periods of the semester, my room will gradually become a chaotic mess. It’s not like when I lived at home and had a selection of other rooms to spend time in to escape the mess. Also, if you have a bathroom, keep on top of cleaning it. At home I never had to clean the bathroom so I didn’t realize how often my mom did, and unlike in the dorms, there is no janitorial staff when living on your own. Don’t be known as the messy housemate—no one likes that.
4. If you have a garbage disposal, read up on what can and can’t go down it. Our garbage disposal got clogged and our dishwasher started to flood the kitchen, so consider yourself warned.
5. If you’re moving somewhere else, make sure to provide a forwarding address and/or check which address you’re sending your packages to. A) You’ll actually receive your mail, and B) it’s really irritating to constantly have to return peoples’ mail.
6. Clean your sheets. This goes regardless of where you live, but if you don’t have someone doing your laundry anymore, or you don’t have an in-unit washer and dryer, it can be easy to get lazy.
7. Noise complaints are real. I lived in Markley as a first-year student, and noise was just accepted as part of the dorm environment. Many leases, however, include rules about excessive noise, and I have friends who have received letters about the amount of noise they make late at night. You can get charged if you keep getting complained about, so practice your inside voices!
Images courtesy of StarKissedJade and Landmark