Housing season is upon us. It’s stressful, painful, and almost always annoying to try to grab as many friends as you can with one unified goal. Easier said than done. Half of you want a suite with singles, the other half wants doubles for financial reasons. And don’t even think about getting one collective opinion on what building you should live in. The one thing you guys do know is you don’t want to live with someone you don’t know. You want to live with your friends; best friends. It may not be as great of an idea as you think, though. Here a few things that you and you best friend probably don’t have in common. Think of this as a roommate checklist. (It sounds a lot like the questionnaire from housing, but there is some merit in many of the questions).
1. CleanlinessÂ
You don’t really care what your friend’s room looks like, until you live with them. The dirty dishes, dirty laundry, and the smell. It’s a lot to take in as a roommate, especially if you like things clean and neat. Vice versa if you like your books strategically laid out on the floor and you have to live with your OCD friend. At first you thought it was endearing, but now you just find the constant cleaning and nagging annoying.Â
2. Noise ControlÂ
Everyone likes music. Some like it in ear buds, while others prefer to blast it through speakers. You want to know what your friend’s preference is before committing to living with them. It may not seem like a big deal until you realize that not even your ear plugs will be able to drown out the obnoxiously loud music.Â
3. Bed ScheduleÂ
This applies to morning and night. Odds are you and your friend aren’t both early rises or night owls. This is important when considering drawers and banging early in the morning or in the middle of the night. Either way your beauty sleep is being disturbed and that’s not ok.Â
4. OrganizationÂ
Organization is a little different from cleaning. Some people like to know their entire schedule for the month, while others just play it by ear. Uptight and “go with the flow” type people have a very hard time living together. Talk about this with your friend to see how uptight they really are.Â
5. Shower ScheduleÂ
Shower schedule? It may sound ridiculous, but if you live in a suite where all of you take night showers then that makes the night routine hard for all of you. You don’t want to have to make a shower schedule. They’re no fun.Â
6. TV PreferencesÂ
If there’s one TV in your suite you want to make sure that your TV preferences are pretty similar. If you have to sit through too much TLC or ESPN, you’ll just hide away in your room, and no one wants that.Â
7. Relationships
Whether your friend is in a committed relationship, or has a tendency of bringing home a lot of different people, you have to be aware of this. If you are in a relationship yourself you want a roommate/roommates who are ok with visitors. Sexiling is not fun, so your roommates should be aware if this is a possibility.Â
8. TemperamentÂ
This is a very important one. If you are stressed very easily this may be difficult for some people to live with. Opposites may attract, but they don’t tend to live well together, so take a close look at your friend’s temperament.Â
9. Study Preferences
Some people like to study at the library, but others like the comfort of their own bed. If you like to hang out in your room but can’t because your roommate is always studying, chances are you’ll get really annoyed. So ask these questions- they’re important. Â
10. Temperature Preferences
If you get cold very easily, you have to find someone with a similar aversion to the cold. No one wants to be freezing or sweating in their room.Â