Moving out of university dorms and into off campus apartments can feel overwhelming at first, especially when you can’t rely on the school to set you up with roommates anymore. After 3 years of living with roommates, some of which were amazing and others horrible, here are 5 questions I learned you should ask your roommies before moving in together.
1.) What time do you go to bed?
It can be extremely frustrating when you want to go to bed at 11 P.M., but your roommates stay up chatting until 2 A.M. It can be equally annoying if you like to stay up late studying, but your roommates make you turn the lights off so they can go to bed early.
2.) Do you plan to make our room/apartment primarily a social space or a study space?
It is important to make sure you and your roommates to address if you are all comfortable with throwing parties and having people over frequently. You should definitely see how your roommates feel about alcohol and drugs in this discussion.
3.) Is your boyfriend/girlfriend going to be spending the night often?
This question is a must if your roommates are in relationships or bring hookups home. Being locked out of the room so your roommate can have “private time” with her significant other is not fun.
4.) How do you feel about sharing food?
Some roommates plan on sharing groceries and cooking together while others prefer to label their food to make it clear that “these are my eggs.”
5.) How should we divide up the chores?
Living in an apartment means you have to wash your dishes, take out the trash, and clean the bathroom shower and toilet yourself. It can cause tension when one person is left to do all the housework on their own. You might also want to include who is going to collect the money for gas and electricity and Wi-Fi in this discussion if your apartment does not include utilities.
*Teaser photo is a picture of me and my amazing roommates and GIFS are from the iPhone GIF app