After conquering midterms, we’ve officially made it halfway through the semester. The last two months have been full of excitement, football, independence, and roommate life. Two months is a long time to be living with someone; it’s long enough to notice their quirks, their schedules, and their pet peeves. If you’re lucky, you and your roommate are getting along just as well as you did on move-in day. However, not everyone is this fortunate. But, if Jess from New Girl can live with her crazy roommates, we’re sure you can handle yours.  Here are some of our biggest roommate struggles and how to deal!
1.Your roommate is too messy…or too clean!
Your roommate has been leaving her empty cereal bowls, dirty t-shirts, and textbooks all over the room. Her space currently looks like a tornado blew through it, and some of her stuff looks like it’s starting to creep into your territory. What’s a neat freak to do? Or maybe you’re the messy roommate, and you just can’t seem to keep your side clean enough to be acceptable. The two of you should establish reasonable parameters about how messy is too messy, and perhaps set a certain time each week for both of you to clean and organize your space. You may feel like you’re living in a real-life War of the Worlds, but try to guide your roommate to change what can be changed and then ignore what can’t.Â
2. Your roommate has constant visitors.
Maybe your roommate just has a lot of friends, or maybe you’re getting sexiled. Either way, you’re uncomfortable with how often your room has guests and you may not want to bring it up for fear of making things awkward or creating a conflict, but your resentment will only escalate. Act now before things get out of control! Find your roommate at a time when she isn’t surrounded by people and have an honest conversation about what’s been bothering you. She may not have even realized that you had a problem with her social butterfly tendencies. With a little bit of consideration from her, you’ll be on your way to getting some of the alone time you deserve.
3. You both have different sleeping schedules.Â
Maybe she’s naturally a night owl and you’re an early bird, or maybe she has 8ams all week and you worked hard to make sure your classes don’t start until after ten. There’s nothing you can do about needing to sleep at different times, so you and your roommate need to do what you can to respect the each other’s wishes. While one roommate is sleeping, the other should be extremely careful to avoid unnecessary light and sound. If you’d hate it if your roommate positioned her desk lamp to shine on your face at 7am, don’t do that to her.Â
4. Your roommate never does chores.
The Brita pitcher is empty again. The trash is overflowing again. There are crumbs all over the futon, but you’ve already vacuumed it four times this semester. If things like this are driving you crazy, it’s time to stop hoping that your roommate will do her share of the chores and start asking. A chore chart may seem pretty elementary, but if it’s what you need to make things a little more balanced, go for it! You’ll have a cleaner room in no time.
5. Your roommate uses/eats/borrows your things without asking.
You get back from a long day of class, and you’re ready to curl up on your futon with some Netflix and popcorn. Except when you get back to your dorm room, there’s no popcorn to be found! Or maybe your roommate used a bottle of your nail polish without asking, and you just don’t like it when other people mess with your stuff. These are completely valid problems, but being mad about them behind your roommate’s back won’t solve anything. You need to tell your roommate how you feel about your possessions, being clear about specific ground rules. No more missing popcorn again.
6. Your personalities just don’t mesh well.Â
Maybe you like to party and your roommate is more of a stay-in type of girl. Or maybe your differences are as basic as an introvert versus an extrovert. If you and your roommate have clashing personalities, it’s okay to not be best friends. As long as you can coexist with respect and peace, it’s completely fine (and healthy) to not hang out with your roommate every second of every day. But every once in a while, try to connect with your roommate to find some common ground. What you discover may surprise you!
You and your roommate may not be the best of friends now, but it’s only October! As long as you build a relationship based on communication and respect, you should have no trouble making it through the year. And who knows? When May arrives, you and your roomie could be replacing the cast of New Girl as everyone’s ultimate #roommategoals.Â