A new school year means that everyone’s living situations are shifting and changing from last year. The lucky few have found the roommates they will live with throughout college, but others shift from place to place. If you’re living with new roommates, here are a few tips to make the transition into the school year easier.
Bills
First and foremost, it’s important that you sit down with your roommates and decide who will put certain bills in their name. It’s essential that whoever decides to put the bill in their name is responsible and will pay on time. If the duty does not fall on you, you need to make sure that you are paying in a timely manner. Lastly, you should always ask to see a copy of the bill for your own personal records, as well as to make sure that you are not being charged more than the amount you owe.
Household Chores
To keep a household running, you should sit down with your roommates and divide up responsibilities. The best way to do this is through a rotating chore chart. Have a chore or two that every person is responsible for doing on a weekly basis. This eliminates any confusion on who is responsible for what and it will make everyone feel like they are contributing equally. Without establishing who will do the chores, it could easily all fall to one roommate.
Social Expectations
Do your roommates have parties every night? Are they coming home loudly in the middle of the night, when you have school the next morning? You should establish times when you expect it to be quiet before the school year starts, before it gets too out of hand. Make sure your expectations are reasonable and fair to your roommates.
Cleanliness Expectations
You should discuss with your roommates how clean you expect common spaces to be on a regular basis. It can be annoying and disgusting when areas, such as the kitchen, are constantly dirty. The chore chart will help out a lot here. Be clear from the beginning and things will, hopefully, be smooth sailing from there.
Realize there are some things you just have no control over…
You can’t help it if your roommate’s room is constantly a mess, or if their boyfriend is always over. The best piece of advice for this is to not sweat the small stuff. If it’s something that doesn’t affect you, you should probably just let it go and move on with your day.
With a little communication, it won’t be difficult to get along with your new roommates. Be sure that you’re being fair and reasonable with your requests. Also, realize that you may not be the perfect roommate either. We hope you have a great year with your roommates!