It can be super exciting to get your own place and start living with your best friends, but what happens after the “honeymoon stage” is over? What happens when there is “trouble in paradise”? Here are some key tips to help you be a model roommate to help keep order and happiness under your roof!
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Be Willing to Share
If someone needs a cup of milk for their cookies or a couple extra eggs to scramble, you don’t bat an eyelash to lend a helpful hand. That’s what friends are for because the next time you’re in a rut, they’ll have your back!
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Do Your Dishes
Nothing is worse than a mound of dishes that the same person gets stuck with over and over. Clean your dishes as close to right after you put them in the sink as possible. It is SO EASY to forget that you left them there and then you feel bad that you didn’t do them. If this happens though, just try to get to the dishes before your roomie next time!
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Make sure you do things when you can so that if you forget, someone else doesn’t mind as much
If you scratch their back, they’ll scratch yours and then it’s just a nice cycle so that everyone stays happy! It also feels good to do something for someone else so it’s a nice way to consistently pay it forward!
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Decide one day every month so sit down, pay rent & any other bills
Depending on your set up, this might be a nice way to make sure no one forgets to pay a bill because if there’s a late fee, it affects everyone. Same with the water, electric & wifi bills, you want to make sure that whoever is supposed to, takes care of those and that everyone has been paid back accordingly to even everything up.
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Find shows/movies you like to watch together
It’s more fun to watch things together in the family room rather than on your TV in your room by yourself. If you all have some similar taste, it might be fun to start binging a TV services together or just picking a fun girls night movie here and there to spice things up around the house!
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Discover fun things to cook with each other that you all like
You all lie and eat under the same roof, so you might as well prepare some food that everyone can share. This is a good way to make sure food doesn’t go bad and it’s fun bonding time. Everyone can have a job and then you all can share in the excitement of making new creations together!
Keep common areas clean
What you do with your bedroom is your choice, but the kitchen, bathroom and living room are all common areas that need to be held at a higher standard since everyone uses them AND anyone that comes into the house sees these areas, too, so you want to make a good impression at all times!
Split groceries so there’s always the essentials available
Nothing is worse than using the last paper towel, or not being able to find a replacement roll of toilet paper because someone decided to not contribute to the toiletries fund. When you are out at the store getting groceries, do a mental check of how much is left of everything and if anything seems to be getting a bit low, grab a pack just to be nice. Even better, see if your parents or grandparents will contribute to the fund and just give you some!
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Morale of the story – Don’t be that guy
If there’s anything on this list that you’re kind of lacking on, make it your goal to fix one thing at a time to work toward being a better roomie :)