Four Girls, One Fridge - Let's Talk Roommates
You may or may not have entered the world of grown-upville, on a "moving out budget", meaning when you moved out to escape your parents terrible reign. Wait, you forgot one thing, you will now have to fight for a new reign of your own. Yeah, I am talking about moving in with roommates. This should be fun, or not.
*Before reading, try to forget the stereotypes you have of roommates. Are your assumptions of the "roommate experience" gone? Good. Now, you may continue.*
You could grow to love to hate them or hate to love them, regardless of which side of that fence you are on, welcome to the world of living with roommates! It is a splendid world of , "who touched my stuff?" and "Oh, that was yours?" . Yeah, it is a complicated world (If you make it that way), so I am here to hopefully help prevent or even offer solutions for dealing with roommates. Let's get to it!
Now whether you are dealing with roommates on campus or in your own apartment, a roommate is a roommate. With that being said, either place you find yourself with a roommate, you are going to need a few survival skills to well, survive.
Here are a five crucial tips I have learned during my first semester of college, living on my own with three strangers:
1. When In Doubt, Talk it Out
We have all heard that little saying that "Communication is key". Now whether or not we believed it is on us. I learned quickly in month one of living with three strangers that if nothing is said, nothing gets done. If you are tired of your roommate leaving his or her experimental "cuisines" in the refrigerator longer than necessary, tell them! Otherwise my dear, you will be stuck smelling that God awful project gone wrong for a long time.
2. Teamwork, Makes The Dream Work
I have found myself in one too many situations in which I felt like the only one making an effort to keep the living quarters in our apartment clean. More often than not, I spent my Saturday mornings scrubbing away in the kitchen, living room, and dining room. I skipped rule number one: communicate. I was too scared to speak up, too afraid to ask for help. I understood that not everything was not my mess to clean, but I cleaned the messes anyways because I was not on one accord with my roommates. You should never let it get to this point with your roommates. Everyone should have a mutual agreement of how things (especially shared things) should be handled. I eventually did get the help I needed with my roommates and now we have set days for everything (taking out the trash, cleaning the kitchen, etc.).
3. Concrete a Bond
You are going to be living with this person for a full semester (if you're on campus) or until your lease is up (if you live in an apartment), there is no reason why you cannot be friends with your roommate! It may seem weird, but hey, the way I see it, you will be looking at this person almost everyday for an extended amount of time, you might as well befriend them. Now I am not saying you need to be "buddy-buddy" with your roommate or anything like that, but at least try to become more than living mates. Besides, who does not want to live with their best friend? I absolutely adore my roommates and they treat me like a little sister (which none of the three actually have), I love it. You and your roommate(s) will learn to take care of each other. I promise you will not regret it.
4. Put Some Respect on Your Home!
I know, I know, we are college students, we do not have time to be preppy interior designers with our living quarters. I understand the laziness that comes with the territory. We are busy stressing about stressing over being busy. This still does not earn the golden excuse as to why your living spaces looks like a tornado and a hurricane had a wild party in the kitchen! For those of us who have apartments, we know that guests look and judge you based off the conditions of your main living spaces(Kitchen, Living room, Dining room, etc.). Your room could be a mess (we will talk about this later in another blog post), but the living spaces should always be the cleanest. If that means you need to take out some time on a Sunday to sage, vacuum, or whatever else your apartment, then you need to do it. A happy home, is a happy dome. Yeah, I totally made that up and it did not make sense, I know.
5. Enjoy Yourself
Being on your own does not mean that you have to be exiled to loneliness. If you have followed my advice up until now, you should have the option to enjoy yourself in your new space. Instead of studying alone, crack out the Doritos and dip, search for your roommate(s) and study together. This is perfect for those who live in a dorm. Otherwise, if you are an apartment student (like me), then I suggest taking a study break and propose a roommate dinner. You may even be able to have a roommate or two help you study afterwards. This may sound like a fantasy, but I promise it is as real as ever. I always enjoy having diners with my roommates and even movie nights. It is a great distraction from the demanding world of college. This is just a redundant version of tip three, but this is very important so that you can enjoy yourself. You want to make those memories that you will never forget. So yes, enjoy yourself!
Having a roommate or roommates can be a good or bad experience for any individual. Just imagine yourself living with your siblings (who are not really your siblings) without your mother. Scary picture, huh? Now picture your sibling paying equal rent and ignoring your existence from time to time. That sounds pretty habitual, right? The thing is, you cannot necessarily tell your roommates to get lost when you want to. You don't even have mom or dad there to stick up for you either, but you do have me. Your fairy life-has-hit-me Godmother.
I hope these five survival tips serves a great purpose for you. It can be hard living on your own, but I promise to help you through it. We will get through it because it is all according to M.E.
