How To Solve Your Common Roommate Problems

By Elana Goodwin on August 18, 2014

This article is brought to you by Uloop’s roommate search service. Need a roommate? Use Uloop’s roommate search to find both male and female college students that are looking to find roommates like yourself. 

Whether you’re living in a dorm, apartment, or house, most college students tend to have at least one roommate during their years at school.

Cohabitating with another person (or many) for an extended period of time — no matter the size of the room or place — can often lead to conflict.

Here’s a list of some of the most common roommate problems and how to solve them.

Messiness vs. Neatness. Having a roommate who’s a slob or completely OCD about the place being clean can really create tension between you and your roomie.

If you’re a neat freak living with someone who doesn’t pick up after themselves or a messy person living with someone who likes everything clean and tidy 24/7, there are going to be some problems.

To avoid these problems altogether, try to find a roommate who has the same ideals of housekeeping as you do. However, that’s not always possible, especially if you’re randomly assigned a roommate in the dorms or you need to fill some places in your house, etc.

But having different approaches to cleanliness or messiness doesn’t mean you can’t get along as roommates. Sit down with your messy or OCD roomie and figure out a compromise, like dishes have to be done within the day they’re used and no more than two pairs of shoes should be lying discarded by the door at a time.

Photo Credit: commons.wikimedia.org

My Stuff vs. Our Stuff (also, My Food vs. Our Food). When you live with a roommate, oftentimes you’ll end up sharing stuff, like milk, eggs, cleaning products, etc.

On certain groceries and household products, it makes sense to share with your roommate or roommates. However, that can also lead to the line between your stuff and everyone’s stuff being blurred.

Sharing milk and eggs is one thing, but you’re bound to get annoyed if you discover your roommate’s been getting into your cereal, yogurt, or other personal food items. Same thing goes for shampoo, clothes, etc.

You need to go over the “rules” with your roommate as far as what’s okay for everyone to use and what’s not. Also, while it’s logical to have only one gallon of milk in your apartment or house at a time, sharing designated groceries, toilet paper, etc. can also lead to conflict if you feel you’re always the one buying what everyone is using.

Set a schedule with your roomie or roomies that specifies whose turn it is to buy what so you don’t feel like you’re always shelling out the cash so everyone can reap the benefits.

Quiet Time vs. Noisy Time. With college students owning so many different kinds of technologies and electronic devices, noisiness can become an issue when living with other people.

Maybe you live with someone who likes to blast their music or binge-watch TV with the volume way up or catch up with friends on their phone or Skype and chat loudly for long lengths of time. Obviously, living with someone else means they’re going to make some noise and that’s fair.

But if you cohabitate with someone who has friends over all the time or just doesn’t seem to ever lower the volume on their life, a friendly chat may be needed. If you feel like you need your home to be quieter, try compromising with your roommate and set quiet hours, like keeping the noise down on weeknights after 10 p.m.

Or, suggest your roommate wear headphones when listening to music or watching something on their laptop.

Photo Credit: simpson.edu

Personal Space vs. Communal Space. This problem that often arises goes along with the my stuff vs. our stuff problem.

If you have your own room in your apartment or house, setting boundaries for what’s personal space and what’s communal is fairly easy. Your bedroom? Personal space. The kitchen, living room and bathroom? Communal space.

However, communal space can also become personal space depending on the occasion and if you do share a room, having personal space can be more difficult. If your roommate is having a bunch of people over for a movie night or study session and wants to use the living room, that becomes personal space while they use it.

Clear and open communication is crucial so you don’t plan a TV watch party with friends the same night your roommate is planning to use the same room to cram with classmates for a test.

Sharing a room means your personal space is a lot smaller, and therefore all the more precious. Sit down with your roomie and designate what areas are your personal space, like your desk, bed, etc. that you don’t want your roommate’s friends using or sitting on without permission.

Be conscientious of the fact you’re both inhabiting a small space and there’s bound to be friction if personal boundaries aren’t respected.

Respect vs. Disregard. You don’t have to be best friends with your roommate but a certain level of respect for each other is needed if you’re going to live together peacefully.

Being roommates doesn’t require you to agree with all of the other’s religious beliefs, political views and personal choices, but does require you to respect them, regardless of your perspective on the matter.

Don’t disregard your roommate’s feelings and consider how your actions as a roommate will affect them. Having your friends over? Run it by your roommate and let them know. Going out to eat? Pop in and invite your roomie to tag along once in a while.

Be the kind of roommate you’d want to have – considerate, friendly and respectful. It will help you avoid a lot of common roommate problems that would otherwise cause trouble between you and your roomie.

Read through Uloop’s numerous college roommate profiles to meet other students that are looking to share apartments, condos, town homes and even rental homes.

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