Here Are All The Things You Should Know Before Living In A Share House
A very important part of becoming an adult is the time you leave the comfort of your family home and move in with some friends or, sometimes, absolute strangers who you do not know from a bar of soap.
Whether you’re gorging on Mi Goreng and doing late night uni benders (studying of course!) or if you’re using the opportunity to work and… clean… and do other boring adult-y things… it’s important to note that inhabiting communal spaces with other humans isn’t always easy.
When your dirtiest housemate suggests we do a 'deep clean' pic.twitter.com/K0ukxUAtyp
— c (@chindomiee) June 14, 2016
Here are some very important rules to remember:
1. If you take someone else’s food/drinks/last bit of shampoo, be a champ and replace it.
Don’t be that wanker!
2. Try to keep the noise down if you leave the house early or get home late.
No one likes a clomp monster stomping down the hallway. Or the late-night crash of a microwave door as you heat up some leftovers. (Note to my housemates: Sorrrryyyyyyyy!)
3. Communicate, mate.
Don’t let things fester: Whether it be dinner from two nights ago or an issue you haven’t resolved with a housemate (probably about not cleaning up dinner from two nights ago, you bloody grub).
4. Make a cleaning roster.
Yeah it sounds incredibly lame, but for the sake of household peace, it keeps everyone accountable and in practice.
5. Set up automatic transfers for the usual payments (rent/internet etc.)
If you’re not the one in charge of the regular payments direct from your account, your housemate/s will appreciate your punctual efforts.
6. Treat your housemates how you want them to treat you.
Like, duh. Don’t be a c-unit. And if they aren’t treating you with a little R-E-S-P-E-C-T, let them know.
7. Remember you don’t actually have to hang out ALL the time.
Privacy is good for some piece of mind. Alone time is mentally relaxing. There’s no pressure to be best buds up in each other’s biz all the time.
8. But it is nice to be social and enjoy your common interests together.
Your housemates are people too. If they need to rant about their day, let them fly free. They’ll return the favour for you one day (well, they better.) It’s nice to watch The Bachelor together too… providing they don’t keep up a running commentary of their own jokes the whole time.
9. Discuss what food and other common household items you actually want to share.
Necessities like toilet paper, tissues, cleaning products, and common foods can be split among the household. Set up some sort of system so everyone’s being held accountable. You don’t want or have to be that sad person who always picks up the toilet paper and never gets compensated. It’ll really give you the shits.
Yes, I did that on purpose.
10. Give people the heads up if you’re having people over.
It’s common courtesy. Your communal lounge isn’t a bed for any old random to pass out on at any given stage.
11. Remember they’re not perfect, but neither are you.
Shit will happen, you will piss each other off, and you’ll probably fight or passively-aggressively exchange snarky remarks from time to time. We’re all human. We all make mistakes. Everybody has those days!