When you first come to college, you're so excited to meet your new roommate and can’t wait to get to know them, go out with them. You can’t wait to create a strong friendship with them; you both start out great with one another, but as the year goes on, they turn into a person you didn’t think they would become, or you may have just never seen that side of them. You may even live with your best friends. For some, it’s a great idea, but for others, it may start to ruin your friendship. You will probably run into the same problems that you would with someone you barley know, or someone you don’t know at all. They begin to do things you don’t like, or they don’t bring things to your attention before they do it. They start to nitpick the little things like being a little louder than normal, or they get annoyed if your friends are over. They begin to not think before they speak. But here’s how you can handle these things if you run into them because, let’s face it, we all have had that one roommate.
1. Be polite to them!
The nicer you are to them, the more mad they get, but they’ll stay quiet about it. Nobody likes the roommate who is nice through tough situations, or the one that stays positive through it all, or the one that just doesn’t want any trouble. Just stay positive through all the situations you face with that one roommate.
2. Keep your things separated and only use your personal items.
At the beginning, you are all into sharing clothes, food, dishes, etc. but let’s face it, once you hit the stage where they just don’t like living with you anymore, they aren’t going to want to share anything. If you need to borrow anything, ask, and if they say no then respect their wishes. If they allow you to use something of theirs, respect their items and give them back.
3. Make a chore list.
Having a nice clean place to come home to is wonderful, makes you feel relaxed and smells great. But that’s not how it always is. Yes, we are college students and your place isn’t always going to be in tip-top shape, but living there means taking responsibility and helping out around the house. Nobody wants a dirty place when friends or family come to visit. We all want a clean living environment but sometimes they just don’t want to help out with those things, so make a chore list. Give each roommate something to do and things will stay clean. A clean home is a happy home!
4. Don’t beat around the bush until you’re in the bush.
Most of the time, we are never straight forward from the get-go. Then you tend to beat around the bush until you’re stuck. You’ve got to be straight forward with them and the outcome normally isn't the best but talking about what is bothering you, instead of keeping it bottled up is a good way to have less problems. Be honest and straight forward from the beginning and things will work out in your favor.
5. Social media talk is something roommate problems should stay off of.
We all have those friends we are very close to and will tell them most of our life problems to get their advice or sometimes just to vent. But the one thing you should never do is post your problems on social media. Everyone does not need to know your problems or what’s going on. Social media is a fun and informative but once your friends share something of yours, one of your roommates could come across it and that could end badly.
6. Make sure to have personal space.
We all want our personal space, that alone time, the time to not be bothered. But your roommate doesn’t always want to respect that. The best time to have me time, your personal space, is normally when they’re not home. You know you won’t be bothered, it’s quiet and relaxing. But when things begin to get catty, make sure to get personal space as much as you can.
The semester/year is something tough to get through with the roommate you just can’t get along with. But sometimes you’re strong enough to stick it out, be the bigger person. Nobody wants to deal with bad living situations. But in the end you can take a lot from it, learn from your mistakes, and learn from theirs and you make a life lesson out of it. Stay positive and you’ll get through it.
