Everyone’s heard the scenario of the best friends who sign a lease together and eventually end up hating each other and never speaking again. It's not easy living under the same roof, let me tell you that. However, living together doesn’t have to end your friendship. Here are a couple of tips to living with your BFFs and not driving each other crazy.
Set aside roomie time.
If your only time all in the apartment together is cleaning the bathroom or while you're rushing to finish that paper that's due at midnight, you are going to associate your roommates with all of the weekly chores that you have to do. Now, you don’t have to mark specific times on the calendar to all hang out, but some quality girl time is necessary during any friendship. Make sure to plan some time together that isn’t just during your Sunday responsibilities.
Accept that you will share.
You will share food, clothes, shoes, lipstick, etc. You may not like it at first, but living together involves a lot of “what’s mine is yours.” Trust me, you’ll be happy that you let her borrow those wedges the next time when you pour a bowl of cereal and she is the only one who bought milk this week.
Share the responsibility.
Don’t be the roommate who lets everyone else do the cleaning. Or worse, don’t be the roommate who does all of the cleaning and lets everyone else know it. Even if it takes sitting down and dividing up the household chores weekly, sharing the responsibilities keeps everyone happy (and everything spotless).
Just tell them what bugs you.
Do you hate that they leave their shoes everywhere? Do you think that it's wasteful that they bought a whole gallon of milk, only to let it sit in your fridge and spoil? Tell them! Being passive aggressive is a sure-fire way to build up every little, tiny, negative thought that you’ve had about them and have it end in an all-out screaming match. Just be upfront with what needs to change.
Accept their quirks.
On that note, there are some things about our friends that we can’t change. You might not like the smell of their perfume that they spray everywhere before a night out or that they sit in their bathrobe for two hours after they shower. They may be too laid back, too uptight, or too shy. The fact of the matter is that, at the end of the day, you need to accept them for who they are in order to make it work.
