Living with roommates

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Many people come to college with the expectation of choosing a roommate and becoming friends. This sometimes happens to be the case, but things can also go bad when sharing a living situation with someone new. The tight quarters of a dorm room, or even an apartment, can be difficult to share with another person. So, what do you do if your roommate situation starts to go south? Here are a few tips I have picked up along the way.

If you are getting frustrated with your roommates – get out of your apartment or dorm. Especially with online classes now, it can be easy to stay inside all day long. To go somewhere other than my apartment, I try to go to the library, a coffee shop or another friend's place to do homework or study. Not seeing your roommates, even if it is just for a few hours, can make a huge difference. Getting out of your place can help you destress, and it lets some of your anger towards your roommate go away.

If your roommates are messy – schedule days where you all clean together. Say, Sunday mornings, you and your roommates plan to clean the kitchen together. Having a schedule will keep everyone accountable and make sure everyone is pitching in with cleaning, not just one or two people.

If your roommates are loud – tell them times it needs to be quiet. If you have exams during the week that are being taken from home because of COVID-19, let your roommates know. This will help make sure you can focus on the exam and not worry about how much noise will be going on. Also, this helps your roommates know that once the exam is over, they can go back to being as loud as they need. I have found this to help prevent arguments because your roommates should care about your schoolwork just as much as their own.