How To Be The Best Housemate Possible In Student Accommodation
Leaving home to study at university brings with it a series of challenges, from getting used to life in a new city to learning how to live without mum and dad.
Sounds daunting, right?
Luckily, all of these new experiences can be made much less stressful by making a conscious effort to be the best housemate you can be in your student accommodation, whether you’re in halls or renting from a private landlord.
Read on below to find out what you can do to make sharing your space with others as enjoyable as possible for everyone involved!
Get To Know Your Housemates
This might seem simple, but taking the time to sit down and get to know your housemates could save you a lot of trouble in the long run. In most instances, who you live with at university, at least in your first year, is a complete lottery, so it’s easier for everyone if you try to establish some sort of rapport from the get-go.
When you first meet your housemates, be courteous, polite and ask them questions about themselves. Doing so will help to break the ice and may uncover some common interests that can lay the foundation for future friendships.
Recommend a group outing to the pub and get talking!
Communicate Effectively
OK, this might be an extension of the point above, but effective communication is vital when you’re living with people from many different backgrounds and walks of life. Successfully getting to know your housemates early on will make communicating important details or information so much easier and could put a stop to any potential misunderstandings before they grow into full-scale conflicts.
Even if it’s something as simple as telling your housemates that you don’t share food (like Joey from Friends) or that you can’t sleep with too much background noise, get it out in the open and nip any future problems in the bud.
Likewise, if your housemate has done something that has upset you, ask them if you can talk about it in private. It’s much better than letting it fester.
Don’t Take Anything For Granted
Just because you live together that doesn’t mean that everybody’s property is fair game. Instead, you should always ask for permission before you borrow any of your housemates’ personal belongings, even if you think they’ll never find out.
Nowhere does this rule apply more than with food. Although you might not mind sharing meals or basics like bread, milk and coffee, taking items that aren’t yours can cause some serious friction within your household. You might play fast-and-loose with boundaries, but that won’t be the case for everyone, especially if, like most people, they’re on a tight budget.
On the flipside, a small act of generosity, like offering up the last of your milk, could go a long way and your housemate may return your kindness at some point in the future.
Share The Load
The common stereotype of the student is someone who isn’t too fussed about keeping a clean house, only ever succumbing to the washing up when all of the supplies have been exhausted. This is far from true. Most students like to have some order and cleanliness in their homes, which is sure to trigger disagreements with people who don’t see mopping, hoovering or dusting as priorities.
Although this might be a difficult subject to broach, you could suggest a cleaning rota if things are starting to get out of hand. Not everybody likes being told what to do though, so be careful about how you deliver this idea.
It’s also wise to decide on what each cleaning task entails before you start divvying out jobs. If you don’t, you may end up jumping down somebody’s throat if their standard of cleaning falls far below yours.
Be Friendly
If you end up getting on with all of your housemates, that’s a bonus, but there’s also a good chance you won’t become firm friends with absolutely everyone you live with. Regardless, you should still remain friendly and approachable as well as being respectful of everybody’s boundaries at all times.
Living with people won’t always be straightforward, so by being kind and considerate you can really play a part in making the uni experience a pleasant one for everyone.
The Best Student Accomodation In Coventry
We hope you enjoyed reading this short guide on sharing accommodation with others and that you picked up some useful tips on how to be the best housemate possible.
For more advice on life as a student, be sure to check out our other blog articles. You can explore our wide range of affordable, high-quality student accommodation in Coventry here.
