Top Tips to Sharing a Household

Living in a house with other people can be a nightmare; extremely daunting but lots of fun.

Whether they are your family, friends or complete strangers, there can be some potential issues though which if not dealt with correctly can lead to arguments, fights, or tears and tantrums.

Students will understand mostly, when they move away from home for the first time and find themselves living with 5-8 people they have never seen or spoken to before and having to share a kitchen, lounge and sometimes bathroom.

Or if you have moved to another town for a new job and are renting out a flat as a tenant, accommodation prices can be daunting and perhaps a house share is the best option for you.

So here are some top tips to living with other people to ensure you get the best out of the experience and stay life long friends (rather than wanting to rip each others hair out!)

– Establish house ground rules.

These can cover everything from cleaning duties, to social hours for music to be played. Remember everyone deserves respect and to be treated as you would want to be treated. This means no staggering in at an ungodly hour waking up your flatmate who has an exam at 9 o’clock in the morning!

– Cleaning (do your fair share)

Divide the number of jobs between the number of people in the household equally. So if it is your turn to wash up, wash up. If there’s one person in the household who doesn’t want to participate,  simply do not involve them. Missing out on meals and clean clothes might help them change their mind about the situation.

Make a rota. OK it’s tedious and boring but it works and it’s fair. It is essential that everyone sticks to the plan, otherwise half of you will feel resentful and the others will feel guilty.

Your room is your responsibility to clean it.

If you’re really not comfortable with the arrangements and think someone is getting off Scot free or not pulling their weight talk to your housemates about it. It might not be the easiest of things to talk about or bring up because you don’t want to cause tension or an argument but it’s far better than leaving it, building it up inside you and bursting it out later in a full rage.

– Create some space

Create some communal space is important. If everyone stays in their own room and keeps themselves to themselves you won’t bond and become good friends. Being polite and chilling in the lounge or eating tea together will increase your sociability.

– Learn to live with characters you usually would not associate with

It can be hard moving in with someone who you don’t share the same likes with, for example socially or music-wise.

Think about what music your flatmates like and ask them what music they don’t like. No one will appreciate you blasting out music on full blast, at all hours of the day.

Try to get a sense of whether or not people will be more offended if you’re too chatty or if you’re not chatty enough.

Set limits about guests at the very beginning. It might be a bit of a bother if some-body’s brother/sister/friend comes over almost every night because they don’t have a place to stay of their own. Guests are one thing, non paying tenants are another.

Toilet roll gets used up quickly in a shared household. Have a rota whereby one person buys a huge pack of loo roll before the other pack runs dry or, decide each person has their own supply.

– Don’t steal each others’ foodFood

Buying your own food and keeping it on your own shelf is only fair when you’re living in a shared household. If you have any kind of dietary restrictions (medical, religious, or simply lifestyle choice) it’s probably best to buy and keep food separately.

Borrowing and sharing food can be rather tricky. If it’s someone else’s food is hard to obtain or expensive, you are best not to touch it without asking.

Share space in the fridge and freezer- filling every shelf and draw gives others lack of space and is plain rude and inconsiderate. Stick yo your designated shelf and if you run out of room- tough.

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