You could be living with friends or people you’ve never met before at university. To preserve harmony in your household, it goes without saying that you should be friendly and communicate with your flatmates. However, the Student Pocket Guide has some extra tips to help you live comfortably in a shared household.
Communicate And Get To Know Each Other
Learn what your flatmates enjoy and dislike since this will save you time and hassle throughout living together. Making this effort will impress your flatmates. They will appreciate it and getting to know each other allows you to see whether you have anything in common. The more you have in common, the more you can do together.
Spend Time Together
The greatest approach to maintain a positive living environment is to spend time with your flatmates. Quality time is crucial for establishing friendships, so try to spend time with your flatmates in addition to spending time with friends across the university, focusing on your academics and extracurricular activities. Make time for your flatmates because they are important.
Discuss What You Will Share
When it comes to living in shared housing, sharing truly is caring. Make sure you communicate about what you’re going to share as a flat/house whether it’s milk, bread, cleaning supplies, or kitchenware. When you move in, discuss it to ensure that everyone agrees and is okay with what will be shared. This will help to avoid future squabbles or arguments between your flatmates.
Chip In
Chip In Make a financial contribution to household items and cleaning supplies. For example, create a money jar and mark your name whenever you’ve contributed. This demonstrates that you are aware of what must be done and paid for around the flat/house. You should all work together to make this idea work as no one should be left to buy all the household necessities on their own.
Set Boundaries
Set boundaries and communicate them to your flatmates. You and your flatmates must express your boundaries to one other so that you are both aware of what you can or can not do. This talk may be difficult to start, but it is important as it can help avoid future conflict. Keep your flatmates’ boundaries in mind and don’t cross them. This is essential for living in a peaceful environment since you wouldn’t want your boundaries to be broken, so why should someone else’s?
Know Your Flatmates’ Schedules
It is useful to know your flatmates’ schedules so you can plan when to do something together. It may be beneficial to arrange to use the bathroom around each other. For example, if one of your flatmates has a 9 a.m. class, you can let them use the bathroom before you because they have an earlier start time.
Have Some Alone Time
Have Some Alone TimeLiving with a group of people is ideal as it means you will have plenty of social time. Remember that everyone requires downtime, so schedule some time for yourself to focus on your needs and studies.
Be Friendly And Have Patience
Being kind and friendly is the greatest approach to maintain harmony. Being patient is also essential while living with others. To avoid a heated debate, remember to be rational in each situation that you are confronted with.
Make Your Living Situation Comfortable
By being at ease in your environment, you can make the most of your living circumstances. This means being open, friendly, and respectful to those with whom you share your accommodation. Try to be honest about anything that may upset you and resolve difficulties as soon as possible.
Learn To Compromise And Remember Everyone Is Different
When living in shared housing, everyone’s opinions and feelings must be considered. So, compromises are required. When these scenarios happen, keep a good attitude in mind. Remember, at university, you will meet a wide range of personalities and characters. If you can be adaptive, this will be beneficial to your personal growth.
We hope these tips help you have a happy and stress-free experience when living with flatmates!
