What It Takes To Be a Good Roommate

When it comes to going random for roommates, it's all about the luck of the draw. I personally was very lucky in the fact that I got a very considerate roommate. While it has only been around two months since we both moved into the same shoebox of a dorm room, we have not run into any really serious problems. There are some various steps that one can take in order to ensure that the roommate relationship runs smoothly.

1. Pick up after yourself. This means that you should always, always, always clean any dishes, put away any clothes, pick up any books in the room, and wipe up any spills or stains. You have to be considerate, it is not just your room.

2. Be mindful of your turn to clean. When it is your turn to take out the trash you need to do it asap. If you and your roommate have problems remembering whose turn it is to take the trash out, you should pin a calender up and mark the days that each of you took it out. Same thing for any other room chores.

3. Be quiet. There's nothing worse than a roommate who doesn't care about whether someone is trying to get some rest. Turn the TV down, and do NOT talk on your cell phone when they are trying to sleep, that is considered very bad room manors.

4. Do not be critical. NO ONE wants to live with someone who is going to look down there noses at someone else. Whatever moral stances you hold do not give you the ability to tell anyone else what to do. You are not your roommates parent and as long as they are not using illegal substances in the room, then you have no right to tell them to or not to do something.

5. Do not expect your roommate to hang out with you The fact is that you and your roommate were brought together by chance and while you should be congenial to one another, you do not have to spend a lot of time together. In the rare instance when you have chosen your roommate, you probably dont want to be around them the whole time. You need to make seperate friends because you will eventually need to vent about your roomie. When this happens you really don't want it to get back to them, especially if you are rooming with your hometown friend.

6. Keep your dirty clothes in your closet. Lets face it kids, dirty clothes smell bad. If you keep your dirty clothes in a bag in the middle of the floor then your room is going to smell bad too. This is just not fair to your roommate who has to live with the smell that they didn't make. Keep your smelly clothes where they aren't going to ruin your roommates day.

7. Know the difference between a rude roommate and an unaware roommate. Do not take everything that your roommate does as a personal attack. A roommate could just not be aware that they are doing something that you are not used to.

8. Share the TV just because you may have brought it does not mean that it is only yours. Two people live in the room and use that TV. If you and your roommate both have shows on at the same time then I suggest creating a schedule where you switch off every other week. This way it evens things out a little bit and you each understand the others struggle a little. If you watch a popular TV show then I suggest getting some people together and watching in someone else's room or in one of the lobbies with a TV.

9. Put a copy of your schedule up. This ensures several things, for starters that if your roomie has a fella in the room that you don't walk in on the middle of something that you don't want to see. Another reason why this is preferable is that if one of your friends asks where you are then your roommate can tell them (unless they are psycho and vindictive).

10. Do not eat all of your roomie's food. If you agreed to split it down the middle then thats great, but actually split it. Do not ever eat the last of anything that your roomie specifically bought for himself or herself. You also do not want to hog the fridge.


~Golden Roommate rule~

treat your roomie as you would like to be treated