How To Be the Best Housemate

How To Be the Best Housemate

Share houses have a wonderful ability to bring together people from all walks of life. From uni students looking for a cheap way to split rent after moving out of the family home to young professionals just trying to make it big in the big city, living with others in a share house environment can be a whole lot of fun.

But with many people comes many responsibilities. Unlike parents who will love you unconditionally no matter how many times you forget to clean the bathroom or stumble home loudly in the early hours of the morning, your house mates might not be so understanding.

If your social and people skills are a bit rusty, these simple tips may be useful in helping you in your path to becoming housemate of the year.

Leave dishes in your room
When you don't feel like cleaning up after yourself or doing the dishes, be considerate and leave them in your room. That way your house mates won't have to deal with a sink full of dishes. If they make a comment about the lack of cups in the house, tell them about that mason jar trend happening and encourage them to use the finished pasta or jam jars instead because #hipsterlife

Have post-it note conversations
Sometimes it's hard to tell your housemates that you ate all of their food in a moment of weakness while they were out. Or remember that time they woke at 2:30 am to ask if that table had always been broken? That was as not a cool thing to do. The fact you broke it is irrelevant, 2:30 am is not the time for a conversation about it. Unless of course you're drunk and then 2:30 am is a perfect time for a conversation about anything.

Why have an honest and calm discussion like rational adults when you can make life more interesting by writing a post-it note and leaving it on the fridge? End it with a little smiley face to diffuse any tension that might arise and be sure to strategically leave them all over the house too, just in case they missed the memo.

Whenever there is a potential conflict or conversation you don't have the time or energy for, refer to this tip. You could try a colour-coding system to match the level of annoyance or resentment you feel.

Push boundaries
Moving out of home is all about redefining boundaries and stepping out of your shell. What better way to do this than by walking into the kitchen in your towel after a nice shower and helping yourself to your housemate's food while they had family visiting?

After all, it is called a share house and -what's mine is yours' totally applies.

Throw parties often
The best kind of parties are surprise ones. Invite all your friends, get the playlist going and yell -come join us!' when your housemate walks through the door after a busy day. You know they totally need to relax as they've been so stressed out about their big presentation tomorrow. Give yourself a gold star for being such a considerate housemate.

Forget the house rules
You didn't move out to be stuck right back into a chore schedule, or to have restrictions on how loudly you can play music or who you can bring home. Rules can be a good general guide on how to act, but don't forget that you have the option of doing your own thing too. Your housemates will understand. In the off-chance that they don't, refer to the second tip.

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