How to live with other people

Living in halls or flats with other people may be a little bit daunting. But don’t worry, the likely situation is that the people you will be living with will be in the exact same situation as you. Leaving home is always a bit scary but with a little bit of adjustment to your lifestyle, you may find it an amazing experience. So here is a handy list of tips on how to live with other people and getting to know your flatmates.

Tip #1 – Communication is key

If you want to accomplish anything in the household you must be able to talk to your housemates, as they are not mind-readers. They don’t know if you don’t like something unless you tell them. If you want them to clean up a bit let them know and sometimes if they want you to do something you may need to make compromises.

Let people know if you are going to have guests. You don’t have to explain why you are having someone over necessarily, however, your flatmates will very much appreciate the heads-up as they don’t want to be caught in their underwear when your friend comes to visit.

Tip #2 – Learn to share

Often your accommodation will have lots of space but maybe not enough if everyone in the household has duplicates of the same things. By sharing, you save a lot of valuable storage space (and often money) if you do something like buy a huge bag of rice for the flat.

However, you must also be aware of people’s boundaries – if they are not comfortable with sharing things like food and appliances. This also applies to responsibilities, such as things like needing to clean, which can quickly add up to a big mess. By sharing the responsibilities, no one will be left with all the work and get bitter towards the rest.

Tip #3- Making Friends

Try and get to know your flatmates. They may not ever end up being your best friends, but it’s important to know who they are, as you may have a lot of similar interests that could make living together very fun.

Keeping an open mind is also important as you may be meeting people from very different backgrounds and may have very different habits to your own. This also means that it can be a bit more comfortable when communicating should issues occur whilst living together. Leading to the next tip…

Tip #4 – Be respectful

This can include a lot of things such as becoming familiar with peoples schedules as you may be a night owl but they might be a morning person, meaning that you should be wary of not causing disturbances at all hours of the day. Even if you are really good friends, that doesn’t mean that you have to spend all hours of the day together, sometimes having a few hours of privacy is nice.

It is also a good idea to get used to the habit of using headphones as people in your house may not want to constantly be listening to whatever it is that you are watching. On top of this, respect people’s belongings and they will do the same to you. If you accidentally break something of theirs or take some of their food – own up to it and hopefully, they will do the same for you.

With that information, you’re likely to be fine living in a shared space and will enjoy your time in halls and flats. Living together with people doesn’t have to be hard and if you work out all the little details it can be a fun time and will really make your university experience memorable.