You did your research. You prepared ahead of time. Somehow, you still ended up moving in with a nightmare of a roommate. Suddenly, the semester seems twice as long as it did before. College apartments are never perfect, but you’re pretty sure your roommate is worse than anyone else you’ve ever heard about before. Trying to survive that nightmare roommate situation? Try these tips.
Scenario 1: He’s a Night Owl, You’re an Early Bird
You might have spent your high school years doing your best to sleep the day away, but once you got to college, you knew that wasn’t an option anymore. “Early to bed, early to rise” has become your motto. Unfortunately, your roommate doesn’t seem to agree. Some nights, he doesn’t even come home until after midnight–and those are the good nights. If he’s home, he’s sitting out in the living room, blaring the volume on his video games and cursing at the screen. Heaven forbid that you wake him when you get up for your first class in the morning. Hung over or not, he acts like you’ve committed one of the seven deadly sins right in front of him.
The solution: Invest in a good set of noise-cancelling headphones or ear plugs. Play quiet music in your room. If you can’t hear him, he can’t disturb your sleep. Worried about your alarm clock? Add a strong vibration setting and put it in your pillowcase. Be as considerate as you can when you leave in the mornings, too–maybe he’ll eventually learn to take after your good example.
Scenario 2: She’s a Neat Freak; You’re a Slob
You wouldn’t ever have called yourself a slob before you moved in with this girl, but you’ll admit it: Housekeeping has never been high on your priority list. Now, all of a sudden, you’re pretty sure you’ve entered the Twilight Zone. She’s always cleaning–and if she’s not cleaning, she’s whining that you haven’t. It’s only been two days since the last time the toilet was scrubbed. Why is she mad at you for not doing it?
The solution: Set up a cleaning schedule. This is one of those moments when you’re going to have to sit down with your roommate and really hash it out. While you’re not going to transform into a neat freak overnight, it’s not unreasonable for you to, for example, clear your dishes out of the sink before you head to bed at night. Take a few minutes to discuss how you want to divide up cleaning, chores and what responsibility each of you is willing to take for them. There has to be a happy medium in there somewhere.
Scenario 3: Your Roommate Won’t Stop Bringing Members of the Opposite Sex Home
There are only two people on the lease for your apartment: you and your roommate. Unfortunately, most of the time, there are three of you living there: you, your roommate and your roommate’s significant other. While you don’t mind if they come over every once in awhile, you’re starting to feel like they spend more time at the apartment than you do. They’re eating your food, using your stuff, messing up the apartment and they aren’t contributing to the bills. It’s enough to drive anyone up a wall–especially when you don’t have any idea whether or not they’re coming by.
The solution: Time for a sit-down with your roommate. While they have the right to have their significant other over if they want, you have the right to peace in your own apartment, too. The first step is to sit down and see if you can come to an agreement. Maybe the significant other can start contributing to groceries, the electric and water bills, and other things around the house; or maybe it’s less about the bills and more that they need to help pick up after themselves. Be clear about what you really want out of that discussion. If you go to your roommate and say, “I don’t like that your boyfriend is over here all the time,” with no clear goal, she’s going to get defensive and refuse to help problem solve. On the other hand, if you go to your roommate and say, “Look, I know you like spending time with your boyfriend, but I’d really appreciate it if he didn’t eat everything in the fridge without replacing it,” that might be something she can help with. Be realistic, be kind and take into consideration what you would want your roommate to offer you if the circumstances were reversed. Also, it might be time to start quietly looking for a new place to stay. If he’s over at your place more often than he’s at his own home, they just might be moving in together next year.
What are some of your dreaded roommate scenarios and how would you go about finding a solution? Let us know in the comment section below.
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