Guide to Living with Roommates

During my college years, I lived with a total of seven or eight different roommates. Fortunately, the most I had at any one time was 3. Unfortunately, all of this cohabitation occurred within teeny tiny dorm rooms. Looking back, I'm not even sure if a whole house would have given me enough space from them, although I know now I could have done things to make it easier. So if you or someone you know are going to be living in the dorms for the first time, here's a guide to living with roommates.

My first roommates stayed out a lot later than I did. Their classes also started later than mine, so our morning schedules conflicted as well. I was constantly irritated that they frequently woke me up when they came in, while I tried to stay quiet in the mornings so they could sleep. So here's rule #1 for living with roommates: if you can't agree on bedtime/morning routines, at least be courteous and don't interfere with your roommates' routines.

The next set of roommates I had were not so troublesome in coming in late or waking me up, they were just slobs. For example, they would leave dishes (with food on them) in the sink until you could smell them from three feet away. Literally. Then they'd try to pass the smell off on something in the drain but I wasn't fooled. Also, if the magical bathroom fairy (meaning ME) hadn't cleaned the bathroom, I dare not think how disgusting that room would have become. The roommates never took turns cleaning the bathroom (or anything else). The only reason I continued acting as their mother, cleaning the bathroom for them, is that I refused to shower in squalor. This brings me to rule #2 for living with roommates: if something looks dirty, clean it, and if you are the only one cleaning, definitely say something.

The last set of roommates I had exercised no discretion when having personal conversations or arguments. They naturally talked loud, and either didn't care or didn't notice that I couldn't help but overhear intimate details about their sex lives. (They would often be in the same room, or at least within ten feet of me). I did not want or need to hear things like "Last night when he did xxx, xxx happened. Is that normal for my body to do that?" On the other hand, their arguments were entertaining. They had a huge blow up one day about one girl sleeping with the other girl's ex. I had front row seats to a soap opera without ever having to leave my living room. So on to rule #3 for living with roommates: if you are addressing a comment, question, or part of an argument to one roommate in the presence of another, do that other roommate a favor and keep your voice down.

Basically, if these 3 rules had been followed, we might have gotten along better. And I'm sure it's true that some people just aren't suited to sharing tiny living spaces with people. Common sense should suffice in these situations - if you don't want to constantly clean up after people, or overhear certain things, don't subject others to the same.