Indoor Climate Control

There are a great deal of informative guides and pamphlets directed towards giving advice on how to best get along with a potential roommate. These generally revolve around basic topics such as study habits, cleaning responsibilities, and understanding that whoever purchases the food is the one who is allowed to consume it. As an individual who is currently residing with a roommate, I feel that one crucial point has been left out of all these books; more specifically, agreement upon temperature control can be the binding or breaking point of a healthy roommate relationship.

My freshman year of college the roommate pair several doors down fought constantly over this factor. One roommate from Louisiana was quite certain that the room should be kept at a no less than a cozy 85 degrees Fahrenheit; her roommate, a girl from up north, had a much different opinion and preferred a more temperate 65 degrees. The battle for control over the internal weather ranged throughout the entire year, with the winner for the night being whoever happened to fall asleep last.

Another girl seemed to prefer more extreme temperatures which varied with the season. For example, during the winter she would feel the need to crank up the temperature to a sweltering 85 degrees, but during the transition from spring to summer (or at the beginning of the school year) she would keep the temperature at a chill 55 degrees. Again, the other roommate found that the only way to "win" this battle of temperatures was to go to bed after the other person, for this would guarantee that she would no longer be altering the temperature to suit her extreme desires.

In order to avoid any disagreements based upon room temperature, there are several steps you can take to ensure that each person is fairly satisfied with the climate of the residence. First of all, with most roommate situations, it is always a good plan to discuss temperature preferences with your roommate soon after meeting them. This way, you can both have your say earlier on into the relationship, before there are really any other barriers that other arguments may have built up between you two. See if you can agree upon a "happy medium" between your temperature preferences; if so, then you have already solved this common dilemma. However, if not, there are still other ways to help the situation out. If you have one person who prefers the colder temperatures, allow them to have the bed and desk closest to the window; they can enjoy a slight breeze that will cool them down without affecting the entire room's temperature too greatly. [I actually know one friend who would sleep with her head outside of the dorm room (and her body on the bed inside) as a way to keep cool.] Similarly, if you have one person who really loves warmer temperatures, award them the bed and desk nearest to the heater. They'll be receiving the most direct warmth from the heater, causing them to feel warmer than the rest of the room.