Tips For Transitioning From Living At Home To Living With Roommates

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Tips For Transitioning From Living At Home To
Living With Roommates
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• For college and university students, living away
  from home can be fun, exciting and filled with
  possibilities. It can be even more fun and
  interesting when youre living with roommates,
  although, there can sometimes be a transition
  period when you first start living together and
  adjust to each other's lifestyles and routines.

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• Fortunately, most difficulties can be overcome
  when you have established household rules and
  every roommate takes care of their
  responsibilities. Good roommates can make moving
  from home to student housing fun, but there are
  some things you can do to make the transition and
  living with others easier. Check it out

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Set Some Ground Rules

• Rules are the key to surviving on your own and
  with roommates. They play a major role in living
  in a peaceful environment and establishing a
  healthy relationship with your roommate(s). Have
  a meeting with your roommate(s) and set some
  ground rules immediately after moving into your
  new space. These rules should include

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• Respecting each others privacy, e.g. setting
  rules for entering each others rooms, borrowing
  things or eating others' food, and being quiet
  during study times, etc.
• Dividing the chores (including cooking) and any
  bills equally and fairly

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• Establishing rules for guests (especially
  overnight guests) and parties
• Guidelines for using communal spaces, i.e. the
  living area, kitchen and bathroom(s)
• Setting rules for how grievances should be aired
  and addressed

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Learn Proper Communication

• If you dont know how to communicate well, it
  doesnt matter what ground rules you set. Proper
  communication is essential to fostering good
  relationships and resolving issues. This is
  especially true when youre living with others.
  However, communication is much more than simply
  talking. It also includes the method of
  communication, the approach used, the tone of
  voice employed, the undertone (or the way words
  are said), body language and more.

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• When combined, all of these things can help tell
  others how youre feeling, as well as how they
  should behave or react. For example, respectfully
  airing your grievances and listening to others is
  the most effective way to resolve issues. In
  fact, its much more effective than leaving
  notes, taking passive-aggressive actions without
  explanations, ignoring others or simply allowing
  the issues to continue.

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• If you have an issue with a roommate, set aside
  a time to talk, calmly explain your grievances,
  and most importantly, tell them how this issue
  makes you feel. Allowing discomfort to build and
  aggressively confronting a roommate or taking
  passive aggressive action could cause undue
  tension. It could also have severe consequences,
  making your home environment unbearable for you
  and others. Remember to

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• Listen as much as you speak
• Learn and seek to understand any cultural, social
  and personal differences between you and your
  roommate(s) and how they affect your living
  situation
• Dont yell at or belittle others and try to walk
  away if others do these things to you
• Respect others, their words and their points of
  view
• Be open and honest

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• Dont talk nastily or disrespectfully about any
  of your roommates with the others
• Ask and present points for making certain
  situations better for all parties involved
• Be flexible and compromise where necessary and
  possible

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Get to Know Your Roommates

• Its easier to get along with others when you
  have a basic understanding of their personality,
  habits, likes and dislike, etc. However, you
  cant gain a basic understanding of your
  roommates if you dont get to know them. And
  getting to know them involves spending some time
  together.

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• Although college can keep you busy, you
  shouldnt neglect spending quality time with
  others. Fortunately, living with roommates makes
  quality time more convenient. It also makes it
  easier to create bonds. And roommate bonds are
  often special and unique.

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• So, plan some roomie time. You could schedule
  a movie or game night, plan to go clubbing
  together, host a party, create a roomie-only
  study group, attend concerts or school-sponsored
  events together and so much more. No matter what
  you do, show the people that you live with that
  you appreciate them, as well as that you care
  about connecting with them and learning about who
  they are.

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• Of course, not everyone is well suited for
  living with roommates and that's okay, too. If
  you live alone in any
• furnished bachelor apartment Ottawa has to
  offer, for instance, you wont have to worry
  about roommates or setting ground rules, but the
  best possible living situation depends on your
  personality and lifestyle preferences or habits.