How to make living in shared student accommodation a breeze!

Let’s face it, it can be challenging living away from home. You’ve waved goodbye to your home comforts, to your laundry being turned around in an instant and to hot meals turning up out of thin air! Instead, you may well have found yourself living with house mates who are driving you absolutely bonkers!

On a serious note, the reality is that living away from home whilst at University is so much fun and you’ll end up making friends; you’ll look back fondly on your time at University in years to come. Independent living enables you to discover things about yourself that you didn’t know, but it also means you discover things about your housemates that you didn’t know before too. Even if you were friends with your housemates beforehand and you thought you knew them inside out, chances are that you don’t really get to fully know them and their habits until your sharing living space with them. Who knew that your bestie from Uni didn’t know how to use their toilet brush?!

At Edge Student Living, we’ve had first-hand experience of living in student accommodation ourselves (once upon a time!). So here’s our guide to living as harmoniously as possible and avoiding arguments with your housemates during your time at University.

 

Mark your personal belongings

Picture the scene… you get up and make yourself that all important coffee that you need to get you going on a morning which you’re really going to need for that exam today. You go into the fridge and, wait…. you’re milk has gone!!! It’s the little things like this that can really get your goat.

You may find that your belongings stand a better chance of not going missing if they are labelled, and yep this applies to everything including your food! If your housemates aren’t always courteous of using their own stuff, it could help to save an argument if things are labelled as there are then no excuses.

Also it goes without saying, but it’s really important to ensure that you keep anything valuable to you locked away in your room.

Don’t be filthy animals!

One of the biggest causes of arguments when living in a shared student home is when someone continually doesn’t clean up after themselves. Early on, establish house rules to help keep things fair so that one person isn’t always the one washing up. Trying to get into the habit of cleaning up after yourself straight after the meal can prevent pileups happening – and help prevent arguments too.

Mick (our maintenance man at Edge Student Living – have you met him yet? 😊) is also really appreciative when he comes to do a job and doesn’t have to clamber over a mountain of rubbish!

Respect each others space

Coming home drunk in the early hours and blasting your music at full volume is no fun for your other housemates, nor your neighbours. Also be considerate of your housemates if you have friends, boyfriends or girlfriends over and don’t let them outstay their welcome!

Be more horizontal

No, unfortunately we’re not suggesting you stay in bed all day! But being more chilled around your housemates can sometimes help to reduce friction. For example, if you really hate the toilet seat being left up but you find yourself living with someone who continuously does, it can really rub you up the wrong way and you may find yourself getting irrationally annoyed. Bite your tongue, ask yourself if it’s a life or death situation and if it’s not, just walk away and get over it….

Practice good communication

…but if you just can’t live with the toilet seat situation, then any issue like this is best dealt with than being honest and open. Tell your housemate what your issue is rather than playing passive aggressive games and having a silent, stubborn stand-off. Communication is absolutely key.

Don’t behave like a parent

Never tell your housemate what to do or how to do things, like a parent would. This isn’t your job and you’re not entitled to control how another human lives their life. Don’t be that person.

Have alone time

When you live with someone, you end up spending a lot of time in each other’s company but to keep your friendship healthy, try to have alone time. Spend time apart, in your own room, so that you’re not around each other 24/7 - this is how arguments arise.

But also spend quality time together

If you give yourself some space, you’ll start to appreciate the time you do spend with your housemate and you’ll be a lot less likely to argue and fight. Instead of sitting together in silence watching three hours of Netflix every night, go out, do something purposeful and spend quality time together.

And lastly, always be kind

Just because!

 

Having said all of this, arguments are inevitable when you move in with others – but most will be silly and easy to get over. You simply have to accept that there will be rows about everything imaginable but try not to let things drag out for longer than necessary. Life is too short, and at Edge Student Living we urge you to make your experience at University as enriching and as positive as you can. You’ll come out the other side with important friendships for life.

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