Sharing an apartment with roommates is a great experience. Not only does it save money, but it provides a social atmosphere that is often missed out on when living alone. However, issues with roommates can occur even in the best roommate situations. Knowing how to resolve them, or prevent them ahead of time, can make sharing an apartment easy and stress free.
Be Clear with Expectations and Set Ground Rules
Most issues that occur with roommates tend to stem from not being clear about expectations before moving in. When getting to know your roommates, try to get an understanding of what they expect from you as a roommate and vice versa. How often will you and your roommates clean? How will guests and visitors be handled? How early or late do your roommates generally go to sleep? What are your roommates’ views on pets? Asking these questions can help you and your roommates to understand each other, create compromise and establish rules ahead of time so that problems don’t arise later. (more…)