Any tips for living with roommates?

[Purrrfect]

I've only ever lived at home or my own place, any tips or things to look out for when looking for someone renting a room out?

[Woozie]

Make sure it's someone you could beat in a one on one fist fight.

[Aristio]

-Don't expect anyone to be your best friend when they move in with you. Just make sure they are reasonable to live with.

-Make sure they shower daily.

-Establish refrigerator and bathroom rules right away.

[miokomioko]

Let them know the first 4 months or so is a probational period where you can kick them out on their ass at a moment's notice for being a douche.

[Headspace]

steal their girls

[Ksandra]

-Establish refrigerator and bathroom rules right away.

gonna add to this and make sure you set the rules for any utilities at the start, and if there's anything getting split/paid to you or from you pay by check not cash so you have a record of it.

Also any cleaning rules at the start as well (dishes, toilets, etc.)


Also, have some patience. Often people get set in their own ways and even little things can turn into a fight, even from the most reasonable of people.

[Purrrfect]

Just to clarify, I'm the one looking for a place. Not the one looking for someone to pay me.

[BlackMoomba]

Make sure neighborhood is alright. Talk to them first, try and find out what they're like, too see if you're gonna be able to live with them. Find out the house rules if their are any, and see if they fit your life style.

[Serif]

Upper deck them the first day

Need to mark your territory early

[Hyan]

I don't think going in with a "you're gonna screw me over" attitude is the best approach to take, lol.

I wouldn't even think about it tbh. Deal with the problems once (if) they come up. From my experience people with pet(s) are generally cool. You prolly gotta participate in taking care of it too though.

[Meat]

dont befriend them

[Brill Weave]

Don't be a fucking dickhead everything else works out.

[Brill Weave]

Also don't move in with anyone that has significant other drama because you then become the shoulder to cry on.

[Elesirdur]

Pick up after yourself (no wet towels left on the bathroom floor), help keep common areas like the living room and kitchen clean and communicate with your roommate(s) if something's pissing you off and stay friendly with them so they can do the same.

[Blabj]

Take all the advice given, but in reverse. Don't be a dick, clean up after yourself, be hygienic, try to be sociable where appropriate. Other than that, don't be offended when you're having to make all the effort and the other person is a complete cunt - they're paying the bill after all.

[kyod]

Discuss your lifestyles right away:

Some key points (IMO): Do you guys want to share food? Do you mind if dishes are left in the sink for a day? How should we handle cleaning? How should we split bills? Do you mind if friends stay over occasionally/my girlfriend stays over?

The biggest source of roommate conflict, in my experience, are lifestyle conflicts. If they're the type of person who lets dishes go for three days and you are driven crazy by it, that will be a huge issue. If you like to have people over and party and they don't, it will be a huge issue.

Analyze how you live right now and see if you fit in well to that. My roommate and I are best friends and great roommates because our lifestyles are similar. If he was dirty as shit though, it would be hell.

[Maaglin]

Roommates are all horrible.

[archibaldcrane]

Discuss your lifestyles right away:

Some key points (IMO): Do you guys want to share food? Do you mind if dishes are left in the sink for a day? How should we handle cleaning? How should we split bills? Do you mind if friends stay over occasionally/my girlfriend stays over?

The biggest source of roommate conflict, in my experience, are lifestyle conflicts. If they're the type of person who lets dishes go for three days and you are driven crazy by it, that will be a huge issue. If you like to have people over and party and they don't, it will be a huge issue.

Analyze how you live right now and see if you fit in well to that. My roommate and I are best friends and great roommates because our lifestyles are similar. If he was dirty as shit though, it would be hell.

great advice

[miokomioko]

Yeah, I'd say the things to figure out and set in stone from the get-go are:

Company (acceptable amount of visitors, frequency of parties, girlfriends sleeping over)
Food (dividing shelf space in the refrigerator/pantry and acceptable eating of food)
Cleaning (washing dishes, tidying up the commons, and cleaning the bathroom)
Noise (acceptable noise levels, especially when one roommate is sleeping)
Drugs (smoking or non-smoking inside, marijuana, etc.)
Parking (sharing parking space arrangements)

Pretty much imagine anything anyone has ever bitched about regarding someone they lived with, even if it's a sibling/parent and make sure you avoid the same thing by setting down and/or understanding the ground rules from the start. Also, they need to be enforced and not bent. She goes downhill right quick as soon as someone starts disrespecting the rules and gets away with it. Give an inch, take a foot, etc.

Problems mostly arise when someone is completely oblivious to the fact that they are being inconsiderate and usually is never confronted about it... in the occasional case, you have the asshole who gets defensive about it and refuses to fix their behavior.

[Quixotic]

I live with two other guys and we have a pretty good system going.

In our individual rooms, all of us are dirty as hell and it looks like a hurricane went through each of them, but we keep our common areas (living room, kitchen, balcony) thoroughly clean. (I guess also it helps that we don't fight over bathroom space since we all have our own bathrooms). We all share food and have a joint shopping list every week and we trade off. Usually one guy will cook dinner (enough for everyone) each night and one of the other two will clean up afterwards. We're not even buddy-buddy really, about 90% of the time we're off doing our own shit.

We've had our share of conflicts but none of us are afraid to bring house issues up when they occur which is great because shit gets handled quickly.