Living with other human beings is hard. Like really hard. And sometimes if it’s your best friend, it’s even harder. How do you tell someone you love that they need to do their own dishes and turn the TV volume down and stop having loud sex every single night. We feel you. In fact, we are you and that’s why we’re giving you some solutions.

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[This post was originally written by Khalea - Howard University]

Disagreements with the one you cohabitate with are inevitable. From your parents to your boyfriend, people won’t knock and your snacks will get eaten. Yet the college living situation always seems to be the most tumultuous, and so I have collected all my wisdom to show you the signs that you’re being a bad roommate. Yes, you. That wasn’t a typo. Instead of blaming your roommate, look out for these signs in your self and you’ll be able to negate any sign of conflict. Because what’s a better way to learn than with examples of what-not-to-do? Read More »

Unless you’re one of the few students who lucks out and gets a single, almost everyone who goes away to school must deal with a roommate. Although it would be ideal to become BFF with your rando roommate,  everyone doesn’t always bond like Rachel, Monica and Phoebe. And because girls like to get their  feelings out via emo Facebook statuses, rather than actually confronting the problem, situations tend to escalate fast.

Here are some problems you may run into within the walls of your shared space and a few solutions if/when you find yourself in a pickle.

She’s sloppy: Her clothes are always on the floor and on her bed, even when she’s not getting dressed. Strands of her hair line your dorm room floor. She has loose papers and party fliers sticking out of her textbooks and strewn all over her desk. And is it you, or does her side of the room smell like gym socks and onions? Unfortunately, all girls aren’t all that neat, clean and prissy. Some are straight-up foul! Maybe they’re used to someone else cleaning for them or maybe they’re just lazy. But if you’re with a sloppy sister, you will probably end up speaking to her about her hot mess on more than one occasion.

Solution: Starring at her mess with your evilest eye won’t suddenly make her realize that she’s too messy. Instead this is one of those situations where you’re going to have to be confrontational (but NOT hostile) and ask for a compromise. You can’t expect her to go from slopfest to neat freak, but you can ask her to make sure her mess doesn’t invade your side of the room and that she does her best to keep all smells at a minimum. Just asking her to “be cleaner” won’t get you very far. Give her clear suggestions like “please put your gym clothes immediately in your laundry and not on the floor.” Read More »

Living with friends is fun and there’s (almost) never a dull moment.  There’s no awkward “Hi, I’m Alex” stage where you don’t know really how to act around your new roommate and none of that awkward/hesitant asking “if it’s okay if your roommate, you know, turns off the lights because it’s four in the morning, maybe.”

When you live with your best friends, it’s totally acceptable to cut loose and dance and sing at the top of your lungs to Ke$ha. Living with friends is fun, carefree, exciting. I wouldn’t change living with my friends for the world. On the other hand, living with a random roommate also allows you to experience new people and hang out with a different crowd.  It can be refreshing, enlightening and you may even gain a new friend out of your random housing assignment. But eventually, with any roommate no matter if she’s a friend or random, disaster strikes because you left your hairbrush out for the third time in a row.

Here are some tips to keep your roommates happy:

Do have roommate nights. Grab a bowl of popcorn, sit on the couch, or your extra long twin bed, and put in a chick-flick. My roommates and I always have Gossip Girl Mondays. Having these nights keeps your bond strong; it’s an easy way to break away from some of the stress of school, especially when it’s midterm week and you don’t say a word to your roommate because you’re cramming for your Chemistry test.

Don’t blast music when your roommate is studying. We’ve all been there—you have an exam in each 3 of your classes and an essay due, it’s 1am and the library is too far of a trek. You are focused, in the study-zone and your roommate decides to have people over for a power hour. Great. Treat your roommate the way you would want to be treated, so respect that she needs some silence and one day she will return the favor.

Read More »

While signing my life away last year… I mean, my apartment lease… many things crossed my mind:

1)   No more crappy cafeteria food!
2)   Yay for bonding! We’ll be all up in each other’s business all the time.
3)   We’ll have so much in common – we all have boyfriends!

Now this has become two (sorta) truths and a lie. I went from cafeteria food to massive amounts of frozen food shipped from my loving mother. (What can I say? She refused to let me live on Ramen.) And being all up in each other’s business turned out to be more than I bargained for. Think assigned chores, paying rent, and dealing with cockroaches when we moved in (still makes me shudder!). And as you may have already guessed, the boyfriend and I broke up. So that leaves (put your hands up!) a single, independent woman who apparently makes references to Beyonce songs when she talks about herself.

Yes, I’m single and living with three other girls in relationships. Read More »

We all have them – those four million t-shirts baring our university’s logo/our sorority letters/the 45 clubs we are a part of. You’ve collected them over the course of your degree, and now you have so many you can barely close your dresser drawers. You probably have a few you wear — the nice one you bought at the bookstore, or your favorite shirt you acquired at a school event (because every college student knows free sh*t is good sh*t) that you wear to the gym or sleep in. But the rest? They just sit there taking up precious dresser space because you can’t bring yourself to get rid of them.

“I did my first beer bong in that one,” you tell yourself. “I can’t throw away the memories!” Well, you don’t have to. Here are a few ways to reuse your old shirts.

Throw pillows — Pick the t-shirts with logos you love, but never wear. Follow these easy instructions, and you have new room decor. The main cost is pillow forms, or cotton batting, but it’s a lot cheaper than going out and buying them from a decor store. Variation: make an actual t-shirt pillow.

T-shirt shopping bag — Go green when lugging your groceries home with a snazzy new shopping bag. You can save the planet by not using plastic bags, and have extra change for happy hour by not spending a cent on the reusable ones from the grocery store. Plus, you can turn that pre-party t-shirt into something actually useful! Read More »

Unlike most people who only have their birthdays to celebrate every year, I am fortunate enough to have two days in my honor:

March 21st – the day my mother pushed me out of her womb

October 15th – National Grouch Day

Whereas I am always shunned, yelled at and abused for being a “royal bitch,” today I, and others like me, am celebrated for my general moodiness. I am finally vindicated for my annoyance at my roommates leaving their sh*t all over the house, for those mother-effers who can’t figure out what a turn signal is, and for the jerks down the street who keep playing that same damn Lil Wayne song over and over and over.

I don’t have to be ashamed for yelling at the Subway dude who put mayo on my 6 inch turkey on whole wheat with “absolutely no sauces, spices or mayo,” or for pushing the bitch at the bar who cut me in line and then got the last Amstel Light.

No. Today is my day. MINE. A day for me to be who I am and for those around me to celebrate it by leaving me the eff alone. Do not hug me, sing to me, or send me a card; all I want on this day is acceptance of my grouchiness.

And maybe for you people to clean up the damn kitchen. Is that too much to ask?!

In April, I made a decision that I knew would undoubtedly change the rest of my college experience: I signed a lease to share a five bedroom duplex with not one, not two, not even three – but a whopping FOUR girls.

I was excited to be living with these girls because although we aren’t the best of friends, we spent the better half of our last year partying at each other’s respective houses and decided that in an effort to make it easier on all of us we’d just… live together. We eliminated the need to sleep on each other’s uncomfortable couches in dirty, beer-stained clothes and brave the BRUTUAL winters to walk home.

Regardless of how fun and exciting this whole idea was, though, I was still scared sh*tless to share my life/belongings/food/drinks with four estrogen-filled, sometimes catty, often-drunk females. We’ve all heard roommate horror stories and let’s face it – with five girls occupying such a small space, I figured The Hills-esque drama was inevitable.

BUT, not to jump the gun (it’s only been about three weeks since we moved in!), things have been great. FABULOUS. I’d even go as far to say that I actually thoroughly ENJOY living with girls – and that having roommates (especially four of them) really has its perks: Read More »

For the first time since graduation, my college roommates and I made a return trip to Ann Arbor for a weekend reunion full of drinking, Michigan football and a general return to the life of college students. I can’t even tell you how excited I was to get back to campus and run amok around the town; visit our old house, drink at our favorite bars and, of course, visit our favorite late night eateries.

And for all intents and purposes, the weekend far exceeded the fun-factor I was anticipating. I got my Long Island Iced Teas and ate my New York style White Pizza. I watched the Wolverines win (even if it was a crappy team) and finally picked up my Michigan Alumni t-shirt.

It was perfect.

But this weekend also made me realize some very key post-graduation truths:

1. I can’t drink like I used to: In the old days I could down a couple (10) cocktails and dance the night away only to wake up the next morning, hit the gym and get to class. Not anymore, my friends. After getting good and drunk on Saturday night, I am still experiencing a hangover. And it is Tuesday. On the plus side: I still got my boozey-moves on the dance floor…and the videos to prove it.

2. College bars are cheap: I always used to hate those grads who came back to campus and screamed about how cheap the drinks were. Now that I am a grad, I have to scream it: drinks are so cheap! Nowhere else can a group of girls get 8 pitchers, a round of shots and 3 orders of cheese fries for $95 including tip! I may have even taken a picture of the bill. Read More »