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A good roommate is hard to find. Even if you decide to move in with your best friend of years, someone you always get along with and who you feel is always on the same page as you, most people quickly learn that you don’t actually really know someone until you cohabit with them.
Having a roommate can be very frustrating, and if you tend not to like the person, or their habits, that you are living with, being a good roommate can prove to be just as difficult. You might find yourself complaining about them to your friends, avoiding your apartment/dorm at every opportunity, and fantasizing about the day you no longer have to share a living space with them.
Unfortunately, for most of your twenties, it is inevitable. Whether you are living in a dorm on campus, an apartment off, or have graduated and entering the real world– the reality is that you are not going to be able to afford to live on your own for quite some time, and that means dealing with the inevitable struggles of having a roommate.
It’s easy to point fingers and blame, and tell yourself that you are doing everything right and that they are the real problem. But is there something you could be doing differently to make the situation better for the both of you?
Here are 13 signs that indicate you are a terrible person to live with:
You can count on one hand the amount of times you have cleaned the kitchen or bathroom. You just assume it is something you will both share responsibility of, but, when you actually think about it, you realize you have always found something better to do instead.
You assume that her clothes/cosmetics/jewelry are fair game. After all, isn’t the beauty of having a roommate that you get to double the contents of your wardrobe without actually having to go shopping? Instead of asking, you just assume she won’t mind if you borrow her pink blouse, since she’s worn it, like, eight times already this semester.
You leave passive aggressive notes. Why have a long, drawn out conversation about it, especially if it is going to be a little awkward to bring up? Clearly the best approach is to just leave a note on the bathroom mirror for her to see first thing in the morning, letting her know that you are out of toilet paper again and, since she spends the most time in the bathroom, she should probably stop to pick up more after class.
You never ask about what is going on in her life. Sure, you may live in the same apartment, but you are far from each others best friend, therefore you don’t really need to know the intimate details of each others lives.
You don’t even try to be discreet while having sex. It’s not your fault they make the walls so thin.
You let your boyfriend stay over whenever he wants. Yeah, 6 nights a week might seem a little excessive. But your place is just more comfortable than his. Your roommate shouldn’t get mad about this, obviously. I mean, it’s not like he is hanging out in HER bedroom.
You leave your dirty dishes in the sink for days. It’s not like you are never going to wash them. But you’re currently in a food coma, and you are going to get to them when you get to them. It’s not your fault she has OCD and needs to do them RIGHT AWAY. If she is that eager to do them, who are you to stand in her way?
Blast music, always. Why does she always get so huffy-puffy when you blast Taylor Swift? Doesn’t everyone love 1989?! Oh, she’s studying? Well she can obviously put in headphones… duh. And isn’t music supposed to, like, help you study?
You drink from the carton/bottle. If she hates when the dirty dishes accumulate, then she couldn’t complain when you drink straight from the container. I mean, come on, does she really think cooties exist? Grow up.
You eat her leftovers. Obviously if she really wanted the rest of this pizza she would’ve finished it the first time around. You’re starving, it’s late, and everything is closed. You are just doing what is rationale. You’re actually helping her, if you think about it, because if you didn’t eat it soon it probably would have gone bad, so…
And drink her alcohol. Okay, this half handle of vodka has been in the freezer for, like, weeks. She probably forgot it was even there. She won’t notice.
You invite people back to your place after the bar… even when you know she stayed in to study and go to bed early that night. Hey, just because she stayed in doesn’t mean the rest of the world should walk on egg shells right? Of course you didn’t purposely mean to wake her up at 3 am while you and your friend drunkenly demolished a pizza on the kitchen floor, loudly laughing at the shenanigans of the night. But you are living your life and having fun, like college students are supposed to; it’s not your fault she’s a Debbie-downer.
You hardly ever leave. You live here, hello? Of course you are going to spend a lot of time here. Sorry not everyone is running around campus and working nights and weekends like she is.
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