Most Common Problems You'll Run Into With Your College Roommate(s)

By Danielle Wirsansky on May 22, 2016

Love them or hate them, we have all had (or will have) a roommate at some point during our time in college. Whether you have got a roommate while living in the dorms on campus or one while you live in an apartment or house farther away, you still have one and you still have to deal with them.

Sometimes you get to choose who you live with and sometimes you do not. And sometimes it works out and sometimes it does not. Even after college, you might have to live with a roommate. And everyone who lives with a roommate usually faces the same common problems.

So read on to learn about the most common problems you will run into with your college roommate (as well as some solutions)!

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Chores

No one enjoys doing chores, but there are every day and every week activities that need to occur to keep your living space habitable. Dishes need to be washed. Garbage needs to be taken out. Floors need to be vacuumed. And it should not all rest on one person living in the space. It is a shared responsibility. You all contribute to the mess and so everyone needs to contribute to its cleanup as well. Fair is fair.

So if you have a roommate that is not doing their part, do not let it slide because it is not fair to you or any other roommates you may have. And sometimes your roommate will have excuses, like, “Why should I take out the garbage? I have barely been home. None of that garbage is mine!” which might make you want to grind your teeth. But do not worry about that or grind your teeth to powder over it (it will just give you a splitting jaw ache on top of everything else).

Crossing Boundaries

We all have boundaries. There are certain lines that cannot and should not be crossed, but they are not the same for everyone. Because you share a private space, it is easy for boundaries to be crossed by roommates. But that does not mean it is acceptable.

Crossing boundaries could mean any of the following: being too loud at night and keeping you up; your roommate bringing friends and guests into the apartment without letting you know they are coming or that you feel uncomfortable to have in the apartment since you do not know them; your roommate using your things without permission, such as chowing down on your food and gobbling it up or using up your laundry detergent (you knew it was being used up too fast).

Whatever boundary your roommate is crossing, you need to deal with the situation. Otherwise it will all just fester inside you, your frustration fermenting until you pop! You might end up doing something rash to handle it that you might later regret. Do not let it get to that point! There are better and healthier ways to deal with such a stressful situation.

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How to Deal with These Problems

I have listed above what can be the most common problems you can face when you have roommates. These situations can be tense, upsetting and stressful — which is bad for your health and bad for your grades. Instead follow some of these solutions to help you ease your way to roommate bliss.

Roommate Agreement

Avoid any of this from occurring by creating and having all roommates sign a roommate agreement. Often, when you live in the dorms on campus you are required to create and sign one, and then you are obligated to uphold it the rest of the year. If you renege, your roommate can approach the RA and you can get in trouble for not holding up your end of the bargain.

However, I find that it is helpful to create one even if you are not planning to live on campus. While there are no RAs to make you stick to the agreement, just outlining what needs to happen and making the other person aware of what your boundaries are can be really helpful.

Maybe your roommate did not know that you were not okay sharing laundry detergent. Maybe your roommate was unaware of how loud they were being at night. Maybe your roommate thought you were okay with them bringing over their friends. Both of you need to stick to a plan and try your best to be considerate so that you can make the most of your time and not be consumed by a silly thing like roommate drama.

No Anger Zone

Sometimes though, even if you have a roommate agreement, things still happen that can make you upset with your roommate. Maybe they keep leaving all the lights on or they let the shower drip, drip, drip. Whatever the case, by letting yourself fly off the handle when dealing with the situation, you will only make it worse. Roommates are people too, and roommates need to be treated with respect.

And if your roommate is rude or does not treat you with respect, keep your cool. It just reflects poorly on them. Be calm, be collected, be cool. Clearly state what the problem is and actively look for solutions to solve it. Just saying there a problem is not that helpful — try and be the solution as well. You want to keep your living space a tension free zone.

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