living with roommates is very often a challenging experience regarding noise food space cleanliness and other issues it can be said though that most problems arise from lack of consideration of one roommate for another and also from not establishing rules beforehand what are the pros and cons of having a roommate what should you take into account when looking for a roommate and what arrangements should be settled before moving in
the pro and cons roommates
read the summary at the right of the positive and negative sides of having roommate
getting things settled beforehand
before you move in sit down with your roommates and create an agreement on major issues print a set of rules and give each person a copy
rent what is everyone's share
who will be responsible for paying the rent at the end of each month
space if there are three roommates and three shelves in the bathroom and in the fridge each person's things should be kept in one of the shelves
shared things roommates may share the cost and use of things such as electricity and utilities but not personal hygiene items and food however sometimes it's practical to share things that everyone uses such as salt milk cooking oil soap etc
household chores who is responsible for cleaning and on what schedule
noise time for noise and time for quiet can be hard to impose and depends mostly on common sense and consideration
guests is it OK to have friends to stay overnight is it OK to have friends visit how often for how long
it's best put your agreements in writing oral agreements are too easily forgotten or misinterpreted