A housemates guide to getting on | Ashleigh Hayman

Moving in with strangers or lifelong friends can be a tricky adjustment as Ashleigh Hayman explains.

 So you finally made the long-anticipated escape from the family home. Shed the nagging, bickering and rules of your relatives. Free to live the life of couch potato to your heart’s content.Hold up, you aren’t free yet. The majority of us merely swap living with family for a new a set of challenges – housemates. Whether you are new to this whole “sharing” concept or have been battling through the fields of communal living for years, being a housemate is both the college dream and a nightmare…So that you can get on with the “making friends for life” part, here is a short guide to some of the obstacles: Cleaning (don’t expect any dusting…) So you’re a few weeks in, and the place has become a mind-field of dirty pots and drink bottles. The prospect of a clean cup, fork or bowl is a long forgotten memory. The odd squeak emerges from under the wreckage. 

•  Buy yourself some washing-up gloves and just get down to it. There really is no point waiting for someone else to do it.
•  Hopefully your housemates will take note and return the favour next time. If that fails, one of those “I’m only kidding…but no seriously the place is a tip” chats might do the trick.
•  Don’t expect mammy's level of shine to ever reappear. Accept that three or four clean dishes and the majority of rubbish in the bin’s vicinity is “crystal clean” in a student’s world. I’m not promising you’ll ever get rid of “that smell” either…

Sharing (yes really, you need to share…) So you thought your sister took long showers? Think again.Waiting with bated breath for How I Met Your Mother to start? Better check no one else has the remote…. And as for making dinner when it suits? Well get in line for the oven first. Sharing of communal stuff can be a major source of irritation. So here are some tips to avoid it: 

• Watch your favourite TV programme on your laptop or computer – unless it's Home & Away (everyone loves Brax) and it's on in the student common room at lunch time.
• Try and work out a dinner time that doesn’t collide with everyone else’s. If at all possible, be the first to cook as there is a greater chance of finding clean pots.
• Same applies to showers, and the hot water… If you are really stuck there are always the ones in the gym, or good ole dry shampoo.

 Partying v Studying (the unavoidable clash...) Sod’s law will always dictate that the night before an exam, everyone else will decide to go out. The noisy background of music, laughter and banter ensues, all while you stare at your books cursing your bad luck. To alleviate some of the pain, try:

• Go to the library. You are more or less guaranteed peace and quiet, and it doesn’t seem quite as bad when you are surrounded by fellow studiers. As for the party you're missing? There will be others, for now it is best to follow the mantra of ‘out of sight out of mind’.
• Alternatively invest in a pair of earphones – they make excellent earplugs! And you can play a soundtrack more conducive to study than Gangnam Style.

And when it’s someone else’s turn to study, try keeping the partying noises to a minimum.