How To Avoid Awkward Roomate Situations

I know you’re very excited to move to college or move in with a new roomie but if you’re like me you have hesitations. I hope these tips can help eliminate some of those horrific roommate experiences you might have heard about. Living in a small dorm for the year can be kind of stressful if you don’t know what to expect. Hopefully, if you choose to have a random roommate or someone you’ve known forever these tips can lead you to a lifelong friendship!

1.)    Plan ahead!  Talk with your new roomie about shared items; such as the refrigerator or microwave. Also, chat with your roommate about decorating. Some people would like to have matching comforters and others don’t mind to not coordinate. So, before you pick out how you want to decorate consult with your roommate.

2.) Lay ground rules at the beginning. I made the mistake of just trying to “go with the flow” with my first roommate instead of voicing things that annoyed me. You learn when living with someone there are things you can live with and things you can’t. So, hopefully you can figure those things out and address them at the beginning.  An example would be sleeping with the TV on; some people don’t have a problem with it and others can’t sleep at all. So, just make sure you all know before someone gets annoyed.

3.)  Everyone has to make compromises when living together so try to keep an open mind about little things that might annoy you.

   4.)  Be respectful and considerate. If you know your roommate has 8 AM classes try not to stay up all night listening to music loudly or come in late, don’t turn on all of the lights and wake your roommate up in the middle of the night. Also, some people may have certain feelings about sharing personal items. If you need to borrow your roommates belongings make sure you ask them first.

Hopefully these tips will help guide you to great roommate success! I am very thankful to have had a fabulous roommate experience I know a lot of it has to do with the fact that we respected one another. Living together can be a great experience and I wish you luck with your future roomies!

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Sarah Franklin is a senior at Western Kentucky University and can’t believe she is going into her senior year!