When you have decide to move in with someone whether it is your partner or a friend or a sibling you often directly think of all the fun things this will bring and don’t really think about what problems that are associated with moving in together. I therefore intend to bring up some common problems that may arise when moving in with someone and things you can do to prevent them.
The person moving in may be used to do things their own specific way, and when you move in together, this may cause conflicts. Some think that people will do things your way or at least accept that you are doing them. But if you live together, it is easy to collide, one might be used to wash dishes immediately after meals while the other is waiting for several days before doing them; typical conflict maker. What you can do to prevent this from happening is to have common rules that should be followed. And try and be tolerant, unnecessary frustrations will cause trouble. If you for example work in the nights and are used to be awake into the middle of the night and your roommate wants everything to be quiet at nine, it can be difficult to compromise. What is right and what is wrong? There are no right or wrong, you should just simply talk to each other and come up with the best solution for both of you. Earplugs could be a solution and the one that is awake could quiet things down a bit. It’s all about communication.
Now, the economy is always a sensitive subject that has to be discussed loud and clear. Should you share economy or should you buy your own food and such and have your own shelves in the fridge? To pay for things together is cheaper, but maybe you don’t have the same food habits. Maybe you could do one grocery shopping together where you buy common things like rise, milk, salt, oil etc. and then buy your own specific things yourself. Never take anything for granted, you should always discuss these things. When it comes to bills and rent you can either both pay half each months or one of you pays everything one month and so on, all though a problem with that is that phone bills and such rarely is the same every month so it will probably be easy to make a fuss about this. Making a budget is never wrong. Then you get control of the situation.
Another common fuss factor is the cleaning. You should obviously always help each other out with this. You can either have a single or a respective cleaning – laundry or dish day and have a schedule. Maybe you can divide the chores. I for example hate vacuuming but my fiance hates picking up smaller items. Then we make a deal, I pick and he vacuums.
You will want to bring friends, boyfriends and family over to your home; that is obvious. But if you share apartment with someone else than your sibling or boyfriend you will have to come up with some rules also here. Perhaps you should not be taking home a lot of guests without telling your roommate. Maybe you could have a special day each where you get to bring home guests. It is a good thing if the other knows that the apartment will have guests so that they can choose whether to stay home or not.
Some good things about having a roomie are that you have someone to hang out with and spend time with. You will learn how to work with others and compromise which is great plus everything becomes cheaper.
