{"id":26685,"date":"2015-12-02T08:54:07","date_gmt":"2015-12-02T13:54:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/?p=26685"},"modified":"2015-11-30T14:55:51","modified_gmt":"2015-11-30T19:55:51","slug":"the-deal-with-roommates","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/2015\/12\/02\/the-deal-with-roommates\/","title":{"rendered":"The deal with roommates"},"content":{"rendered":"I\u2019ve moved around the city a few times since coming to Toronto, living with different roommates in different areas downtown. I\u2019m lucky to be able to say that it\u2019s been really fun living with new people each time and getting to know them - but every roommate situation brings with it its own unique quirks.<\/span>\r\n\r\nIt\u2019s totally normal to have conflicts when living with people (even if they\u2019re your friends)! After a few years living with roommates, here are words to live by when living with others I\u2019ve collected over the years.<\/span>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nDo your dishes. <\/b>Anyone who has ever lived with roommates knows the incredible gravity of the word \u201cdishes\u201d in a shared kitchen. In fact, most tension I\u2019ve experienced in living situations has surrounded the issue of dishes piling up because everyone is busy! <\/span>\r\n\r\nThe best way to deal with a dishes problem, in my experience, is to institute a rule - whether it\u2019s that you have to clean your dishes immediately after you eat, or a 24-hour rule, or even a 48-hour rule. That way, if people don\u2019t stick to it, you can call them out without it being personal.<\/span>\r\n\r\n
\"A<\/a>
The dreaded growing dish pile monster. Image by Mike McCune via Flickr.<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\r\n\r\nMake a chore chart. <\/b>Even if you live with your friends and everyone promises that they\u2019ll do chores, house cleanliness will inevitably fall through the cracks if you don\u2019t set up a plan. Students are busy, and it\u2019s tough to prioritize cleaning if you\u2019re not sure where to start. Setting up a chore chart keeps people accountable and facilitates a conversation about everyone\u2019s expectations in terms of cleanliness.<\/span>\r\n\r\nBe aware of and respect boundaries. <\/b>If someone closes their bedroom door, can you knock or does that mean you should leave them alone? If you\u2019re bringing a friend over at night, can you hang out in the common space or will that disrupt people trying to sleep? It\u2019s really important to have these conversations with your roommates so you can identify one another\u2019s boundaries and set some guidelines. If you are aware of each other\u2019s needs and respect them, it can foster a comfortable environment for everyone and <\/span>a space where sharing concerns is welcomed and not taken personally<\/span>\r\n\r\nPick your battles, but be open and honest. <\/b>If someone didn\u2019t do their dishes one time, and usually always does, you don\u2019t need to make them feel bad about it. Distinguish between patterns of behaviour and one-time rule breaches and pick your battles with your roommates accordingly. But, more importantly, if you need to voice a concern, voice it - don\u2019t let it grow inside you and manifest in passive aggressiveness. Tell your roommates, and if the conflict persists, seek help from parents or friends or access conflict coaching resources through <\/span>Housing Services<\/span><\/a>. <\/span>\r\n\r\n
\"My<\/a>
One of the many perks of living with roommates: spontaneous brunch with remnants of each other's groceries! These are my roomies during one such occasion.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\r\n\r\n\r\n<\/span>Having a problem with roommates? Housing Services offers regular conflict coaching clinics, like next week (December 7) from 4:00-5:00pm (<\/span><\/i>see more information on the Student Life Events Calendar<\/span><\/i><\/a>). <\/span><\/i>Read more about dealing with conflict on the Housing Services site<\/span><\/i><\/a>.<\/span>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"I\u2019ve moved around the city a few times since coming to Toronto, living with different roommates in different areas downtown. I\u2019m lucky to be able to say that it\u2019s been really fun living with new people each time and getting to know them - but every roommate situation brings with it its own unique quirks.<\/span>\r\n\r\nIt\u2019s totally normal to have conflicts when living with people (even if they\u2019re your friends)! After a few years living with roommates, here are words to live by when living with others I\u2019ve collected over the years.<\/span>\r\n\r\n
Continue reading “The deal with roommates”<\/span>…<\/a><\/div>","protected":false},"author":252,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26685"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/252"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26685"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26685\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26690,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26685\/revisions\/26690"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26685"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26685"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26685"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}