The economy being what it is in South Africa and the cost of living always on the rise some of us need to make tough decisions on how we share our financial burdens. Before making any major life decision, a lot of factors should be taken into consideration.
When looking to spread the financial responsibilities of your living space you’ll need to focus on several considerations in order to weed out mismatches when choosing a roommate. This decision is not to be taken lightly as this is a person you’re going to be sharing a piece of your life with, whether you like it or not. This is a person you’re going to be sleeping near and sharing space with possibly a lengthy amount of time so you ought to consider a lot of things before diving into choosing your roommate.
Here are eight things to consider before choosing a roommate:
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Honest sleeping habits
It may be easy to lie with this question but if her sleep schedule is totally far off from yours, for example, she goes to sleep and wakes up early and you go to sleep in the AM and wake up at noon), it might not be the best idea to room together. Like with most things on this list, if it’s something that cannot be compromised or worked around, it’s definitely a red flag.
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Cleanliness
If you know you’re on the messy side, be honest. You don’t want to live with someone who’s also incredibly messy, but you also don’t want to burden a total neat freak. Be honest about how clean and organized you are and work on a compromise before deciding to room together if you do decide to.
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Trust
If you’re going to be living with someone, you have to trust them. If the person is a stranger, it can be hard to trust them at first but if someone’s giving you suspicious vibes or if they’ve had three different roommates in one semester, it might be a red flag. If it’s a close friend whom you already trust, that’s good roommate potential.
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Pet peeves and quirks
This sounds a little strange to discuss, but it’s pretty important. If your roommate has to sleep with ocean sounds playing and you can only sleep in silence, that’s important to note. If you hate leaving the window open and your roommate can only sleep in the freezing cold, it’s another thing to take into consideration. If you cannot compromise or overcome any of these quirks or pet peeves, you may want to reconsider your choice of a roomie.
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Significant others.
If a potential roommate has a significant other who they plan to have visit every other weekend and you know that’s not going to work for you at all, either compromise or decide on another roommate. The same goes for you it is be honest about it because you don’t want passive aggressiveness filling up your dorm.
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Schedules
If the roommate in question has a schedule too similar to yours, it can actually be a bad thing. Everyone needs a little bit of time to themselves, and if your schedules perfectly line up it might be a bit difficult to get that. On the other hand, if your roommate has a lot of morning classes and you have mostly night classes, it might be difficult to work with two hugely different schedules.
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Habits
The only real way to find these out is by spending time together and picking up on these things.
- Does your potential roommate go out every other night while you prefer nights in?
- Does your potential roommate go home every weekend but you don’t really like living in an empty room?
- Does your roomie in question constantly sexile their current roommate?
Pick up on their habits (and allow them to pick up on yours) and see if there are things that complement each other or are going to be very difficult to overcome.
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Their past roommates
- Did they get along well with their last roommate?
- Did they have a lot of roommate troubles in the past?
Neither of these things can predict your potential roommate experience but it’s important to note when choosing a roommate. If your old roommate had arguments with his or her last roomie because her roommate was messy and you’re a generally messy person, consider it.
If your potential roommate got along well with her old roommate mostly because her old roomie went home every weekend and gave her a lot of privacy and you know you’re a bit of a homebody, it might not be the perfect match and so on. Don’t dwell on the past, but take it into consideration.
Last extra tip to consider
Ultimately, the biggest thing to remember is that you’ll be living with this person and sharing a space with them for a piece of your life. Choose wisely and be honest with what you can and cannot accept in a roommate.
Contact us
If you need advice on your eviction case or would like us to represent your case, get in touch with Le Roux Attorneys
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