Learning to live with other students will most likely be a new experience for you especially making sure you all get a long well and are aware that you’ll need to split bills.
The control of which bill lies in the hands of you and your housemates. Here’s how to be the best house mate you can be.
- Agree how bills will be paid as soon as you move in together, the earlier you get this sorted, the better.
- Are you planning to split bills with the other tenants? It’s a good idea to decide how that will work. Receiving a water bill, agreeing your share, paying it and then receiving the money back from other tenants is one way. What if someone is late paying? This can lead to awkwardness and no one wants that.
- Contact Glide Utilities to discover how they can help you with your student utility bills, have them shared out fairly and then be billed individually, each housemate will only be responsible for their share.
- Honesty is key with finances and shared issues such as your student utility bills. If you are struggling to make a payment admit it and reassure your house mates you are taking the situation seriously. Don’t ever expect a loan from any of them.
Communicate. All of the time!
You know the type of person you are and how you like to live. If you are not a morning person and dislike people who are, give people a heads up so they know to stay away until you’ve had your sixth coffee!
Got a gaming addiction that will stretch the limits of even the best of the student broadband deals Glide provide? Think about the housemate who wants to watch Netflix or a match they can only stream online.
Keep talking to each other. If your boyfriend/girlfriend is staying for the weekend, make sure you tell everyone beforehand. The girl in the room next door won’t appreciate bumping into a stranger when she’s wrapped in a towel on the way from the shower.
If you’re feeling homesick, chat about it rather than snapping at your house mate over something silly and making them think you’re just rude. You may even find they’re feeling the exact same as you.
You don’t have to be the best of friends
Just because you live together it doesn’t mean you have to be great friends. It’s absolutely fine to simply tolerate each other, share space and split bills. Don’t be offended if a housemate doesn’t want to eat out every week, respect their decision and invest your time with other friends.
Be like Sheldon Cooper from ‘The Big Bang Theory’ and sign a room-mate agreement (if you want to go that far).
The little niggles of day to day life can lead to much bigger fall-outs. Set boundaries before you move in together. Agree a policy on people staying overnight on the sofa, on how warm you think the house should be, agree on how you will split the bills and who will pay what and when.
Make negotiations light hearted and be prepared to compromise. The contract isn’t something to beat your housemates with whenever they put a foot wrong. If a dissertation deadline is looming for one of you, don’t insist they stick to their agreed chores list. They are stressed so it’s probably the last thing they’re thinking of, see how you can help them instead.
Respect the space you share
It’s a simple courtesy to keep communal spaces clean and tidy. Wash up your cooking things, rinse the bath out and empty full bins.
Decide on a weekly budget for essentials like bin bags, loo roll and washing up liquid, put the money in a kitty and take it in turns to nip to the supermarket to stock up.
If your house mate has guests, don’t slob out on the sofa using all the data from your student broadband deal streaming your favourite films onto the TV, be a top friend help and make space for everyone to sit.
Make a plan for what to do should conflict arise
You will irritate each other at some point. Agree that no-one will be wounded by constructive feedback. Honesty at the beginning of an issue saves anything escalating to the point of you all falling out.
Don’t accuse, instead explain how a particular issue makes you feel. It’s likely that it hasn’t even occurred to them you might be upset. Have a chat with them and air out any frustrations, then move on.
If you think your roommate might have been annoyed by you falling through the door at 3am, making loads of noise the night before their exam, apologise for it and make amends as soon as possible. Allow them to be cross, don’t expect immediate forgiveness and don’t be offended by a cool reaction. Own your mistake and they will soon come around and you’ll be back to normal.
Essentially, if the housemates can agree to split bills and ensure their utilities and student broadband is paid for every month then everything will probably work – but speak with the helpful team at Glide for information about the bill splitting service.