With the new school year just around the corner, many non-commuter students are preparing to live away from their homes and with people they barely know, which is exactly when things can get a little messy, literally. Despite the countless roommate horror stories across campus and the Internet, there are things that can be done to make most roommate situations a little more livable.

“Given my own experience as a roommate and a [resident advisor], I’ve seen my fair share of the good and bad that can come from a living situation,” said Jennifer Zaragoza, a former California State University, East Bay RA. “You are living with people that live a different way than you do so there are so many disagreements and conflicts that come up along the way.”

It’s never easy to live with someone you did not grow up with or don’t know. Difficult situations may arise when roommates do not have a mutual understanding of how they should live and how each individual functions according to their personalities.

For instance, failure to clean and maintain your dorm or house can cause many arguments amongst the household and end in blaming others for an issue that requires a collective effort. A lack of courteousness and respect for everyone’s time and belongings may even end in a bigger dispute. Rules should be established in order to make sure that everyone can be on the same page when living together.

Upon your move in, try to get to know your new roommates so you feel more comfortable discussing ground rules. One nice feature of living in the dorms is the chance to meet your roommates and set up a group on Facebook to begin your initial conversations.

“Roommates have a chance to meet via Facebook before moving in, that way they’ll get a gist of who they’re going to live with,” said Zaragoza. “I think it helps out but some students don’t really utilize the Facebook thing to its highest potential.”

Try and have a little fun in breaking the ice when meeting in person so listing out rules and personal boundaries won’t turn out to be such a tedious and tension-building task.
If you are having trouble thinking of rules right away, here are some golden rules to start out with.

1. Communication is key. Be sure that all roommates are comfortable in addressing household issues and create a safe place for discussion. Don’t wait until the last minute to bring up problems that may be bothering you. Having a house meeting will help everyone create a mutual agreement regarding the rules.

2. Try to agree on a day to clean your whole suite/apartment/ house or use a rotating chore schedule so that everyone will have a new chore to complete every week or so on their own time. It is a lot harder to do a mass clean up at the end of the quarter than to just upkeep a cleaning schedule every week. Also be sure to clean up after your own messes. If there is one thing that drives roommates absolutely crazy; it’s a dirty person that everyone has to clean up after. Please remember to take those five extra minutes to wash your dishes or throw away your trash, it’ll be much appreciated.
“Cleaning issues caused so many arguments between the housemates,” says Song Dao, a CSUEB student. “Before, I used to get so frustrated with other people who didn’t take the time to clean, especially when they didn’t do their dishes!”

3. If you are in a rent paying situation, make sure to pay rent on time. It puts you and your roommates at risk for eviction or financial issues if you are late even by a day or two. Your financial records and reputation as a dependable tenant rely on it.

4. Be mindful of  your roommates’ personal belongings, food and space. No one appreciates anyone touching their stuff without permission or someone snooping around their rooms. If you need to borrow something or get something from their room or area for whatever reason, it is common courtesy to ask first. Just remember to respect the fact that the owner does reserve the right to say no.

5. Don’t forget to have some fun! This is college after all so take the time to meet new people and make new friendships. Many college best friends started out as roommates once upon a time. Try and have the occasional roommate hangout or even try participating in a campus activity together. This rule has the potential to make your first year away from home a great one with many fun memories.
“One of my past roommates from college became one of my closest friends,” said Francis Rivera, a CSUEB alumnus. “Our personalities really complimented each other and we even pledged in the same Greek organization together; so he pretty much became a brother to me and even though school is over for us, we still hang out from time to time.”

It is important to remember that these rules are very easy to set at first, but they are quite difficult to keep up with. In the end, when maintenance falls off the priority list, everyone needs to remember to work together and  make living together a positive experience. There is no reason to stop and point the finger at each other.

Moving away from home for the first time can definitely give you an interesting college experience. Whether it is a positive one or a negative one depends on how you handle the situations you will be faced with as a roommate. So if you’re mindful of the people you are living with, respectful of the house rules and have fun, then you might actually survive your first year as a roommate and have an awesome one at that.