STEP 1: What to consider when moving in with a roommate?
1. Find a medium to contact potential roommates
Contact your established networks like family and friends via emails, phone or social media. You can also post on social media pages like Facebook and Twitter that you are looking for a new roommate. At the end of the day, you can’t predict, but might land up sharing a room with one of your school or college friends via your networks.
2. Advertise your prerequisite
Put an ad about your requisites and get it neighborhood message boards, Facebook groups, and Kijiji. Add brief description about yourself including where you want to stay, how much you are willing to pay for rent, your living style, any pertinent details about you, and even about pet if you have any.
3. Take time to talk
Focus on taking out time to check with the messages and emails for the best assessment of the candidates. Make a checklist of prospective candidates, take out quality time to interact with them in chats or over the phone to reach out to a potential roommate.
4. Plan out to meet prospective roommates
Pick the prospective roommates along with the right arena to meet. Have a comfortable seat while talk and share every detailed information visibly. Learn about each other’s lifestyle and introduce yourself elaborately. Choose a coffee shop or park; Get to know each other both personal and professional.
5. Establish fair communication
Emphasis on speaking about your habits, living style, what you like and not. For example; if you don’t like clothes to be put here and there around the house, tell them to avoid leaving any clothes occasionally on the ground.
6. Make a Roommate agreement
Creating a right roommate agreement is very much important. This acts as a witness of their agreed commitments that they would do as the roommates. Make sure you add every detailed point and get it signed by the other party as well.
7. Start searching for a new place together
Hurray! Now, you have everything going smoothly, it will be fun while looking for a place together. Visit few places until both get satisfied and then just move in! If the person is not willing to move into your place in the end, then always keep an alternative option from the shortlist.
STEP 2: Questions you should ask your new roommate before moving in
8. Thermostat temperature setting
Managing heating and cooling system of your room make you stay relaxed. If your roommate is fine at 70 degrees and you prefer 75 degrees, then you can compromise happily. However, you need to worry only when your roommate prefers at below 70 degrees and you should be prepared for some compromise.
9. Handling rents and bills wisely
Decide who will owe the responsibility and establish a dedicated timeline to make the payment. Also talk if in case of any emergency your roommate could not make the bill or rent payment, and what would be your alternative plan.
10. How often do you entertain inviting friends?
What if your roommate often invites friends to home? Are you ok with the late-night parties even during the weekends? Talk and plan on how to compromise each other and adjust accordingly. I would say let’s set an expected timeline for partying like 1 hour or a half-day.
11. How to distribute the chores?
Splitting any chores to be done is important. Divide the tasks like garbage cleaning, kitchen cleaning and others among each other on a daily or weekly basis. Adopt different zones at different times and have fun out of your chores. Make a chore list to make it easier.
Daily:
- Clean Spills
- Wash Bathrooms
- Clean Utensils
- Doing Laundry
- Make Beds
Weekly
- Vacuuming
- Cleaning Kitchen and Toilets
- Emptying Trash Cans
- Changing bedding/sheets
- Watering plants/garden, if any
- Cleaning pet area, if any
Monthly
- Dust Ceiling, lights, fans and Blinds
- Clean Refrigerator
- Dusting and cleaning cabinets
- Cleaning Vacuum and AC Filters
12. What’s your threshold of cleanliness?
Each individual has different thresholds of cleanliness. Some are fine if the toilets are cleaned once in a month, while some want it to be cleaned every week. Some prefer cleaning kitchen every day. A slight varies in the threshold can be negotiable and often can be discussed once you pick up the chores. If that can help, we created this moving cleaning checklist.
13. Handling a conflict?
This might sound a little annoying, but it is completely fine to talk freely with your roommate. Knowing how they handle conflict help you to know what kind of person he or she is. You can easily manage your roommate in case of any issue by setting things aside that might irritate him/her.
14. How will we decorate the place?
Moving a new home is always exciting. If your roommate brings a new furniture, do you want it to be discussed with you? If you have any plans to buy any decors for living areas, would you like to share? Different tastes bring a new look and feel to your home.
15. What’s your daily schedule and weekend plan?
As you both share same roof, you can also hangout together on weekends.
- What he does on the weekends?
- Does your roommate sleep for long hours or wake up early in the morning for a walk?
- Does your roommate go to gym?
A little privacy is fine and so, we suggest do not wind up too much into each other’s tastes.
16. Do you have any pets?
Some people are allergic to pets. If your roommate has a pet and you are not comfortable in taking care of the pet, then sort out how to keep things in peace.
17. What is your bedtime?
If your schedules differ too much, then it can create an issue. For example, keeping loud alarms can disturb sleep. Some prefer darkness while some prefer watching TV the whole night. Pick a house with two bedrooms so that no one’s sleep would be disturbed.
