Sometimes, you choose the sharehouse life. Sometimes, the sharehouse life chooses you. Whichever your situation, sharehouse living can be a time of late-night talks, living-room dance parties, instant coffee-fuelled cram sessions and forgetting where your housemates stop and you begin.
It can also be a time of petty arguments over the washing up, whose turn it is to grocery shop, who left the milk out and whether it was you who forgot to put the bins out, again.
To ensure your sharehouse experience falls into the first category and forever holds a deeply nostalgic place in your memory, we’ve compiled all of the worst mistakes we made while living with housemates so YOU can avoid them, and focus on the dance parties.
Using regular cars on moving day
You may think you’ll be able to cart all of your belongings to your new place in just a couple of trips with the space in the back of your car, but alas, you will be wrong. You might want to try it anyway, because who can be bothered to organise alternate transportation, right? Right?! WRONG.
This is the simplest issue to fix, so please learn from our mistake. There are always more boxes than you think there are. There are always more trips than you think there will be. You’re exhausted quickly, and stuff is heavy. Definitely, absolutely, book an Uber Carshare and choose from a huge range of vehicles (including vans and utes: need we say more?) You can rent them by the hour(s) or the day(s), and you can book in advance, or on the spot. This will save both your sanity and your body, and it’s so easy to do. Thank us (and Uber Carshare) later.
Not establishing a communal fund for essentials
You might think the whole ‘take it in turns’ approach will be just fine for purchasing essential household items: milk, bread, detergent, toilet paper etc. But, if we’ve learned anything, this approach inevitably leads to one person who ends up spending far more than everyone else.
Maybe it’s simply a scheduling thing, like perhaps they work from home and have more time to duck to the shops as needed. But, one person spending more than every other household member only leads to arguments and resentment. Trust us, and establish a shared account for shared goods.
Skimping on Wi-Fi
In a sharehouse of young adults, do not skimp on your internet allowance. It might be tempting to take a cheaper plan and save everyone some cash, but there’s no bigger headache than the level of buffering that occurs when multiple adults in the same house are attempting to binge their favourite show. Agree from the outset that internet connection is an essential and the cost will be shared, lightening the load on everyone’s wallet. A well-connected sharehouse is a happy sharehouse, because no one gets between me and reality TV.
Not establishing a cleaning roster
Hoooo boy, this one can cause total anarchy. Naturally, some housemates will be tidier than others, and this can result in big blow-ups if not addressed early.
From the get-go, agree on a list of essential chores that need to be done daily, weekly and monthly. Write them down clearly where everyone can see it, and assign a rotating roster of names so that everyone is contributing equally to keeping the house clean and tidy. This way, everyone is clear on what needs to be done and it’s also very clear if someone isn’t pulling their weight, allowing accountability conversations to happen early. Blow-ups avoided, house clean, housemates on good terms. No-brainer.
Not agreeing on the level of temperature control
This goes for most houses, actually, but especially sharehouses with cost-conscious inhabitants. If you have a housemate who constantly reaches for the air-con instead of opening a window or grabbing an extra blanket, you can bet there will be disagreements over your electricity bill. Get everyone on the same page with how freely you reach for that air-con remote, and you’ll stamp out potential issues long before they can develop.
Not setting clear boundaries about personal storage and space
With multiple adults all needing to store their personal items in one house, space can become a hot commodity. Establish early who gets what closet, shelf or cupboard, and respect that agreement if you want to avoid petty back-and-forth about someone else’s moisturiser appearing in your space. No one wants to be that guy.
Not clearly labelling personal food items
You really want to avoid clashes between housemates who are big believers in ‘what’s mine is yours’ and those who, like Joey Tribbiani, do not like to share food.
If you have any food items that are not for communal consumption, avoid endless frustration by leaving a post-it note on them, or writing your name, or similar. Alternatively, consider implementing a system wherein one shelf in the fridge is for communal use, but all other space is personal storage. Whatever works for you is great, but definitely agree on a system before your housemate eats your leftovers and your hangry brain considers putting their head through a wall.
Just kidding. But not really.
So, there you have it. Our hottest tips for peaceful sharehouse living. Enjoy the chaos, be good to your friends and always, always, book the Uber Carshare for moving day.
Read more stories from The Latch and subscribe to our email newsletter.