Some people love it, while others would probably prefer living on their own, but during uni most will experience it: living together with housemates. Regardless of whether you are living with just a few friends in a shared flat, or share an entire house with 15 people, living together is mostly fun but sometimes a little bit challenging as well. Based on my own experiences, I have collected 4 useful tips in this blog that you should consider following when living with roommates. 

1) Make a Cleaning Schedule 

The number one fundamental rule of living together is making a cleaning schedule. Trust me, as uncool as it sounds it will save you a lot of time and fights. The easiest way to go on about it is to make an excel sheet and divide up the common areas that need cleaning. I would recommend you to also add in what exactly needs to be cleaned and how often it needs to be done, just to be on the safe side and avoid arguments. In general, it helps to keep rotating between tasks so that no one gets fed up with them in the long run. Finally, don’t ever trust a person who is against doing a schedule - from my own experience, that is exactly the one who won’t clean without it. 

2) Create a Common Bank Account

If you have an account with a Dutch bank, it is relatively easy to open up a shared account for free. Having a common account where everyone pays into every month and where all additional costs (e.g. utilities, taxes etc.) gets debited from makes handling money issues so much easier. First and foremost you don’t have to designate a poor guy or girl who has to vouch with his account for everyone else and wait until they get paid back. Second, it is super easy to see what has been spent and where which makes things a lot more transparent and easy to handle. Third, you’ll get a debit card which you can use for making common purchases in the supermarket. Do I need more reasons to convince you? 

3) Organise Events Together 

Oftentimes when living together you will find yourself in situations where everyone is just caught up in their daily routines. However, when you live in the same house you should have at least some moments where you get together and talk about what's going on in your lives. Besides being able to resolve conflicts before they arise or get out of hand, it is also a great way to have some social interaction after a long day of working/studying without having to leave the comfort of your home. Depending on your preferences and schedules you can organise a weekly dinner, go out for an excursion or throw a little party every once in a while (of course, once it is safe again to do so). I can tell you that the places where I had a lot of social interaction with my other housemates were also the places I liked living in the most. 

4) Be Tolerant Towards Each Other & Talk

No doubt, living together can be tough. Sometimes people don’t keep up with the cleaning or are noisy. Obviously, you don’t have to accept the habits of someone who constantly annoys you with their bad behaviour even after you have had a talk with them. However, in general living together with multiple different people with different personalities and ways of life also means being tolerant towards each other. If your housemate occasionally has a few friends over too late, just put in some earplugs and send him a friendly text asking to calm it down. Usually, such a reaction will benefit yourself once you do something wrong in another person's eyes. Also, make sure to talk openly about things that bother you. Do not be passive-aggressive or sweep issues under the rug, because that will usually make things a lot worse. As I already mentioned communication is key. 

Do you have any tips you want to share? Let us know in the comments below!