How to Get Along With a Female Roommate

Living alone isn't always cost-effective. Living with a roommate, however, can drain your sanity. Here's how to make it easier.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

1. Communicate openly with your roommate. Agree to talk about issues before they get out of control.

2. Accept that sometimes people will be in a bad mood. If she says she doesn't want to go do something with you, don't take it personally.

3. Decide early how the rent and utilities will be split, and what to do if one person can't make the month's payments.

4. Establish rules about food, company, chores, noise, tobacco and alcohol use, and parking. Make sure each person's expectations and responsibilities are clear.

5. Respect your roommate's right to privacy and her possessions. Always ask before you borrow anything, no matter how small.

6. Knock before entering her room.

7. Don't tie up the only phone line ' consider getting separate lines for each of you.

8. Take messages from callers. Get the name and phone number and write it down where your roommate will see it.

9. Begin your statements with "I," as in "I get really annoyed when you leave your dishes in the sink" instead of "You're such a pig!" Focus on her behavior, not her personally.

10. Recognize that some people are neater, louder, more private, or more possessive than others. Don't expect your roommate to mirror your own personality.

11. Treat her the way you expect to be treated.

12. Don't lie. If you screw up, admit it immediately.

Tips & Warnings

• Show your appreciation for your roommate's courtesy once in a while.
• Don't walk around the house in your underwear.

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[sivalik]

on 1/11/2009 Nice tips!

I own a India Flatmate classified:
http://www.IndiaFlatmate.com/

Will link to this article.
Thank you!

on 3/17/2006 If you are planning on having a pet live with you, make sure your roommate is OK with that first. There's nothing worse than a cat-hair allergy that someone forgot to mention springing into action, or a parrot screeching at six AM.

on 11/22/2005 A lot of fights will revolve around resentment that one person is doing more in the way of cleaning than the other. It's just easier to avoid all these fights by doing more than your share and being super anal retentive in common/shared areas of the apartment and/or dorm room. Never leave dirty dishes by the sink even if the other roommate does. Never leave your personal stuff in common areas.

on 11/22/2005 Give yourself a month grace period to get to know each other's habits and then have a discussion about problems or rules that need to be made. In the beginning, it is hard to know what will annoy you months down the road.

on 11/22/2005 Don't nag you roomate, or tell her that she isn't doing something right. Let her find out on her own, and encourage all of her philosophies on life.