10 things you should avoid doing while living in student housing

As you transition from the comforts of living at home to single-handedly facing the big world, you will make your fair share of blunders. 

Whether it’s deciding that downing one last shot really is a good idea (it’s not) or opting to throw your whites in with your colours (pink boxers anyone?), there are some things that almost everyone trips up on. Especially during your early days at university. 

Well, we’ve had a good rummage and cleaned out every skeleton in our rather full closet of rookie errors. All 10 of them. And now it’s time to share them with you, in the futile hope that you won’t make the same mistakes as many did, so here are the things to avoid doing while living in student housing. 

Avoid slacking on the chores 

As the days pass and most of you are either in work or university, you lose track of all the jobs that actually need to be done to live in a clean and safe environment. So, make sure if you make a mess you clean it up or if the house needs a big clean, organise a day where everyone is off and can commit to cleaning a section of the house so it is easy and quicker. 

Avoid interfering with other house mates schedules 
 

If your house mates have certain work or university schedules they certainly will have a planned sleeping pattern, so try not to rock up at 6am and wake everyone up if you’ve been on a  night out. Also, make sure you don’t leave your clothes in the washing machine as other and yourself may have work uniforms you need for the next day. There’s nothing worse than going out in damp clothes. 

Avoid having huge house parties 
 

Sometimes invites get around the student community and house parties can get out of hand. People will turn up who you don’t know and things WILL get broken. So be mindful that it will be you losing your deposit not your unwanted guests. 

Avoid arguing over what room you get 
 

If you can’t decide between yourselves who stays where for the year, then simply pick names out of a hat. 

Avoid taking too long in the bathroom 
 

From experience, it is a nightmare when you have to be up at 7am to get ready for work and another housemate is taking ages in the shower. Again make sure you keep in mind other housemates need to get ready in the morning too or shower the night before to avoid the chaos. 

Avoid stealing food 
 

If you have an empty cupboard or non-existent shelf in the fridge, politely ask your friends if you can use some of their food until you can get to the shops. Normally this is fine, but don’t just assume you can take what you want, no matter how close you are. This will cause unnecessary feuds. 

Avoid leaving windows and doors unlocked at any time of the day 
 

Students are seen as easy targets for thieves in the area. Without sounding scary, don’t assume your belongings are safe because you live with a lot of people and because everyone living in the area are students. So keep windows locked or on latches and make sure both front and back doors are locked all the time. 

Avoid keeping problems with your property from your landlord 
 

Doing so will probably result in your landlord thinking it was your fault or your responsibility that hasn’t been amended. Just be honest with your landlord or letting agent about problems, even if it is as little as a spot light. Also, keep note of all the problems too for when your tenancy ends. 

Avoid hogging the fridge 
 

Make sure you don’t fill the fridge will all your food so others don’t have space. Restrict yourself to one self and there shouldn’t be any problems. 

Avoid organising things in the house without consulting housemates first 
 

Try not to start rearranging the kitchen or living room without asking people. It might sound like a minor thing, but if others have already found a place for their belongings it can be a cause for an argument. Also, don’t try and create any sort of cleaning rota without asking everyone first as everyone has their own schedule to keep. 

But, make sure you DON’T avoid having an amazing year living with your friends and enjoying your university experience to its fullest! If student living is still not turning out to be as easy as you expected check out our tips to help keeping the peace with your housemates.