Housemate

January 24th, 2010

Come tomorrow, I’ll officially be a housemate.
I’m moving out for the first time to live with with an awesome bunch of dudes from Wellspring..

But although they are all awesome, I’m certain it won’t be without it’s challenges.

So, as my first post in the saga of Coolabah Rd, can you give me tips on being a good housemate?

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11 Comments »

Nice one Alan.

1. Make hot drinks for people.
2. Wash up.

Comment by Nick G — 24 01 @ 9:21 PM
3. Try your best to be tidy in the communal space.
4. Salutations.

Comment by Luke Isham — 24 01 @ 11:07 PM
Hey Nick – 1. It’ll be awesome coffee
2. Comes with a dishwasher! So hopefully we get keen to wash up as we go when it comes to cooking (that’s kinda my policy) and keep the dishes down.. But I’m also with Mikey and the therapeutic/reflective wash-up scenario, so, I reckon I’m keen to take up your suggestion. Cheers man.

Comment by readeral — 24 01 @ 11:32 PM
Hey Luke – 3. Tidy in general will be a big one I reckon – the bedrooms are fairly small, so we’ll all be using the communal space a fair bit unless we’re all keen on cabin fever. As a result, we’ll spread our lives throughout the house. I’ll keep a check on my use of space. Thanks for the tip
4. If I can take salutations to be “Be happy to greet one another respectfully” or just a general “acknowledge one another” then I don’t think we’ll be able to help ourselves! But in the busyness of life who knows what could happen. Is that what you meant?

Comment by readeral — 24 01 @ 11:37 PM
Pay rent on time
Be tolerant of others
Make a cleaning roster
Dont use all the hot water

Comment by Kath B — 25 01 @ 9:46 AM
Be considerate of other people, even their (hopefully occasional) messes. Overlooking offenses = awesome godliness. Don’t leave notes for your housemates unless they’re positive — deal with stuff in person. Address disagreements, don’t let them fester.

I think it’s also important to address each housemate’s expectations of the others. Do you expect the house to be immaculate all the time or can the cleaning slack a bit? Can I have some of your milk for my tea if I run out? Do you expect us to have a weekly house meeting or can we just figure things out as we go? Do you expect the other housemates to fulfill all your social/spiritual/accountability needs or are we just housemates and nothing more, or something in between?

That may be a lot more than you were looking for but I’ve had a few really frustrating house-sharing experiences and so I have maybe more than my share of advice!

Comment by Laura — 25 01 @ 11:44 AM
Hey Kath – thanks for the practical advice! Cleaning roster and hot water I reckon are the gems there – we’ve already had to discuss rent and tolerance! What do you reckon with job roster.. rotate on jobs, or having one regular job that you always do?

Comment by readeral — 25 01 @ 1:40 PM
Oh yeah, Laura – don’t leave notes!

I’m a big fan of the house meeting. Doesn’t need to be weekly, but I reckon there should be an occasional time for adjusting how things run.

Comment by Mikey Lynch — 26 01 @ 4:17 PM
Agree with meetings even it’s an informal agreement that someone wants to change something it’s discussed as a group. Somewhat disconcerting when someone informs you of what them and the other flatmate have decided.

Comment by Astrid — 27 01 @ 2:08 PM
Hey all – thanks heaps for the comments! Haven’t had a chance to get back to the net.. we discussed that at our last house meeting! Proving to be a pain because cellular internet options are a no for our house location..

Laura, those comments are heaps good – our housemates have different depths of relationships with one another.. two are pretty much best mates, one of us barely new another one outside of church contexts – so all that kind of stuff on social/spiritual/accountability needs is something we really will think about and work on.

Thanks for that last one Astrid, really appreciate that advice! I get disconcerted about stuff like that, but don’t think enough to act myself when I’m doing it..

Comment by readeral — 1 02 @ 12:29 PM
Hey I tried to post earlier but I’m not sure if that worked.

I reckon rotating jobs is easier, but it depends on the group. Rotating is good because if one person slacks off and doesn’t vacuum that week, the next person can do it, and it means people don’t get as complacent because they’re doing the same thing all the time and they think nobody notices. We had a crazy daily/weekly/fortnightly jobs roster that rotated monthly.

We also had a kitty where we put 5 bucks in each week and was used to pay for cleaning products/loo paper/milk etc. And if you don’t spend it all, it can go in to paying off your electricity bill.

Also keep in mind that just because you do stuff a certain way in your family, doesn’t mean that everyone else does it the same way. This can range from the order in which people do the washing up (cups first!) or how frequently they think it necessary to clean the toilet. Be reasonable, and ready to compromise, but also let them know if something just isn’t ok with you (better than having it fester inside).

Comment by Kath B — 1 02 @ 5:56 PM