Adulting: How To Live With Your Friends (and Like It)

One of the best things about living in the Green House is that everyone tries to out-serve each other. (I realize how incredibly blessed I am to be able to say such a thing about my roommates.) Here I have shared a few things we have done to make living with such a large number of people manageable. After all, there are no RAs in post-grad life.

Systems keep the peace.

            In living situations, frustrations often arise because of unmet or differing expectations. If unaddressed, these frustrations often evolve into bitterness, which makes for an unpleasant and tense living environment. Creating systems in your home allows you to avoid some of these scenarios.

For example, with 6 roommates, we run the dishwasher frequently. To make an effort towards fairness, I created a system of dishwasher rotation. Using scrapbook paper, I cut out the first initial of each of our names. I put adhesive magnets on the back of each letter and placed the letters, with the exception of one, on the fridge in a vertical line. The last letter, I placed on the dishwasher. The system works like this: The person whose initial is on the dishwasher is responsible for starting it when it is full, and emptying it when the cycle is finished. When the dishwasher is empty, they remove their initial, put it at the bottom of the rotation list, and put the initial at the top of the list on the dishwasher. BOOM.

Communication is key.

            Have monthly meetings for paying bills (see below). It will lower the tension of asking for money from each other by concentrating it to a scheduled time. It also presents an opportunity to bring up frustrations or reminders that you wouldn’t want to bring up during, say, a Tonight Show commercial break. Make it fun by having wine and chocolate or another fun treat – after all, how often are you all sitting down in one place?

Keep a calendar posted in a central location where roommates can post gatherings they are hosting at the house/apartment so that roommates aren’t caught off guard.            

We have our house meetings in our dining room.

Venmo is a life-saver.

            Each of our roommates is responsible for paying one bill, which would normally require a lot of check-writing, but the app “Venmo” makes bill-paying a breeze. It allows you to digitally transfer money to your roommates as easily as you would transfer money from one bank account to another. You can even use emojis to describe what you paid for! Anything to make it less painful, right?

Be intentional about your friendships.

            It is quite possible to begin living life around your friends and not alongside your friends (roommates). Don’t forget to go for ice cream dates, stay in for movie nights, or go get manicures together. And certainly don’t forget to ask how they’re really doing.

All 6 of us realize what a time to cherish this is while we’re in the midst of it and for that I am thankful…

So here’s to you, Green House. We can hardly believe we deserve you.