5 Things You And Your Housemates WILL Argue About

Sharing a house with your friends or coursemates is one of the greatest experiences you can enjoy at uni. Late night chats, 3AM toastie-making and wild house parties are some of the highlights of living under one roof with your best mates.

It can also be the cause of ultimate friendshipicide.

Here are all the petty things that you and your housemates will argue about when living together.

1. Washing Up

Meet ‘the stacker’. They pile their pots and pans sky-scraper high. If questioned about it, they’ll always respond: “I’ll do it later.”

A variant breed is the ‘sink-stacker’. This thoughtful individual who chucks all their stuff straight into the sink, blocking it completely so no-one can actually do any washing up. Their mess will lie in filthy, stagnant water and you’ll probably find a few of your own utensils hiding beneath.

On the other end of the spectrum, you have the plate-perfect people sending around pass-agg Whatsapps. Wherever you fall on the spectrum, it’s a never-ending war.

2. The heating

There will always be someone who is adamant that their room is freezing cold. They’ll complain endlessly about the artic temperatures they’re experiencing, demanding that the heating is on 24/7. Then there’s that one housemate who is adamant that the heating doesn’t need to go on and refuses to back down, insisting they wear a jumper.

You’ve got a difficult choice: blow your money on making your home nice and toasty, or be a tight-arse because heating is expensive and be forever wearing your dressing gown.

Our advice? Just buy an electric blanket. It’s much cheaper, and the best excuse to lie in bed all day.

3. Showers

This is one of those things that’s pretty awkward to mention to your housemates – especially if you haven’t lived with them before.

The first battle is over who gets in first before their 9ams. Then comes the biggie: who takes the longest. Cue moans over lack of hot water – and don’t get me started on the amount of hair in the drain or the state under the toilet seat.

4. Fridge space

Fridge space is the most recognisable way to know the position of every person in the hierarchy of housemates.

An open packet of raw chicken on the same shelf as your veggies. Random berries will lie dotted around, weird colour liquid is dipping off the shelves, and that smell. Something is definitely rotting at the back.

Spare us.

5. Bins

This is one you might have experienced from living in halls. One day your bins are nicely organised and tidy. The next day, they’ve exploded. Potato peel lies on the floor, tea bag stains line the walls and bottles are carefully placed.

No matter how organised you are (because there’s always one housemate who’ll create a bin rota) some days every single housemate will be lazy and skip their duties. This leaves you with a game of Stinky Jenga, where it just takes one person to topple the overflowing mess and they’ve lost.

Good luck my friend.

Rebecca Miller is a freelance multimedia journalist and graduate from Bournemouth University. You can check out her online portfolio here and find her on LinkedIn. 

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