One of the best things about being at university is the opportunity to move away and have some independence and freedom in a shared house. While this is exciting as you can make great friends and make some amazing memories, there can sometimes be instances where there’s tension in shared housing with personal issues, academic pressures, and tight budgets.

Here are 6 tips to hopefully help you live happily and harmoniously in shared student housing:

• Take a breath – One key thing to bear in mind when sharing a house at university is that it will most likely be different from your previous living arrangements at home. It’s important that when things aren’t as you are used to, take a breath and step back. Try not to point the finger at specific people, leave notes or have heated conversations when you are annoyed at something or someone.

• Communication – This is another really important aspect of shared housing. Whether this is having a polite conversation with a housemate about something you’re unhappy with or letting the group chat know you’re out of washing up liquid, communication is key for keeping everyone up to date and group chats can be a helpful tool to facilitate this.

• Try to make it fair – No one likes it when someone doesn’t pull their weight, so try to make sure that things such as cleaning, or even buying loo roll is done as equally as possible because it’s unfair for one person to do or pay for everything. The same should go for other jobs such as changing the bin bags or sorting out the recycling. No one wants to do them but sharing the workload makes it a whole lot easier.

• Sharing is caring! – Sharing things amongst the house is a great way to build better relationships with your housemates, this can be things such as sharing a food shop to help save money, or maybe cooking meals together as a fun way to spend more time together.

• Respect your housemates and their space/schedules – University life can be very hectic, with studies, part-time jobs, and social lives. A key tip for harmonious living is respecting your housemates, as well as their space, and their schedules. If you know someone has a 9am, or an early morning shift, maybe try to keep the noise down late at night. You’d want to be treated the same if you were in the same position.

• Be sociable and spend time together – Spending time together with your housemates is really important for living in a happy shared house. The list of things to do is endless and can range from a simple movie or games night together, to going out to Wednesday union or MNQ! Figure out each other’s schedules and try to do something together with your housemates at least once a week.

Hopefully, these tips will help you in happy and harmonious living in your shared housing.

Thanks for reading!

Sam Hardy