5 Tips on Adult Home Sharing

Adult home-sharing is a rising trend in the world of real estate. Whether you’re renting out a room or dividing your own rent, having a roommate can save you a lot of money and can be great if you are social person, and crave companionship.

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That being said, if you’re not used to having roommates, there can sometimes be a bit of a learning curve and adjustment once you move. You’ll find that living with other adults is nothing like living alone; especially if you’ve been living alone for some time.

With that in mind, here are a few tips that you should consider if you’re thinking about sharing a home with adult roommates.

1. Establish Some Ground Rules

If you’re sharing your home with adult roommates, you’re probably going to be sharing most of your appliances as well. This might include the refrigerator, washing machine, dryer, etc. Consequently, you’ll all be keeping your food, detergent, and dryer sheets in the same places.

It’s important to establish ground rules for living together, especially when it comes to these things. If you don’t want people to touch your food, make this known early on. If you think you’re all comfortable enough with each other to share food, ask them first.

If you don’t establish clear ground rules in the beginning, it can lead to resentment when your roommate isn’t acting in a way that you think they should.

2. Designate Someone to Handle the Bills

In most cases, adult roommates sharing a home prefer to evenly split the expenses that come with bills. Assigning the water bill to one person and the power bill to another is a rookie mistake. Usually, the two just don’t match up, and one person will end up paying more.

It’s best to split those bills right down the middle. However, when it comes to actually making those payments, it usually makes more sense to designate that responsibility to one person.

If you or your roommates don’t want to be solely responsible for the bills, you can alternate on a monthly basis. However, when it comes time to pay the bills, it’s usually most efficient to have one person do so.

If it makes you feel better to see something visual so you don’t have to constantly bug your roommate(s), you can leave a list in a common place (like on the fridge) to check off when the bills have been paid for the month.

3. Consider Using a Chore Schedule

Every adult home-sharing living situation is different, and the chore schedule isn’t always necessary. If you’re a neat freak that lives with other neat freaks, cleanliness probably won’t be an issue. However, if the floor is dirty and the dishes are piled up, you might all benefit from some additional structure in your lives.

If things aren’t getting done, the best way to go about keeping the house tidy is a chore schedule. Make a schedule that fairly divides and alternates the chore responsibilities. Talk to your roommates and do your best to work with their individual preferences and schedules.

4. Make Time to Bond!

Everything about your adult home-sharing situation can go more smoothly if you and your roommates become legitimate friends that live together. If you want to form a meaningful relationship with your adult roommates, it’s important to find common interests.

Furthermore, you should remember to set aside some bonding time. Whether it’s a quick game, a shared meal, or a simple conversation, setting aside a little time to bond can go a long way.

5. Don’t Leave Notes…

If you’re annoyed by one of your roommates’ habits, you shouldn’t always ignore it. However, if the issue is really worth addressing, there’s a correct way to do so.

Don’t be the roommate that leaves notes. Not only is that a bad look, but it’s just a bad way to communicate, and messages can easily be misinterpreted.

If you leave negative feedback in the form of a note or a text, quite often, the recipient will interpret that information in the worst way possible.

When it comes to the written word, it can be incredibly difficult to convey tone. So when your roommate reads that note, they may interpret your tone as more hostile than you intended.

Generally speaking, notes are a rather inefficient way to communicate. Instead, simply have a conversation with them. This way, you can ensure that your tone is interpreted correctly, and you can avoid any unnecessary misunderstandings.

Tips on Living with Roommates

All of these tips can be summed up with a couple of rules. It can be difficult to remember all five of these tips all of the time, but it’s a lot easier to keep these two rules in mind:

First, be considerate. Imagine yourself in the shoes of your roommate. If you were living as that person, would you enjoy living with yourself?
The second rule is the other side of that coin. Simply put, don’t be a pushover. If you’re being considerate of your roommates, it’s fine to expect that they be considerate of you.

This is extremely important, as you are all adults sharing a home. An inconsiderate roommate is an affliction that, if not handled properly, never goes away and could get worse. If there’s a problem, don’t be too hostile or aggressive. Just have a rational and calm conversation and express your concerns from an “I feel” perspective rather than a “you made me feel” perspective.

If you can remember these two rules, most of your shared home experience is already taken care of. Keep this information in mind, and you’ll be well on your way to having a harmonious living situation with your new roommates. You made a great choice to share a home with them!

Guest Author Brandon Morris

I’ve lived in the DFW area my entire life. I currently live in Denton County with my wife of 12 years, and 2 children. I love to travel, go to my kid’s sporting events, and festivals with the family. I own a moving company in Dallas called North Dallas Moving and Storage.

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