by Aggie Swituszak, Product Specialist
Living in a freshman year dorm is surprisingly different from a suite style dorm. The double and triple dorms have communal bathrooms, no shared space besides your bedroom, and you are only sharing the space with 1 to 2 other roommates. In a suite style dorm, you are in charge of cleaning your own bathroom and are sharing a living room area with anywhere from 3 to 7 other roommates. This change, though seemingly not that hard, requires you and your roommates to sit down and have conversations about the areas you share. This also goes for off-campus living, for you are now in charge of cleaning your own place and have to communicate and work with your roommates to make sure everyone is enjoying their living situation. Here are some tools and tips for living in a larger shared space!
Make a cleaning schedule: In creating a cleaning schedule, everyone is accountable for one chore a week so no one feels as though they clean everything and someone else does nothing all week. This makes sure that the jobs are fair and the load is equal, and if someone has only one cleaning task a week they may feel compelled to do it more often during the week!
Set rules early on about guests: Even outside of a pandemic, voice your opinion on who you are comfortable with coming into your home/apartment/suite. Communicate with your roommates if you want all guests to leave at a certain time so it is quiet and what the situation is with overnight guests is.
Find a common activity you all can do: Even if it is something as simple as watching a movie together at night, find something to do together at a time that works for all. This will be both a great de-stressor but also a great way to bond and get to know each other if the roommates are new!
Clean up after yourself: Be diligent to put away your toothbrush, bathroom products, and anything you bring into the shared spaces. Leaving one or two things out is understandable, but if each person were to leave everything out the whole space would be a mess!
Be willing to compromise: Your roommates are also your friends (hopefully). If they are struggling with work, help them by doing their cleaning chore or offering a movie night.