Sharing a house can have so numerous advantages, both financial, and personal. First of all, its a way of sharing the cost of rent, bills, & food. Secondly, it is a fantastic way to meet new people in a new place and experience new and different cultures, whilst further gaining your independence. When living with people in a houseshare, there may be many great moments and hitting the city lights every weekend with your housemates may be the highlight of your week. Unfortunately, many houseshares are unnecessarily ruined by disputes over doing chores around the house, or NOT doing chores around the house! It is essential that all housemates agree an acceptable level of cleanliness, which may of course end up relaxed at weekends, when there are the inevitable distractions to cleanliness, such as friends staying over, hangovers, pizza boxes, sprawls of weekend newspapers and the like. These mundane details regarding cleanliness however are often overlooked when interviewing new housemates, especially when they are friends. It is often take for granted that all the chores such as cleaning the bathroom, washing up, buying teabags and hoovering will "just get done". What often happens is that each housemate does not pull their weight and one will end up doing chores on behalf of the others. Despite the great friendships and nights out involved, this lack of equity in the housework results in a scenario of frustration & confusion. This scenario is a time bomb and can leave good friends angry, bitter and feeling used and/or abused. So here is iHouseShare.com's 5 tips for keeping the houseshare tidy! - Set up house rules to distribute the major chores evenly. Don't make a rota for defrosting the freezer - just the major things like washing up, dusting, hoovering, and cleaning the bathroom, and mopping the kitchen floor and cleaning the stove. Set regular intervals for doing each task, and acceptable standards for completion. To some, just wiping a cloth over a tap can be deemed by some as cleaning the bathroom! - Don't make people stick to the rota regimentally - have some give and take. Swap chores with others or delay them a day or so if you are busy doing unavoidable things. The important thing is that the chores get done in equal measures. - If a rota doesn’t work then a good idea is to make a A4 spreadsheet for each of the major chores and make a grid next to each housesmate's name. The principle is that whenever a chore is done then each person scratches a mark next to their name. Therefore, each housemate has a visual representation of who is lagging behind, and the result is that they will up their game. This could be for something as trivial as buying pints of milk, or the washing up. - Have a BLITZING day...The idea behind this is that for a couple of hours every Sunday, possibly after the hangovers have worn off, the house gets cleaned from top to bottom. The beer & wine bottles get cleared up, the ashtrays get emptied, and the CD’s get put away back in the right boxes, as well as the usual things. You will see how fun and effective this can be if you get some good music on the stereo and everyone is working hard towards the same result. - Regularly review and discuss each method of keeping the house tidy, and keep everything open to suggestions. If you are considerate of the needs of others and set firm boundaries you should all just have the good times to focus on.
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Sharing a house can have so numerous advantages, both financial, and personal. First of all, its a way of sharing the cost of rent, bills, & food. Secondly, it is a fantastic way to meet new people in a new place and experience new and different cultures, whilst further gaining your independence.
David Jones is author of this article on Houseshares. Find more information about Flatshareshere.
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