If you are looking at renting a room in a house share, there are a few things you might want to consider before you take the plunge to share living space and rent out a room.
Sure, there are numerous advantages to sharing: you can save a lot of money, it’s not too much of a pain if you need to move out, and generally, the people are really nice who you share with so you make friends along the way.
However, house sharing isn’t for everyone, and it’s often the people who think they’re the best housemate anyone could ask who are the ones who cause the trouble and disturb the harmony of a household. Below are a couple of points you should think about before considering moving into a house share.
Are you very house proud?
You might think you are the perfect housemate. You clean up after yourself, regularly vacuum, clean the kitchen and the bathroom, and offer to cook for your other housemates.
But there is one thing you may be forgetting, and that is whether you can cope with other people’s mess and level of cleanliness. It is one thing to clean regularly, but if you are the type of person who believes in cleaning rotas and in asking people to clean their dishes when they start to pile up, you may find you’re not the house share friendly person you thought you were.
A large percentage of arguments between housemates start over cleaning rotas and house members not feeling as if others are pulling their weight.
Do you like your privacy?
If you like to keep to your own room or you aren’t much of a social butterfly, you may find living in a share house a bit of a challenge. Not all shared households are the same though if you find a room going in a house full of similar personalities and lifestyles you’ll have a better chance of success within your house. Take into consideration people’s levels of privacy too. It goes without saying that other people’s rooms are a no-go unless of course you’re invited in.
Do you have an unusual lifestyle?
Most shared houses work in harmony if everyone has the same lifestyle within a household. For example, if everyone works shift work, you are all much more likely to tolerate other people getting up at odd hours and can sympathize more with those who have to sleep during the day due to late shifts at work.
If you live with a bunch of people who all work 9-5 jobs and you work from home, you may find you pick up on cleaning and the tidiness of the house more than your other housemates.
The reason behind this is that you would be in your working and home environment more often and may find tolerating other people’s mess more difficult. If you wish to house share and you work from home, it may be worth looking into renting desk space.
Can you share?
Sharing is a large part of living in a house share, it’s even in the name. To avoid being in a situation where someone owns the lounge because it’s furnished with their belongings, it’s best to move into a house where the landlord has provided the furniture.
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