Halls Etiquette – How To Be A Good Flatmate

This is all about how to be a good flatmate. A lot of worries I see are from people who aren’t used to communal living – they’ve only ever lived with their families, like me before I went to uni – and they’re worried that they’ll have issues adjusting. Here are a few handy tips on how to have a harmonious household in halls!

 

1. Do your fair share of chores. 

This depends on your halls of residence and their policies, but it’s invariable that everyone will have to do some chores. If you’re in catered, obviously cleaning the kitchen regularly won’t be involved, but everyone needs to do their bit. I’m in self-catered so this section is quite specific to self-catered, but make sure you wash up your dishes – don’t try and make a cleaning rota, because it won’t work in the long run. If everyone cleans up their own stuff as soon as possible after you’ve used it, it’ll work out a lot better. Taking bins and recycling out, mopping and sweeping the floors, cleaning the ovens and microwave etc is all important too – it’s all our responsibility in the halls we’re in, so if you do your bit it’ll go towards keeping everything nice and peaceful.

 

2. Get involved. 

This doesn’t necessarily mean go out drinking all the time if you’re a teetotaler in a flat full of heavy drinkers, or join the gym if you’re seriously unfit in a flat full of bodybuilders – just be involved in the flat. Don’t hide away all the time or ignore the people in your kitchen and lounge when they try and talk to you – if you do it right your flatmates can be like your family, so it’s important to take an active role in the flat and just be yourself! Be friendly and approachable and you’ll have a great time.

 

3. Respect the rules. 

In my flat, if something is wrong in the lounge or kitchen, it’s a £25 fine for every member of the flat – regardless of whose fault the issue is, or even if you weren’t even there when the issue occurred. Sometimes the fines can be even heavier, which means if you’re responsible for them, you’re not going to be hugely popular with the other members of the flat. Respect the rules and take care with what you do.

 

4. Respect your flatmates. 

A bit of mutual pranking is fine – it’s uni, you’re there to have fun as well as learn, everyone’s bound to get pranked at some point. I’ve had plastic spiders put in all my kitchen drawers and cupboards, and I’ve gotten off very lightly compared to most – people have had their bedrooms tinfoiled or filled with plastic cups or balloons, or they’ve had all their stuff hidden. It’s all fun and games, as long as all parties are in on the joke. If you’ve stolen someone’s key and they ask you to give it back, give it back. Don’t take things too far – you could get your flatmate in trouble and even cost them a fair bit of money if you do any serious damage, as well as ruining a friendship.

 

5. Don’t be so noisy!

It’s all well and good to have a laugh and have fun, and yes – you’re bound to go out drinking and come home screaming “Let Me Love You” out the window at almost one in the morning (yes, I am speaking from personal experience, I can’t hear that song without cringing!). However, try and retain some respect for everyone else in your halls. People have early starts, you’ll need your sleep at some point too – and it’s sod’s law that when you need sleep, everyone else will go out and keep you awake. Your halls will probably have noise rules – ours is no loud noises between 11pm-8am – and respecting them is always wise, otherwise you could have another hefty fine going your way!

 

6. Share, don’t steal. 

Stealing food is a MAJOR no-no in halls. It creates some seriously bad relationships with your flatmates, who’ll hate you for it – money is a struggle for everyone at uni, and what may seem like “just a carton of milk” or “just a packet of bacon” to you, is someone’s breakfast for the whole week gone because money’s tight. If you need something, ask to borrow it – and replace it afterwards. Same goes for cutlery – don’t just use it; ask if you can borrow it and wash it up straight after using it!

 

These are the most important tips I can remember – if anyone has any others, feel free to comment!

The Negatives Of Living In Halls

I’m at university, living in halls on-campus, and so far it’s been pretty good – my flatmates are great, I get on with all of them, the prices aren’t too bad – I’m paying £102 a week for an en-suite room which is quite big, in accommodation that only opened in 2009, and we have leather sofas and a flatscreen TV in the lounge/kitchen, so it’s not a bad price either. However, there are some downsides – some of them funny, some of them not-so-much. 

 

– Today, there is a sign in the window of the launderette saying that it is “closed until further notice” because there are no lights in there. Call me crazy, but I don’t remember needing lights to wash clothes – not in a room with big windows, in the daytime. 

– It gets bloody noisy. We’ve had an email today informing us that the noise levels have reached unacceptable levels (bolded AND underlined!) and that those responsible will be punished if it isn’t sorted out. Alright, it’s uni, people are going to party and make noise – but at 4 in the morning? Sometimes even I consider complaining (I haven’t… yet!). 

– In comparison to some places, it can be fairly expensive – me and my fiance are sharing a room next year in a private house, which we’re moving into along with two friends from my course, and for both of us to share a double room with en-suite toilet, all bills included, internet, all kitchen equipment etc – £130. That’s just £65 each a week. Compare it to the single room I’m renting now for £102, and it does seem like a lot. 

– Food going missing. Personally, this hasn’t been a major issue for me, with the exception of one garlic baguette that disappeared on the evening I was really looking forwards to having some garlic bread, which was a bit irritating. All my flatmates are lovely people so we haven’t had issues, but in other flats I’ve heard of ice cream, milk, bread etc – and even kitchen utensils! – going missing. 

– Cleanliness. There must be something about university rooms that make them really difficult to keep clean; it took me ages to get mine tidy and I’m praying it’ll stay this way, but I’m not holding my breath. I really like having a tidy room, it just seems really difficult to get it to stay tidy. I’m not sure why – it’s a big room and I have plenty of storage space. 

– The other cleanliness issue – chores. Whilst some flats have actually gone so far as to create rotas – more about those in a minute -, we’ve done the opposite and just kind of said “we’ll tidy when it needs tidying”. Which is all well and good in theory, you know, but when the bin is overflowing and the recycling needs to go out and no-one’s doing it, it gets a little mad. I think we’ve sorted the washing up issue out. I think. 

– The people you live with. I’ve been quite lucky in that I live with nice, normal people – all around the same age, all quite genuine people – different courses, different interests, but no-one seems to really hate each other. However, there have been other flats where people really do hate each other and can’t stand to live with each other, so people have been moving out left, right and center. 

– Having an organisation freak. Again, I’ve been lucky enough to avoid this, but as well as a cleaning rota, some people have set up COOKING rotas. As in, there are specified nights where one person cooks for the whole flat. Now that is something I couldn’t abide with – what happens if you don’t like what’s being cooked, or you just fancy making something quick and easy but it’s your night to cook and people want something posh? I don’t think cooking rotas can ever really work. 

 

Despite all this, I would suggest to any first year, whatever uni they’re thinking of attending, to stay in halls for their first year. I’m having a great time, I love living here and I will miss it when I move out in June – although living in halls has helped me to make friends and feel like I’m part of a community, as well as being a nice introduction to living independently. Being right next door to the student bar has helped a little bit too 😉