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How To Survive Shared Student Living

By emma_lewis.
Last Updated 02 Nov 2017
- minute read

A Guide On How To Keep A Happy Home In Student Living


Cooking


Don’t fall into the stereotypical student lifestyle and eat a diet consisting of only pesto pasta and toast, because it’s “all you can afford.” Just be savvy with what you are buying. Supermarkets such as Aldi and Lidl offer products at an amazing value, which will allow you to create delicious meals on a budget. If you do a weekly shop with your housemates you can then take turns to cook together and enjoy regular evening meals – and don’t worry if you can’t always be there, you’ll have your dinner waiting for you in the fridge when you come home! Meals, like fajitas and curries, are great for batch cooking as well as being delicious and nutritious.



Household Essentials


 Household essentials are a bit of a chore to buy, but if you all take turns and chip into the cost this makes life easier. Get a house kitty jar together and put a few pounds in each every month. This can cover the cost of communal products such as toilet roll, washing up liquid, soap, sponges and cleaning products…maybe even milk, as let’s be real, you are probably just going to steal someone else’s anyway. Make a list of whose turn it is to buy each essential, and remind each other on your WhatsApp chat for a happy, stocked up house!



Washing up


Washing up is definitely one of the biggest chores when it comes to living communally. Make sure you keep on top of your own washing up by cleaning up straight after your meal, or if you are feeling lazy do it before bed or the next morning. Don’t be the dirty dish culprit! Do weekly communal cleans on a Sunday or after you host pre drinks to make sure you don’t have a mug drought. Also don’t be the person to leave passive aggressive notes in the kitchen – or even worse, pile up people’s mess outside their bedroom doors!



Cleaning


 As well as cleaning up after yourself, making a cleaning rota is good for ensuring everything stays spick and span. Assign someone to do a daily check of basic tasks such as wiping surfaces and the oven down, to make sure you get your deposit back in full at the end of the year. Try having a monthly deep clean of your house too to make sure you avoid living in a stereotypical grotty student house!



Bills


 Take a look at our bills blogs as a useful guide on how to best set up your bills. You can either take charge of one utility bill each, or get your lead tenant to organise these and pay for them monthly into a shared bank account!



Misc


Be friendly. University is all about spending time with new people, so try to make an effort when you move in. Take time to get to know each other by doing house activities whether it be a movie night , or a night out! Make sure you are also a top housemate by being respectful to everyone else, and giving everyone there own space. If you are having people over, make sure you don’t keep everyone up until the early hours of the morning, and if you borrow someone’s butter, don’t make a massive dent in it…its the small things that count!



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