Be a Better Roommate

Being a college freshman can be completely overwhelming, especially with all of the new responsibilities being thrown at you your first year.  Dealing with new classes, professors, an over load on homework, friends, sports teams and organizations can be an extremely stressful time when you’re trying to get adjusted to college life.  The last thing you want is to come home to a roommate that you don’t get along with.  Here are some tips to make sure the stressors from school don’t interfere with your friendship with your roommate.

Alleviating each other’s stress can be the most important thing to remember when dealing with a roommate.  Assigning cleaning roles and putting them up on the wall can be a good way to avoid conflict and make the chores fair.  The key to this is remembering one thing: Don’t sweat the small stuff!  There will be times when your roommate has a huge exam coming up and they forgot to do their chores.  You can wait until your roommate has time do finish his/her chores, or you can just do them yourself if you aren’t too busy.  Your roommate will appreciate you being understanding of their situation and helping out which will reduce any unnecessary conflict.  After all, what’s more important to you and your roommate – having a clean dorm or your roommate getting a good grade on their exam?