Having a roommate can be the best experience of your young life, having someone to come home to, vent to and go out with on Friday nights. It can also be a total nightmare.
Most Millennials have seen both sides from college dorms to their first apartment with roommates until the slow and steady climb to a studio apartment.
With more roommate experience, you start to get a better grasp of your own living habits, and the styles which complement your own. For your next roommate experience, go into the interview with the right questions to get the information you need for true living space compatibility.
Here are 10 essential questions to ask your potential roommate, and find the right one.
10 Are You A Night Owl Or A Morning Bird?
It is important to know when your potential roomie will be up and doing things in the house. Just because you are a night owl and they are a morning bird doesn't mean you aren't compatible, but talk about what kind of things you do at different hours of the day.
Sometimes it is nice sharing the space with someone with a different schedule because you have more time to yourself. Alternatively, if they are a musician playing music all night while you try to sleep for your 8 a.m. meeting, that isn't going to work.
9 What Are Your Hobbies?
This is a great question to get to know the other person. Understanding their hobbies is like a portal into their world, an easy way to connect or disconnect. If you have something in common, that can be potentially really fun such as making art or watching movies together.
If the other person has a hobby that cramps your jam, it isn't necessarily bad but you also deserve to have a roommate whose lifestyle is compatible. Don't settle for the person who does many loud things in common spaces, unless they are willing to compromise on their schedule.
8 What Are Your Dietary Needs?
It is good to know the other person's dietary needs, as it can be vital for their health. Understand someone's allergies, and how to support them in the kitchen. Maybe they need separate kitchen utensils, which is good to have sorted out before signing the apartment contract.
7 Do You Prefer To Go Out Or Stay In?
Someone's social schedule may seem irrelevant, but it becomes more and more important as you get older. If your roommate likes to go out every weekend and have friends over for the pre-game, that might get old if you are staying in and watching movies.
Having this conversation will give you a better idea of how the other person will be living their life during free time, such as weekends and nights when you are likely to be at home too. Who knows, maybe you will end up spending this time together if you are compatible!
6 Do You Like To Invite Friends Over?
Everyone has their own expectations of their home ambiance. Some people prefer a quiet space to disconnect, and others like to make their home a place to invite friends and family for entertaining. This is something that might change depending on your life stage, cultural background, and compatibility with your roommate.
If you have all the same friends in common, it can be cool to have people over. But if you like to have friends over all the time, and your roommate is looking for some peace and quiet, that could cause tension between you two over time.
5 What Are Your Cleaning Habits?
Cleaning is one of the top reasons that tension is created between roommates, families and partners, anyone sharing a space together. Everyone has their own expectation of clean, and it can be hard to adapt to the other person's, especially depending on how busy your lifestyle is and the habits you have formed around cleaning.
Ask questions about cleaning, what kind of cleaning the other person likes or doesn't like, what is their expectation of clean and how you can make a schedule to manage the cleaning together.
Related: 10 Best Tips To Organize Your Home And Keep It That Way
4 What Is Your Opinion About Overnight guests?
Everyone invites a friend from out of town once in a while, but it is good to lay our the policy before moving in. Having a list of agreements, such as regarding overnight guests is important for running the house smoothly together, and making sure that both people are comfortable in their space.
3 What Is Your Schedule Like?
This may be one of the most important aspects to discuss when finding a roommate. Schedules are difficult because depending on your life stage, they constantly change. If your roommate is a graduate student, their schedule could be all over the place, whereas if they have a 9 to 5 job, they might have a bit more routine.
Talk about both of your schedules, realistically how much time you spend at home and when during the week and if those schedules are more or less compatible. It doesn't have to be perfect, just in mutual agreement.
2 How Do You Handle Bills And Payments?
Sharing a living space is also a financial transaction and partnership. You will both need to be on top of bills, and you need a roommate who isn't going to leave you hanging with their half. Talk about both of your plans for making payments, and how to split up the costs. There are many apps for managing personal finances and sharing costs.
1 Ask A Get To Know You Question
Above all of the habits, schedules and finances, it is important to get to know the person you will share a living space with. Ask them about themselves, and don't be afraid to get creative with hypothetical questions that give you some insight into how they think. For example, if you could travel anywhere in the world where would you go and what would you bring? If you could only eat one countries cuisine for the rest of your life what would it be?
Anything to lighten the mood and get some funs answers to get to know them better.
