Roommates

Awhile ago the bf and I had some relationship problems so I decided to move out until we got engaged... except it backfired because while I am technically moved out, I'm at his place 80% of the time ha ha. Mainly because it still feels like home... and that's where all the free food is!

But I did move in with some girls from work, which is going really well. Probably because none of us are home enough to annoy the crap out of each other, but I'm glad that our friendship is staying intact so far. Most roommate situations don't go that well, as I'm sure you know.

My first roommate was when I was 20 and couldn't take staying in my parents house any longer. I tried to because they wanted me to stay while I was going to college, since I had to pay for my classes. But when you're sister who is 3 years younger had a later curfew... it's time to leave.

So I moved in with a girl from work. The whole time I was there, I felt like I was in her house, not ours. I'd get a text message asking if I'd left a dvd on the coffee table, or my hair spray out on the bathroom counter. So I had to make sure I always left things how she wanted. One day I had some cereal so I text her to see if I could use some of her milk. No response so I assumed she wouldn't mind sharing, because I'd always told her to help herself to anything of mine. I got a text later telling me that I couldn't because it was her boyfriends. Too late. Got another text that night, asking me if I'd used the milk anyways. I explained what happened and offered to buy another gallon of milk for him to make up for it, and she made me do it! A whole gallon because I used some to put in my cereal bowl. Hmmm.

I know her boyfriend and he wouldn't have cared but she was really weird about the smallest things. It got to the point that I was spending much more time at my parents than the apt so I could avoid doing anything to piss her off. So after her boyfriend pretty much started living with us (and there was no door between our rooms) I decided to move out. She seemed genuinely hurt that I was leaving but I couldn't bring myself to tell her why. I'm super non-confrontational, especially back then.

Next roommate I wasn't too sure about at first, but then ended up being my best friend. We were both really sharing and social people. We weren't super clean people, but we picked up after ourselves, put the trash out when it was full, vacuumed every week or so, but weren't anal about having everything in it's place. So later on when one of her friends was having a hard time financially, she decided to let her move into her room with her. BIG mistake.

The girl would complain that she couldn't find a good job, but then would play Nintendo for 8 hours a day. I know because I'd start it up at the end of the day and it would say how long the play time had been. Then she started leaving stuff everywhere... candy wrappers, bowls half full of speghetti, smelly used socks, peanut m&m's on the couch. The worst thing though, was when my friend opened the microwave... and there was half of a raw chicken in a bowl sitting in there. We told her about it and she said she'd put it in there a few days ago and forgot about it. WTF?! The best part is that she said she'd clean it up, and... ONE WEEK LATER we threw it out ourselves because it was smelling up the apartment.

It pretty much went down hill from there.

So I'm pretty glad my new roommates are really relaxed about stuff and when we are together we get along well. They are some of my few friends that I've made here and I like hanging out with them. I've come to realize that there is some roommate etiquette when you live with other people.
1. Clean up after yourself.
2. Pay your bills and rent on time (in other words be responsible)
3. Don't expect people to share with you, if you don't share with them.
4. Be respectful of others. It's always better to ask if they mind if you do something, than assume they won't and have them hate you for it.

You'd think this would be common sense but I guess for some people it isn't.

Anyone else have any roommate horror stories? :)