College Life: How to live with six girls

Being in college and attending a university is a time in one’s life to establish not only what their career will be in life but also how to deal with day to day tasks that approach the college student on a daily basis.  One situation that a girl between the ages of 18 and 22 may face is that time when she decides to move of campus with her “besties” and get a six bedroom house!  Sounds like fun, right?  A permanent slumber party with your six best girlfriends.  However I am here to not ruin this fantasy for you, but to paint a better picture of this situation.
First of all, finding a house that fits six girls comfortably is a chore itself and can be very expensive.  Once you have found a good realtor, the journey begins.  Making sure that all six of you are going to agree to sign the contract can be torture.  Of course you will have to go through the whole game of who says they will sign the contract and then someone backs out.  Let me put it this way, it will never be easy to make six girls agree.  That should have been my cue from the beginning that living with six people wasn’t always going to be easy.  After the contract is signed and its official you’re finally living in a house with no parents and just your friends, it’s time to pick rooms.  I will just warn you now, people can be very backstabbing, to avoid this I will give you a tip.  Pick from a hat.  When you pick names from a hat it eliminates the whole “who chooses what room process”.  Picking from a hat does all the work for you, and no one can blame each other for the small room with no closet that someone will be stuck with in a six bedroom house.
It is move in day to your new home sweet home and after you are all moved in and situated you seemed to have grown an appetite.  You head to your car and realize that one of your “roomies” is blocking you in, you both laugh about because it is kind of funny, however, it’s not funny the 10^th time this happens.  Here is a tip to avoid the car situation.  Always make assigned parking spots and know where every one’s spare keys are in case of a blockage emergency.
Having six other girls in the house also means that there are six other closets for you to choose outfits out of.  Borrowing clothes can lead to fights and a lot of fights.  You and your roomies must tackle this before it becomes a problem.  According to one of my roommates Sabrina Heskins who is the creator of rules and guidelines of sharing clothes her ways have rubbed off on us and are now a lifestyle for—rule number 1. If there is a tag on it, don’t wear it.  Rule number 2. If you borrow something out of some ones closet always let them know or ask.  Rule number 3. never wash each other’s clothes, just because you wash and dry everything doesn’t mean that your roomie wants her Seven Jeans put in the dryer, so the next time she goes to wear them they are not long enough.  Finally, rule number 4. If you borrow a piece of clothing, hang it back up in the owner’s closet and let them know that you have returned their sexy tight skirt that you borrowed for Saturday night.  Creating rules with your friends will decrease the havoc and commotion that you are asking for once you open up closets to each other
One word, food.  Believe it or not, girls can be animals and according to a recent study that was reported in the Washington Post states that violent episodes between females are on the rise on playgrounds , in high school hallways and on college campuses across the country.  When it comes to food and a poor college student’s budget, there is no sharing.  Rules need to be made right from the start to help decrease the statistics of the violence.  From day one that the six of you move into the new house, choose different cabinets that will be assigned to each of you and your food.  As for the refrigerator you can divide the shelves up and pick drawers so you can differentiate whose cucumber is whose.  You may think this is a little ridiculous, but what is even more ridiculous is the fact that if you don’t create “hiding” spots for your food, you will find you and your “besties” arguing over who ate the last Cheez-It.  Believe me, it will not be funny.  Organizing shelves and cabinets for your food, or even labeling the items will eliminate anyone from “mistakenly” eating your Oreos.  Depending on whether you or your friends enjoy milk and eggs, two items that have a short shelf life, these are the type of items that may be smart to share.  Here is one tip, create a list of all the girl’s names and an order that you all agree on to buy the eggs and milk.  Be sure to keep track of the list because no one wants to have to buy the milk or eggs 2 weeks in a row.
Finally, last but of course not least, cleaning.  There will always be that one roommate who is the sloppiest and never ever will give a hand when it is time to clean up the mess.  You and your roommates must set a date and time for cleaning, also blasting music while doing the activity makes it fun as you distract yourself from what you are really doing.  Another word of advice is that everyone should chip in for cleaning supplies. It’s never fair to that one girl who spends $35 on Windex, paper towels and a mop to come home and no one is even willing to squirt the Windex bottle.  Setting a time for cleaning and blasting music can actually be a bonding moment with you and your roommates and it avoids people from missing the “cleaning party”.  Granted, none of you want to be doing it, but you are all miserable together as one mops, one scrubs the toilet, another cleans out the old moldy food from the refrigerator, and while the other two are scraping already been chewed gum off the dining room floor.
Living with six girls can be a great experience; it just has to be done the right way.  As you live with each other in tight corners, you will learn different rules and guidelines that your house will have to live by.  I hope these few tips will help get you and your roommates started in having an amazing college experience living off campus.  Remember, after all they are your “besties”.