Moving out of your parents' house can be great and give you the freedom that you have been waiting for, but living with roommates for the first time can be a challenge. Whether you're best friends with them or just met them on move-in day, it can be difficult to live with people who have grown up in a different household than you. A strategy to live in a happy house could be to communicate with each other early on about what you all expect. Have the discussion about what food is communal and what is not, talk about sleep schedules and pet peeves and maybe set up a cleaning schedule so everyone puts their fair share of effort into the house.

Having this conversation early on will prevent people leaving passive aggressive notes around the house or people feeling miserable in their own home. Having lived with roommates for six years, I would say one of the biggest issues in a student house is dirty dishes. Not everyone in the house will get the hint to do their dishes after they use them, but that is no excuse to not washing yours. It's not fun coming home from a long day at school to make dinner, just to find a sink full of dirty dishes. Whether it be a saucy pot or a spoon you used to stir your coffee, just scrub the dish and everyone will be happier.

Another thing to keep in mind when you move into a student house or residence is that you do not need to spend all day, every day with your roommates. It is important to have some time alone and your friendships may be harmed if you try to spend too much time together.

In the same respect, it is also not necessary that you are friends with your roommates. You can be civil with each other and have friendly conversations, but it is not a requirement that you are best friends forever (BFFs) with them. Sometimes, in my experience, it is actually easier to live with people you are not friends with because you do not feel obligated to spend all your time with them or share all your things.

For many first year students, this may be the first time that you have ever had to even think about doing laundry. If you had the luxury of your parents properly separating your clothes into white, darks and colours and then returning a clean and folded basket of laundry to your room, then you are in for a rude awakening. When you are living with roommates, you could be sharing one washing machine and one dryer with four or five other people. Be respectful to your roommates and do not put a load of clothes in the wash and then go out or fall asleep and leave the laundry to just sit there when the cycle is done. There may be someone waiting for the machine and if they put your favourite wool sweater in the dryer and it comes out half the size, that's your fault. Set an alarm on your phone to remind you to go switch the loads to avoid controversy in the house.

Although living with roommates can be tough, sometimes it is a great chance to make new friends and experience life without your parents watching over your shoulder at all times. One thing to remember is that everyone was raised in a different house with a different lifestyle, so respect that their way of life may be different than yours.

Little bad habits could make your roomates mad evn if you do not notice. So for goodness sakes fill up the water jug when it is empty and do not forget to swap out the empty toilet paper roll.