If your housemates have done 7/13 of these things, they’re the worst people to live with

Making the commitment to live with people you’ve just met can be terrifying. And while there are positives of moving in with the people who could potentially become your best mates, sometimes, they’ll make you want to tear your hair out.

As the year goes on and the mess inevitably grow here are some of the irritating things your housemates will indefinitely do or have already done to piss you off:

1. Making excuses after they steal your food from the fridge

Whether it’s your first-year flatmate or your housemate of three years, there’s always one. Some commit the crime inconspicuously while others do it shamelessly while you’re sat right there. The ones who inhale all your food while drunk and half-apologise the next day are definitely bad enough but the ones who deny it till death are even worse.

Or you can get the one who’s a mix of both- eating your food after a drunk night out but denying it the next day despite leaving chocolate evidence smeared on the kitchen door and the wrapper in their plate.

Sam- I know you ate my pudding- just admit it.

2. Stacking their pots like Jenga

Sometimes, especially during exam season, it’s natural for people to get lazy with washing up but when there are plates with dried ketchup on it hidden underneath the sofa things start to get a little bit unbearable. Then when they’re told to put them in the sink, the pots and pans Jenga begins.

If they’re particularly careless you might even have a housemate who sticks it back in the cupboard while still dirty- yes, I’ve seen this happen.

3. Leaving half of their meal in the sink

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The only thing worse than leaving plates in the sink is when your housemate leaves half of their meal in the sink too, clogging it up until it’s overflowing. It starts with a few vegetable peels here and there but once they get away with that they’ll empty entire potatoes in there as if it’s the bin.

Eventually this will lead to a silent war as to who has to risk putting their hand in and scooping it out. Spoiler: it’s never the one who actually caused the clog in the first place.

4. Inviting over the guest who lives here rent-free

You didn’t sign up for another housemate, but you’ve got another one who lives there rent-free- lucky you. Now you have to share the bathroom, kitchen and living room with this unpaying resident who probably hogs all of those rooms. If you get on with your housemate’s boyfriend/girlfriend then maybe it’s not so bad but if you don’t you might feel held hostage in your own room. Or-even worse- you’ve got a recurring visitor who isn’t even your housemate’s S/O but shows up announced and lives on your sofa.

By the end of the year you’re questioning if they ever even had a house of their own.

5. Shrieking at 4 in the morning

When you have a different sleep schedule to your housemate it can be a pain. You don’t want to be woken up by their stomping around at 6am and they don’t want to hear your cackling laughs at 4am.

6. Leaving certain stains in the toilet

Some people have no shame but you may only realise this once you move in with them. You might think that mentioning you bought a new toilet brush for the bathroom might help but trust me, they’ll just nod and walk away. How they leave the bathroom knowing it’s there for everyone to see is just something we’ll never truly understand.

These are almost indefinitely the same people that refuse to buy toilet roll all year until the last week in which they’ll buy one roll with the kind of ply that immediately disintegrates in your hand.

7. Judging you for your ready meals

Okay look I’m sorry if I can’t chef up a five-star Michelin meal. The people who do are probably flooding your kitchen with vegetable oil and leaving about 100 kitchen appliances you’ve never seen before haphazardly around on the countertops.

So, if you’re side-eyeing my Tesco microwave meal please keep your thoughts to yourself. At least I’m not leaving half a bag of rice, some carrot peels and bits of raw chicken in the bottom of the kitchen sink.

8. Pretending the bin rota doesn’t exist

The tallies are adding up for everyone but that one housemate who’s still on one. We know you haven’t done it in three months and you know it too so instead of us keep having to sigh loudly in the direction of the bin rota maybe you could just take the bins out?

We would literally pay you to at this point.

9. Sending passive aggressive messages into the group chat

If you’re the one who leaves their plates out this one is probably the most annoying housemate for you. You don’t want a spam of messages during your online exam about the fact you’ve left a plate out, the pot’s in the wrong cupboard and that one fork has been misplaced. Apparently your housemate’s day cannot continue until this is sorted. You’ll clean your plates eventually…maybe.

10. Slamming doors

There’s always that one housemate who thinks their life is dramatic enough to be slamming doors with such force. But even when it’s accidental there’s no reason for you to be slamming it that many times. If you lived in the room next to the kitchen in first year accommodation this is major PTSD for you.

11. Leaving their rubbish out in hope that the fairies clean it up

At first it’s a few wrappers and soon enough it’s all of your cutlery that they’ve used.

It starts with you deciding to be the bigger person by cleaning up after them but by the end of the year it’s second nature. My advice to you is if you catch yourself doing it, stop. Stop while you still can.

12. Flooding the bathroom after a bath

The last thing you want first thing in the morning is to walk into the bathroom for your shower and find a sea of bathwater on the floor from your housemate’s bath the night before. Then you finally swim through it only to find that half of your shower gel has been used, your toothpaste is half-empty and somehow your hand towel is drenched as well. Brilliant.

13. Leaving their washing in the machine for months

You thought that the escape from first year Circuit washing meant it could only be up from here but you were wrong. It’ll take about ten passive aggressive reminds before your housemate finally takes out their soaking wet washing only to then leave it hanging off the radiator for the next month or so.

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