15 unavoidable texts that are bound to be sent in an Edi girls flat groupchat

Living in a shared student flat is an integral part of the Edinburgh University experience. Whether you’re living with your best friends for life or some random people you found on Meadowshare, disagreements and conflicts are bound to arise when you combine a group of different lifestyles.

Here are 15 texts that will definitely be sent to the flat group chat at some point during your flat share:

1. ‘Who’s stolen my lipstick?’

When you live with your best friends you may find that all your possessions suddenly become free real estate. In these instances you either have to draw up some clear boundaries on the group chat or just accept the inevitable.

2. ‘Please can we stop slamming doors!’

Curse the stupid HMO fire doors. Why do they all slam so shut so aggressively?

3. ‘Whose washing up’s in the sink?’

Sometimes living with your friends is finding the delicate balance between wanting to maintain a happy and healthy friendship and not living in absolute squalor. One of the biggest tensions that can arise is from people not contributing to the cleanliness and hygiene of the flat and often it can be hard to send that text without sounding too confrontational. And so, the passive aggressive “who’s washing up is in the sink?” text is bon, even when you know full well who the culprit is.

4. ‘Does anyone have straighteners I can borrow?’

You know you’ve spent too much time together when you and your flatmates revert to sibling squabbles about using each others stuff.

5. ‘Guys, what’s our postcode again?’

I really hope I’m not the only person who needs to regularly remind myself of what my postcode is. Hey, it’s hard when you’re moving flat every year to keep all those letter/number combinations in your head.

6. ‘Who’s paying the electricity bill?’

Bill disputes are inevitable in a flat share. The decision of whose account the rent, gas, electricity and wifi comes out of is never fun and never completely fair. However, I would definitely recommend leaving it to the STEM students rather than the humanities students in the flat.

7. ‘Can someone take the bins out?’

You know the situation is dire when people start pilling cardboard boxes and bottles next to the bin rather than just taking it out.

8. ‘Can I steal someone’s loo roll?’

This one only really applies if you’re lucky enough to have more than one toilet, which is a bit of a rarity in ancient Edinburgh tenement apartments.

9. ‘Please can we not let random men not into the flat without warning?’

There’s nothing more terrifying than waking up to a random guy having a cup of tea in your kitchen. If you’re planning on bringing home a friend from the club, do the courteous thing and give everyone a heads up first.

10. ‘I can hear you guys in your room!’

Edinburgh flats have notoriously thin walls. Whether it’s a juicy gossip sesh or you have a special guest round in the evening, it’s guaranteed that all your flatmates will know exactly what you’re up to.

11. ‘Can someone check if we have milk in the fridge?’ 

Your fridge will either have 15 pints of milk and blocks of cheese or none at all. Better to send these texts than end up with a whole dairy farm in your fridge.

12. ‘Can someone let me in? I’ve lost my keys!’

Not a day goes by without at least one person forgetting their keys and needing to be buzzed into my flat.

13. ‘We should really contact pest control again’

At this point my flatmates and I have become so desensitised to mice that we’ve grown fond of our little furry friends. However, if you prefer not sharing sharing a space with a rodent, a phone call to pest control is unavoidable. Although having a mouse in the flat is a canon event for Edinburgh students so perhaps it’s time to simply accept the inevitable.

14. ‘Please no one use my fancy shampoo!’

You know you’ve spent too much time together when you and your flatmates revert to sibling squabbles about using each others stuff. It’s comforting in a way, feels like home sweet home.

15. ‘Keep the noise down, I have a 9am!’

No one wants to be the naggy flatmate, consider investing in a pair of high quality ear plugs to avoid this problem.

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