Fighting over utilities

[dragonmasterx]

Do you fight with people you live with over who gets to watch which channel, who gets to play the rpg, who gets to use the bathroom first, whether or not you should open/close/lower/rase the air conditioner/heater, where you should place the new furniture, etc.?

Is it big problem?

[Vextor]

I've lived with over 20 housemates in my life, and yeah, there were some people who made a big fuss about those things. However, my older sister has been the worst when it comes to being picky about all this stuff--which is probably why I don't live with her anymore.

It can be a big problem if the problem becomes big (lol), for example, if you have a housemate who uses the washing machine every day to wash a few piece of clothing, which adds a significant amount you your water and electrical bills. If you have housemates who must have the heater on to the MAX during winter to the point it's like you're in a desert, or the opposite, you also have a big problem. Usually you need to have a good long talk to resolve these things, but that doesn't even guarantee a resolution.

[Queens Knight]

It can be a big problem if the problem becomes big (lol), for example, if you have a housemate who uses the washing machine every day to wash a few piece of clothing, which adds a significant amount you your water and electrical bills. If you have housemates who must have the heater on to the MAX during winter to the point it's like you're in a desert, or the opposite, you also have a big problem. Usually you need to have a good long talk to resolve these things, but that doesn't even guarantee a resolution

^What he said lol.

I have only had one roommate, my brother, i've lived together with him on three seperate occasions and we always fought over what we would watch on t.v (even though we liked most of the same shows) and fought over bills as well.

The last time he moved in with me was when he needed a place to stay and i was living on my own, i was only charging him $100 a month to live here, while i was paying $600 and he could have afforded to pay half, anyways after a while he started to complain about how i was charging him money to live with me and how i should let him live with me for free, eventually he started to stiff me on his rent and turn into a complete (expletive) so i kicked him out.

Lesson here, roommates suck.

[Pollensalta]

It can be a big problem if the problem becomes big (lol), for example, if you have a housemate who uses the washing machine every day to wash a few piece of clothing, which adds a significant amount you your water and electrical bills. If you have housemates who must have the heater on to the MAX during winter to the point it's like you're in a desert, or the opposite, you also have a big problem. Usually you need to have a good long talk to resolve these things, but that doesn't even guarantee a resolution

^What he said lol.

I have only had one roommate, my brother, i've lived together with him on three seperate occasions and we always fought over what we would watch on t.v (even though we liked most of the same shows) and fought over bills as well.

The last time he moved in with me was when he needed a place to stay and i was living on my own, i was only charging him $100 a month to live here, while i was paying $600 and he could have afforded to pay half, anyways after a while he started to complain about how i was charging him money to live with me and how i should let him live with me for free, eventually he started to stiff me on his rent and turn into a complete (expletive) so i kicked him out.

Lesson here, roommates suck.

I can one up that.

I lived with a girl, we split rent 50-50. Her friend Wes comes to live with us. 27, no job, worthless scum. Anyways, he promises to pay us one-third of the rent and utility bills. Never does. About a month goes by, and he's sitting on the couch all day every day playing video games, watching TV, with the AC down low and takes long-ass showers and everything. Racks up quite a bit in bills and never pays a cent. So after this month, I sit down with him and nicely ask him to pay up or I will have to ask him to leave. He flips out on me and starts calling me all sorts of names, including a Nazi (I'll get to the relevance of that later.) More time goes by and he still doesn't pay up, so finally I forcefully tell him that he has three days to get the hell out or I'll be selling most of his stuff, throwing the rest out in the road, and changing the locks.

Next morning, Wes is gone and my car has been almost entirely burned up with acid. The parts not completely screwed up had swastikas all burned into them. (Remember the nazi comment.) Ended up with a detective on the case but an arrest was never made due to all evidence being circumstantial and nobody ever seeing the crime taking place, even though it was clear that it was Wes.

Lesson learned: Room mates suck.

However off-topic that was.

I've also lived with countless other room mates and only had one that I entirely got along with, plus 3 of my ex-boyfriends and my ex-fiance, all of whom drove me crazy after living with them for awhile.

[Vextor]

My god, your story is totally, totally insane Pollensalta!!

[Red Killey]

Easiest thing to solve all those possible problems about bills/rent/etc is to really make a written contract. That way you can sue back and bring them to Judge Judy for some money back.

Either that, or make sure that you only live with someone that you can trust. I've only ever lived with family/relatives. So it's no biggie as we are understanding with one another and never really blamed one or the other for this kind of thing. We just made it clear that who needs to pay how much, etc. If there are friends/family who stayed over for a long period of time, then we settle things up before they do so (so when my cousin's parents [my uncle and aunt] stayed over for a week, then they'd be paying their part for that week, etc).

I just don't like the idea of someone moving in without me knowing who that person is.

[Fu Su Lu]

Easiest thing to solve all those possible problems about bills/rent/etc is to really make a written contract. That way you can sue back and bring them to Judge Judy for some money back..

Bingo. That may sound distrustful but if you dont want to get unpleasant surprises in life, always you see yourselves in such situations (and others like setting a bussines, buying a house -not only renting-) SET ALL by contract. Things change and lifetogheter and money are the things that quickest and most unmercy deteriorate friendship, relationships,...

[ViktorFan]

If I would live with a partner/friend, which dures a longer time normally, I made a contract and if a family member would live in my apartment, which dures only some days normally, I expect that we share the costs for food at least. From experience I would tell my expectation to the family member in future, because when my sister visited me last year, she obviously thought I'm the waiter who serves her. She neither removed the dishes when we finished the meals nor gave me money for buying the food. She didn't lift a finger.
So I think more difficult than the "money thing" are the other problems, dragonmaster and Vector mentioned. I would talk to the other (friend/partner) before we live together. Very important questions are: how do we manage and share the household; if one of us will live in the other's apartment and both have their own household effects: which things can everybody keep and which not, so nobody must have the feeling nothing belongs to him. And I would have 2 TVs, if you can't agree both have the possibility to watch (or play) what they want.

And if you talk with your friend/partner about all these things and you can't reach an agreement: better live alone and both keep their apartment , otherwise you'll always have controversy.