Throwing a Party Responsibly

Our house is a great place to have a party. We have a huge living room, a large kitchen, and enough space to fit about 50-60 people comfortably. Recently, we haven't had very many parties due to the fact that two of my roommates can't seem to be responsible enough to have one on their own. They forget that they're partying at their own house and treat it as such. Letting people go into other people's rooms (including mine), not getting the sick drunks to the toilet, or letting random people drink alcohol that isn't theirs.

The last party that was thrown at my house was about three months ago. We had a huge argument afterwards because Markie mark hadn't cleaned up the mess from the party for at least four days. On the fifth day we had to all tell him to clean it up, and he got mad at us for not helping. He was the only one who was home during this party and he wanted us to help! Eventually we decided to help him clean up the mess because we all agreed that we weren't going to have another one for a while.

The worst memory I have of one of my roommates throwing a party is from one of my old roommates. It was the new year's party going into 2014. I was in Kansas City at some bar while this party was going on at my house. When I came home the next morning I find that my sheets were in the washer and freaked out. Come to find out, some girl passed out in my room and threw up all over my bed. I was infuriated with my roommate for letting someone into my room. Apparently he had locked himself in his room after being pissed off he couldn't get a new years kiss from any of the girls that were at the party.

The lesson I took away from this is that I should never trust any of my roommates to not let someone into my room, which is why after that night I changed my doorknob to one that requires a key to enter my room.

Laundry Rotation

In our house we all have to share one washer and dryer. Considering there are four of us, these appliances are being used all the time. Whether someone forgets to move their clothes from the washer to the dryer or they leave their clothes in the dryer because they don't want to deal with them yet.

The first couple months of everyone living here we were constantly bickering at each other to remember to move your laundry or take it out when it is done. Most of the time if someone had left there stuff in the washer or dryer, we would either move it to the dryer or just place the clothes on top of the dryer. We all got tired of this after a couple months.

We decided the best thing to do was to dedicate certain days of the week in which we could do our laundry. Since there are four of us, we had to figure out a way to evenly divide the days up. We each gave ourself a day during the week, Monday-Thursday. Then two of us would get Friday, and the other two would get Saturday. Sunday is a free-for-all day. I ended up with Tuesday and sharing Friday with B-fresh.

The rotation we dedicated to our laundry days has worked perfectly for us. We always remember when to grab our laundry and what days we have to do laundry. We have yet to have any other problems with our laundry or dealing with other's laundry.

Coming Home Late

My three roommates and I have very different schedules. We all work different hours, have different sleep schedules, and one of us works nightshift sometimes. The entrance to the upper level of our house is through the backdoor which is near my room. You have to walk up a flight a rickety stairs then walk down a long hallway to get to your room. I hear every person who comes in and out of the house because the stairs are so old, every step makes a obnoxiously loud noise when you walk on them.

The first couple of months I lived here, I had my bed situated up against the wall where the stairs were on the other side. There would be times I would be passed out in the middle of the night and one of my roommates would come home around 2-3 A.M. A couple of them would run up the stairs, making the already obnoxiously loud stairs even more annoying.

At first I tried asking my roommates not to run up and down the stairs because it was so loud. I learned very quickly though that they weren't going to walk slower because I wanted my beauty sleep.

After a few times of being woken up in the middle of the night, I finally decided to move my bed to the opposite side of the room. I can still hear people coming up and down the stairs, however it is not nearly as loud. The lesson I took away from this is that I should attempt to make the situation easier for myself before asking my roommates to change their own habits.

Don't Mess With the Thermostat!

As I have stated in previous posts, our house is fairly large. It is a 7-bedroom house with four of the bedrooms being on the top floor which is where we live. The house has been set up so all the utilities are independent of each other for each floor, meaning we don't have to worry about splitting utilities with the person on the first floor. Living on the second floor though can create higher energy bills since heat rises and the cold air sinks, especially in the summer. 

Our utility bills are typically higher in the summer because of the A/C usage. But the last couple months they have been insanely high, reaching into the $300 range a couple times this summer. For a while we couldn't figure out why they were so incredibly high, until we checked something other than the temperature setting on the thermostat.

The thermostat has an option on it that can either leave the fan on auto or turn it on 24/7. We found out that it had been turned on for the past few weeks, making our electricity bill immensely high. I was extremely upset with whoever had turn this option on without remembering to turn it off. I ended up asking everyone who did it and of course everyone's response was "it wasn't me". 

I set the fan back to auto. The next morning I find Kaveman sleeping in the living room because he said his room was too hot. I automatically assume he is the one who had kept the fan on because he constantly forgets to turn off his own TV, lights, and fans in his own room. He admitted that he was the one to turn it on but said he didn't realize that it would stay until it got switched back to auto. 

 My other two roommates and I asked him not to mess with the thermostat anymore because it was causing higher energy bills.He was upset at first but eventually realized that we shouldn't have to pay extra because his room gets a little toasty sometimes. The lesson to take away from this is don't mess with something you know nothing about, in this case the thermostat!

Importance of Labeling

Sharing one kitchen between three other people can become hectic sometimes. Especially when everyone has a similar diet. It can become very confusing at times when there are four gallons of milk in the fridge that all look the exact same. We realized this was a major issue within the first couple weeks of us living together. One night we literally spent 25 minutes trying to figure out whose carton was whose. 

This happen to us a couple times with a few different items. One time I came home to Kaveman and his friends eating all of my potato chips because he forgot that he left his own bag in his room. It may sound petty, getting upset over a bag of chips, but when it consistently happens it becomes an extremely irritating problem.

We decided that the best option for us was to start labeling everything we bought. From cartons of milk to the small packages of ramen noodles. We all came up with our own ways of how to label certain items. As you can see from the pictures, I have these special sticky notes that I put on everything that is mine.

Labeling everything we get might sound somewhat annoying but it saves each one of us from being mad at one another for eating someone else's food. It also stops anyone from using the excuse of "Oh, I thought it was mine excuse" to eat another person's food. Labeling our food items has worked out very well for us.