How do you survive an annoying roommate? 5 ways

How can I live with annoying roommate?

“Take a deep breath. Keep your head in the game.” Those five words might sound like they’re framing a self-help post, but they’re actually the opening line of one of my favorite books. Last year, I had the unfortunate, and unexpected pleasure of sharing a room with a loud, messy and downright disgusting girl for an entire semester.

This is my story – the story of how I survived an annoying dorm roommate. And if you’re lucky enough to be reading this blog post from your own home or office desk (or even at work), then it’s also your survival guide against one of life’s most infuriating experiences.

I’ll admit, I wasn’t sure what to expect when I moved into a dorm room with a girl I didn’t know. We barely knew each other, so it seemed like the odds of us being anything more than roommates was slim. Nonetheless, once we started living together, it turned out that we had a lot in common. We both loved to write (though she was much better at it) and play video games.

The one thing we had little in common though was sleep. For me, sleep was like a magic power that could make all of my worries disappear. It was the magic key to forgetting about all of my problems (which were plentiful). For her though, it was something to do when she wasn’t doing anything else. If the lights weren’t off at 10 p.m., I barely got an hour of deep sleep before she’d turn them back on and start studying or playing video games. The worst part? She snored so loud that I could hear her through the thick wall between our beds.

I tried telling her that it was making it hard for me to concentrate on my schoolwork, but she didn’t seem to care. The second I’d finish asking a question, she’d turn on some music and blast the volume. If I asked her to keep it down, she’d respond with a joke about how she’s just trying to help me study.

The worst part was that she would leave for three hours at a time, and when I’d call her to ask where she was going or with whom, she’d tell me that she had a social life and that I should get over it. She even made it a point to ask me if I wanted to come along, but the thought never crossed my mind. If I didn’t want to go out and do anything, why would I want to tag along with her and her friends?

I thought about asking for a new roomie, but I knew that wasn’t going to happen. The housing department hadn’t been kind enough to put us together, so why would they give me a new roommate?

Eventually, even though it was only a few weeks in, I started seeing tiny signs of improvement every day. She was cleaning up after herself. She was starting to pick up after herself. Although I still had to point out about two or three times a week that she hadn’t put her dishes in the sink, at least she wasn’t leaving them on the table anymore. She was even taking out the trash, which I would have never thought possible a couple of months ago.

However, it was one day when I was taking my trash out and came across her notebooks (which she had thrown out into a pile) that I decided that enough was enough. I went over to her bed and threw my notebooks in the pile, too.

In an instant, both of us had a look on our faces that I hadn’t seen before. It was a look of disgust, as if we were disgusted with what we’d done. I didn’t see it coming. All she did was throw her notebook on the bed, and it hit me in the face. I screamed in surprise and then grabbed my face in pain as if it were on fire (which for some reason, happened).

It was then that she started to apologize profusely. I did the same, and we promised that we would do better and be better. At least I hope that’s what I promised her. I don’t really remember.

After that, things were pretty good. We didn’t have any more problems with each other and we became better friends than roommates. She even stopped snoring so loud, though not quite as bad as when we first met (though it was still loud).

5 ways to live with annoying roommate

To help you survive with annoying roommate, you need to follow the below guidance which I have seen to be effective. Please read carefully.

1. Be a good roommate yourself

I know it’s hard to be an angry person when you’re mad at someone, but that’s exactly what you need to do. In other words, don’t let yourself get mad at them for being annoying when they’re not doing anything wrong. Instead, focus on what you’re doing wrong and make sure that your actions don’t irritate them in the process.

2. Set ground rules

If you want to get things done, then you need to set ground rules for yourself and your roommate. In this case, I tried to set a few with my roommate. I told her that the lights had to be out by 10 p.m., and she agreed. I also told her that she had to clean up after herself, but she didn’t agree with that one. She said that we were both adults and that she didn’t want to “clean up after me”.

Fortunately, she eventually conceded on the issue, even though I wasn’t exactly sure what living with a roommate meant. It turns out that it means I pretty much have to be the maid for the place too. That might not be the best thing in the world, but at least I had my space and she had hers. This helps in surviving annoying roommate.

3. Be willing to change

I know that I’m going to be making a lot of references to my own experiences, but I hope this blog post can be useful for everyone. It’s no fun living with an annoying roommate, but if you don’t do anything about it, then you’re just going to make yourself miserable. On the other hand, if you try to make things better and your roommate doesn’t want to do anything about it, there’s not much more you can do.

That being said, if you have an open mind and are willing to work with your roommate, there’s a good chance that you’ll be able to make things better. Annoying roommate can can!

4. Make compromises

It was a few weeks into my semester when I realized that I had to compromise with my roommate on some things. In this case, as mentioned above, she didn’t want me to be the maid for the dorms. I thought it was reasonable enough. After all, I was the guest for the time being, so why should I be expected to do all of the work?

However, she had a good point. If she saw me as just a guest, then she might get lazy. I didn’t want that to happen because I was trying to focus on my own stuff and schoolwork. So instead of us arguing about whether or not this would happen, we decided that we’d take turns doing our dishes and cleaning up after ourselves.

It was a solution that worked for both of us, but now I’m not sure if my roommate will be willing to do the same thing.

5. Believe in yourself instead of doubting yourself

In a previous post (which you’ll see below), I talked about how everyone has the ability to be an annoying roommate. In other words, even though you might not have realized it yet, you’re going to end up annoying others by being difficult and demanding.

However, that’s not what’s important. What’s important is how you deal with these problems. If you have them, then the question is whether or not you’ll let them bother you or whether or not you’ll work with your roommate to get things fixed. The latter situation doesn’t even require compromise, so why would anyone settle for something like that? Instead of making excuses and going through the motions to get by, do everything in your power to fix the problem instead.

The above Ways of surviving annoying roommate will help you no matter the college or part of the world.