Living With Guys, Girls, Both, or Neither: Who Should Your Living Situation Consist Of?

By Francine Fluetsch on May 26, 2015

When college students are frantically finding people to live with, you’ll hear them say a lot of things like “I don’t want to live with boys because they are messy” or “I don’t want to live with girls because they cause more drama” and they tend to use these assumptions to pick their new roomies.

image via imgarcade.com

Does gender really play a part in how good the housemate will be? Nope! Here’s why:

Cleanliness:

Okay, first of all, let me just say that everything depends on the individual person, not on their gender. Girls are seen as neat and boys are seen as messy, but I have seen many instances where actually the opposite is true. What usually happens is if you are living in a house of six people, two of them will be anal about cleaning, and the rest will think they don’t have to do as much since someone is doing it.

Or you have the situation where everyone is kinda messy, so then no one wants to clean because they are all too stubborn to just give in and do it. This isn’t a gender thing, it’s a personality thing. If living with a messy person is going to be a problem for you, go check out a potential housemate’s current place and see how their upkeep is.

Too much stuff:

I once overheard two guys talking in my math class, and they were saying that they wouldn’t want to live with girls because they have too much crap and leave it everywhere. Sure, girls tend to have more stuff with them at school than guys, but that doesn’t mean all girls just leave it around the house. If the girl is organized, she will easily be able to keep all her things in her room.

And I have seen plenty of guys leave their things all over their place. Girls do tend to want more counter space in the bathroom, but most are more than happy to comply with keeping it in their room. Keeping shared spaces clean and clutter free depends yet again on the individuals, and you should have a talk with all your housemates before things start getting left where they shouldn’t.

Bathroom messes:

When we hear disgusting bathroom stories, there are usually males involved, but anyone can make a bathroom disgusting. We hear that guys shed pubes everywhere, leave the toilet seat up, don’t have good aim, and leave toenails where toenails should not be left. I even heard one story where the toilet was massively clogged but all of the guys just kept peeing on top of it instead of doing anything about it … talk about nasty.

Girls leave hair in the shower and the sink, fill the trash with period stuff, and have beauty products everywhere. The bathroom can be a catastrophe if no one is willing to clean it, no matter which gender is making the mess. The best thing to do is make a chore chart and have everyone take turns cleaning, and always make sure to speak up if you notice one person is being extremely messy. Sure it can be awkward, but it is worth it to say something.

Drama:

Girls are said to cause more drama, especially if you are living with a lot of them, but guys can bring drama into the house just as easily. This again is a personality thing. You aren’t going to get along with everyone you live with all of the time, but trying to live with people who can put petty things behind them and talk things through like adults are the ones you want to be living with.

Food:

Guys are usually known to eat more, and girls are usually known for knowing how to cook, but these things can be totally opposite. However you want to work out the food situation is your business, whether you all want to share food or want to buy your own, but don’t expect that if you live with girls they will just magically be willing to cook for you. That’s not how it works. It’s either a joint effort or everyone for themselves.

As you can see from the points made above, anyone could be a bad roommate/housemate, so make sure they are really someone you want to be sharing a space with. My biggest suggestion is not living with more than three other people. I’ve noticed that the more people there are in a place, regardless of gender, the messier and more hectic it is.

I live with two other people and it’s wonderful, because we are all relatively neat and can keep the place clean by switching off jobs. You want people who you can communicate with, who you get along with, and people who actually care about other human beings and their space. So when you are picking who you are living with, don’t put stereotypes on them, figure out their actual habits and see if they are worth sharing a space with. Good luck!

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