Things I Wish I Knew Before Freshers Week
21 Things I Wish I Knew Before Freshers Week
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Not everybody has the same standards of cleanliness, and you're going to have to learn that the hard way. If you're used to being a little messy at home, you're in for a rude awakening in your university halls. Dishes won't wash themselves, and people will get annoyed at you for leaving dirty plates and cutlery in the sink. They'll be vocal about this, too. For those of you who are proud neat freaks, you're going to have to accept that you can't turn everybody into Monica Geller from "Friends" overnight. Everyone has different standards, but there needs to be mutual respect in shared living areas.
Lynsey Crombie, ITV's "This Morning" Homecare Expert recommends calling a meeting with all housemates to make a plan as soon as you feel it is appropriate to. It's worth being honest and setting the standard before passive-aggressively pinning a chores schedule to the kitchen noticeboard a month down the line. Being reasonable and trying to come to an agreement that works for everyone right at the beginning could save you the awkward accusations and the blame game in months to come. Lynsey adds, "Set some house rules and try to either set a rota where specific tasks are done on rotation or tasks are delegated to specific people. Include things like emptying the bins, cooking, washing up, lounge tidy and refresh, cleaning the shared bathroom, and so on."
Another tip is to leave one cupboard in the kitchen empty. That way, you can put other people's mess in that cupboard to be claimed later rather than being left on the kitchen table all day. Or, Lynsey recommends having an "odd box", so if things are left laying around they can be placed in here. She said, "People will soon get bored or having to look through the odd box and start to put things away."
To see more cleaning tips from Lynsey, check her student cleaning checklist here .