Living in shared accommodation may be a familiar experience to a lot of you, and remind you of the good old university days!
However, if you are taking the leap into agency because you are empty nesting now and it’s been a while since you’ve had to live around others, shared accommodation may seem like a tough aspect to get used to again.
Here’s a few tips to help you adjust.
1. Come in with the right attitude. The house doesn’t belong to your housemates or yourself, and your housemates do not need to work around your needs.
Since it is a shared house, be respectful of each other and make compromises. Be flexible in your daily routine and have a positive attitude.
2. Clean up as you go. Cooking your dinner at peak dinner time? Then there’s a likely chance that your housemate will need to do this soon too. So clean up the kitchen as you go; don’t just leave it all in one big mess to clean up alter.
Trust me, if I can get my boyfriend on board with this, then it’s easy for anyone to do!
3. Sleep with ear plugs or listen to an audiobook. Working on opposite shifts is hard for anyone. But be ready for at least a bit of noise, since you won’t have housemates tiptoeing all day. Put in some ear plugs or an audiobook to block out the noise of daily living.
Chances are your housemate is already toning it down for you. So breathe slowly, relax, and drift off to whatever helps you sleep.
4. Clean when it’s needed! There’s the age-old paranoia that your housemate doesn’t do any of the cleaning, and you do it all. But at the end of the day, if it’s dirty, just clean it.
People have different mess tolerances, and it will breed resentment if someone sits there waiting for the other to clean something that they are unaware of. They may be thinking the exact same thing too!
One way to avoid this is to have a chat, and organise a day where you can clean the house together and split the chores. If you were living alone, you’d be doing all the cleaning anyway. If it would make you happier if it was clean, then our advice is to just get it done.
5. Make friends with them! It is so much easier to give people the benefit of the doubt, or give allowances in daily living if you actually like who you live with. Make an effort, be friendly, do some activities together.
If you don’t like who you live with, then small things will bother you a lot more. Come from a direction of understanding, figure out what you can control, and what you can improve together.
Living in shared accommodation with people you don’t know is challenging. But it is all about attitude and taking responsibility for your own actions and needs. It can be a game of mental warfare, but only if you let it. Be reasonable, you are all here to get the most out of your agency experience so give each other a break!
If you need a little bit of support, reach out to your Placement Consultant. They are always happy to help!
To start your travel nursing experience, register with Affinity today by clicking here.
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