Tips for Staying Sane While Sharing Coliving Space with Others

Everyone needs their space and their privacy. While some privacy-minded individuals may prefer to live alone, the cost of doing so near the urban center of a city is often prohibitively expensive. For that reason many people share accommodation out of necessity, and not necessarily out of choice.

Avoiding Conflict at Home

Coliving spaces are better, friendlier places to share accommodation. They are designed around the concept of shared living, and therefore they typically include everything that’s needed to live comfortably in a flat monthly rental fee. That means that weekly cleaning is included, for instance, as is electricity, toilet paper, cleaning supplies, and often even basic kitchen necessities. These are all things that often cause lots of conflict in a shared living situation, and by including it in the rental, a few major potential conflict hot spots are avoided.

With the above in mind, there is still plenty of space to get driven mad by others in a coliving space. Likewise, you have the potential to drive others mad without you noticing.

The fact that you are sharing living space means that everyone has a responsibility to be considerate. While cleaning is often included, you are still expected to clean up after yourself in the kitchen, bathroom, or living areas.

Communication is Key

A lot of conflict can be resolved or avoided with good communication. For instance, if you are going to be cooking up a storm it would be best to coordinate your effort around times that others want to use the kitchen. A kitchen schedule will go a long way to avoid this sort of conflict. And of course, just as you don’t want to walk into a mess someone else left in the kitchen, it would be best to clean the aftermath of your cooking soon after you’re done.

The same consideration should also be extended to other areas of the house. If you were hanging out in the living room with a few beers and a pizza, clean up after you’re done. But hopefully you weren’t hanging out alone, which means you’ll have the helping hands of your accomplices at your disposal. The golden rule is simply to leave any space in the state that you would want to find it after others have been there.

Shared bathrooms can be some of the most volatile war zones in a coliving space. Unflushed toilets, sprinkles on the seat, hair in the sink, or dirty clothes on the floor, are all things that can make people really angry. If you encounter those things often, it’s best to speak up and find a solution. And please don’t be the messy one.

In most cases, though, you’ll be likely to share a coliving space with kind, considerate, and neat people, who are used to behaving properly around others. But just in case things unravel, it’s best to always stick to schedules, quiet times, and other house rules very closely. By doing that, and reminding others if the need arises, you contribute to cultivating a harmonious and friendly living environment.