Dorm Room and Roommate Questions?

Question

I have some questions regarding dorm rooms and roommates. The college I will be attending doesn't allow anything to be nailed into the walls. Does anyone know of any shelves that don't require nails to be put up? Or ways to hang things like bulletin boards without using nails? Also, naturally I am a bit concerned about living with a roommate. I understand we will have share things like the TV and refrigerator. And it's not that I'm not the kind of person who never likes to share. But I also want her to respect my personal belongings. Is it ok to not want her to use/borrow my belongings and also to request that none of her guests use my bed when I'm not there? This will be my first time in a dorm room so any advice you can give me would be appreciated very much. Thank you :o)

Answer 1

I live in a dorm room at my college, and believe me, you'll figure everything out and it will be fine.

Usually colleges don't let you nail anything up, and a lot of times the walls are cement so you can't really use nails anyway. Get some sticky tabs by 3M or something to hang up hooks and other things to hang bulletin boards from. Get fun-tac to hang up posters and pictures. Also make sure you have lots of other ways to store stuff, like under-bed crates and drawers as well as additional closet drawers, etc. There's only so much space in a dorm room, so make the most of it. Even if you don't like having anything under your bed at home, you might need to store a lot of stuff under your bed at school. Don't worry about it and just do whatever you need to. Boxes also work great, so start stocking up now so you have them when you move in.

As for the personal belongings issue, she probably is thinking the same thing. Most people don't assume they can use other people's stuff without permission, and you'll probably all bring your own stuff anyway (like hair dryers, etc). So just bring whatever you need for yourself and see if she even needs them or asks to use them because chances are, she won't. So there's no need to get too worried about it. If however, she does want to use your hair dryer all the time or something, politely tell her that you don't like her using your hair dryer all the time but that you'll be glad to go to Wal-Mart with her and help her find her own.

You will need to share the refrigerator though. Most colleges don't let you have 2 (because of the amount of electricity they would need). So just split it up. My roommate and I just ended up with the "unspoken" rule that I have the top shelf and she has the bottom and we share the door. But we talk about it if we need too and can move stuff around. Like if I buy a big gallon of Arizona Tea or something which doesn't fit on my shelf, she lets me use hers and I move her stuff up to my shelf.

You will probably need to share the tv too, but if you have enough room, you are usually permitted to each have your own. Many people in my college each have their own small tv. But if you can't accomodate 2 tvs, just talk it out. It probably won't happen too often that you each want to watch something at the same time, but if it does, see if one of you can go to a friend's room instead that's watching the same thing. There's also usually a tv in the lounge (if your dorm has one) that you can go watch. See if you can plan out a schedule if you need to. Get a piece of paper and write out when you each want control of the tv, but compromise. Neither one of you can always get what you want.

As soon as you start settling into dorm life, try and have a little "ground-rules" talk about the room. She probably has a lot of things she wants to talk to you about too. So make sure you are both being fair. Don't forbid her to use anything of yours if you expect to be able to use everything of hers. And always say please and thank you whenever you do need to share something. Like if your printer breaks before you need to print your term paper and she lets you use hers. And you need to respect HER as well. It's perfectly fine if you don't want her guests to use your bed, but then don't turn around and expect to let YOUR guests use HER bed because that's not fair. And don't try and dictate how the room looks either. If she wants a whole bunch of Metallica posters or something and you really hate Metallica, don't tell her to take them down, because then she will have every right to tell you to take down your 50 Cent poster. Using them as examples of course, but you get the idea. Just split the room in half and let her hang up whatever she wants in exchange for you hanging up whatever you want.

Another tip is to MAKE OTHER FRIENDS. Do not let your roommate become your best or only friend right away because chances are that you'll be sick of her by the end of the year. Find other people to walk to class with, eat meals with, etc. My freshman year roommate and I don't even look at one another anymore because we were so sick of one another. She didn't respect me at all and I finally gave up even trying to say anything about it. Like I just CANNOT sleep with the tv on and she always wanted it on (and loud) when she went to bed. So if she starts doing something early on in the year that really urks you, bring it up THEN because if you wait too long, it will be too late. I had much better luck my second year when I was able to pick my own roommate. We get along so much better and normally don't have any problems. We even chose to live together again next year!

Good luck!!!! I'm sure everything will be fine! It just takes a lot of compromise and respect from BOTH of you. Make the most of it!

Answer 2

first, make sure that you go over what you expect from your roommate when you first meet them - like no sharing personal items and no using your bed. If you get this out in the open right away it avoids lots of problems later.

I dont know of any shelves that dont use nails, but they make little plastic hooks that stick to the wall with two sided tape, you can hang up bulletin boards with that.

Answer 3

use thumb tacks to hang stuff...and i would go ahead and hang the shelves, you can always use fill in the holes with dry wall compound at the end of the semester...not a big deal there...as far as the respect thing...i would say that is a good idea...but i would count on people not sitting on your bed...limited places to sit makes that pretty hard...lighten up and have a good time.

Answer 4

the people there will know how to fancy up your walls...as for the roommate.....you could really luck out and make a friend for life or get stuck with someone who you hate. if they piss you off too much though, you can usually trade. you should definately lay down the ground rules initially though.

Answer 5

have have no answer