December 9, 2018, by Lucy

5 Things you Should Know About Living in a Student House

It Gets Messy Real Quick

Living in halls means that you become immune to mess. Although living in a house may not be as messy as living in student halls, it certainly makes you more aware of the mess that is there. Indeed, gone are the days of weekly cleaning visits, for now you are the cleaner! Soon enough you’ll realise that pretty much as soon as you clean the house, a mess inevitably occurs. I mean, it’s sod’s law that as soon as you mop the kitchen floor than someone will splash their cup of coffee all over the clean tiles. It’s pretty much inevitable for some cruel, unjust reason. Similarly, things you didn’t even know could get messy, do: a pile of post for the old tenants will occupy a great proportion of your hallway, a pile of shoes will guard the back door and the washing up bowl in the sink will go a unnerving orangey colour from all the pain you put it through.

Bin Day is the Most Important Day of the Week

Forget deadlines, having that Friday feeling or even your birthday… there is no day more important than bin day. Just as with all good things, bin day is something you don’t appreciate the value in until you forget to put the bin out. Trust me, on this one. Never forget to put the bin out.

On the one occasion that my housemates and I forgot to put the bin out, we paid for it miserably. Soon enough we had too many bin bags to fit in the bin, leaving the lid slightly ajar to accommodate for the overflowing contents. Initially, we didn’t think that this would be much of a problem, but boy were we wrong. Word must have got out among the bird population because our bin became the social event of the year for the winged species. However, for us, it was utter chaos. In the midst of this mass bird feeding party, leftover food was strewn all over the floor, with it thus being our job to rectify the problem. As we were made to pick up all the rotting food, the smell of decaying apple cores and gone off fish still haunts my mind. Don’t even get me started on the touch of the mushed food.

Just put your bins out, kids!

Quiz Shows are the Highlights of Your Day

One of the main reasons I hate being in uni past 5pm is that fact that I will miss out on some prime time television. I’m talking about Pointless, the Chase and even Tipping Point if you’re feeling crazy. By missing out on this top quality television, you are simultaneously missing out on some bonding time with the uni fam. Forget house outings, staying in is where it’s at. Nothing will bring a group of people closer than hypothetically winning the Pointless trophy and having Richard and Alexander tell you that you were more than worthy of the prize. I mean, I say this, but I imagine that actually winning the trophy and the cash prize is a thousand times better than playing at home. But still, a house that plays together, stays together.

Everyone Acquires ‘a Dish’

You may think that you have a varied diet but living in a house will leave you having a dish attributed to your persons. Whether you become known for your love of stir fries, curries or even fish, chips and beans, it will become a part of your inner house identity. No longer will you be ordinary Jenny from the block, but you will be elevated to Jenny from the block who also loves to eat gravy with every meal. Think of it as being a status symbol… you are what you eat.

You’ll Become One Person

At the beginning of term, you’re a strong, independent student, ready to take on all that the world has to offer. Come the end of the term and you’re a shell of your former self. Spending so much time with your housemates causes you to become somewhat dependent on them, with their five minute absence causing you to automatically assume that they have gone missing and are in need of a search party. Likewise, the mannerisms of other people will rub off on you and you’ll even start to act like your housemates. Maybe you’ll pick up some Northern slang or maybe you’ll begin putting mayo on everything just because your housemate does it, who knows? Communal living is a slippery slope to losing your identity and morphing into one collective house identity.

Posted in Lucy