Best Ways To Share Apartment Bathroom Space With Roommates

By Timothy Hayes on August 19, 2015

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Personal space is a crucial component to any person’s healthy existence. The need to have time alone and isolation from other people is an ancient need and our natural demand for privacy speaks to this.

So naturally, it is incredibly difficult when we are forced to share these private, intimate spaces with anyone else.

One such inner sanctum is our bathroom. It is a place of vulnerability and cleansing and as such outside influence is greatly loathed. Thus, dealing with sharing that space even with friends is difficult and this is perhaps why sharing it with roommates is doubly difficult.

Image by Chris Lattuada via flickr.com

Sharing with roommates can be very difficult, especially if you are an only child or the last child. Sharing may not be a natural response for you and having your own space might seem like a crucial thing, but if you’re rooming with anyone, space becomes very fluid. It is no longer about whose space belongs to who, but rather who is in the space and using it at the time.

This attitude will help anyone with roommate problems. For the bathroom particularly though, some things need to be the same every time. These are some things to help make your bathroom sharing a little better with roommates.

Firstly, figure out what you both need in the bathroom. Depending on your gender, tastes, and habits you may find yourself in the bathroom often. If your roommate is not, all the better, but if they are, you’re going to need to organize things. The best thing to have to organize your own toiletries is a specific bag or box for all of those things. I suggest a bag as it’s easy to zip up and grab as you walk out of the bathroom or grab when you walk into it. You should keep this somewhere you can access quickly.

If your roommates are fine with sharing bathroom space, and let’s be honest, that’s saintly considering most bathroom sizes, then find a way to organize the essentials so you can get them when you need them, but also put them away too. Your morning or evening routine should include this time to tidy up and put away your material so that your roommate who has agreed to share can return the favor. The problem with messiness is that it compounds on itself. You have to stay on top of that organization or else you will end up with this.

… and no one likes that. (image credited to www.reddit.com)

As previously stated, space becomes fluid in the case of roommates. It has been demonstrated by researchers that cats don’t have space that is their own, but are incredibly territorial. How? Well the cats have specific routes they follow throughout the course of a day, week, or month. When these paths cross, cats fight. When they stay away from each other, cats do fine with space.

You and your roommates should try this approach. Whenever one of you has to use time in the bathroom, the other should plan accordingly. If both of you are night-showering people or both morning-showering people, you should schedule yourselves to be out of the bathroom in time for the other. If not, try having one of you switch to another time of day. As a pro tip, try offering to switch yourself. It will make life much simpler if you initiate this shift.

For showers and bathtubs, you should figure out a way to separate out your shampoos, conditioners, soaps, and whatever else for each person, but let it live there. This way it’s there when you need it, but each thing has a place and everything is in its place. Keep your own soaps, razors, and other non-sharable items in their own designated spots. This will avoid confusion, especially if you have similar or even identical products as one of your roommates. If you have multiple alcoves or ledges in the shower or bathtub, make each one a designated spot for each roommate.

Have common material to share, too. Sometimes you’re just going to have to share bathroom material. Toothpaste, mouthwash, toilet paper, and hand soap are not economical to keep to yourself. You will all need them, all use them, and one of you will have to buy them. If it’s a question of money, rotate who buys them each time. These items as well as first aid kits, pain relievers, and similar health items should be shared as well. Healthy roommates are happy roommates.

Image by Arlington County via flickr.com

Most important of all, communicate with your roommates. If something they do is bothering you, openly tell them. It will help all of you in the long-term to keep open channels of communication. This way no problems brew or fester in your apartment situation. Your roommate is probably not doing it intentionally and they should try to work with you to fix the grievance.

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