Omg.....

I haven't posted in a while because life has been a roller coaster of drama and headaches. Nothing you want to talk about while you are trying to live through it. Life's been hard living on empty pockets so we decided to get a roommate which in this area is hard during the off season. By off season I mean the non summer months because I live in a vacation town.

So before Christmas we had a lady move in and it was one headache after another with her not having the money when she was suppose to and keeping windows open while the heat was on, to her taking food and not replacing it. There was much more drama but we won't go there but we are parting ways tomorrow. However I have to say I learned a lot from the experience and it hasn't deterred me from trying to find another roommate.

Let me pass on my learned knowledge incase you too want to get a roommate to help with the living expenses. First off ask a lot of questions and I mean a lot. Nothing is too nosey if you are opening your home to a stranger. Also charge money and do a background check. You can do these online for like $20. Find out how long they have been at their current job and what they did before that one. Find out where they lived before and how long and ask for previous landlord's numbers for reference. Don't accept what they give you in writing. They could have typed that on the computer themselves. Also don't accept employer references. They've never lived with this person. Also make sure you get family members names and address encase of emergency or if they skip out on you.

Next you are going to want to draft some type of rental agreement and include house rules, cleaning schedules, and expenses. Assign areas in the kitchen for yours and their food. Try not to put the food in cabinets side by side or you might find things walking off.

One thing that stopped my roommate from taking food was writing it down when it went missing and putting it on the fridge that she needed to replace these things or pay for them before borrowing more. I find this rude but my roommate was eating me out of house and home. She also liked to invite herself to large meals I prepared without asking until I told her if she was going to keep it up she was going to have to take turns cooking large meals too or help with the cost.

I also found it helpful to write a list of commonly used items like dish soap and garbage bags and write who bought the last one. We had to do this because she refused to help with the cost of those items either although it was in the rental agreement. Also don't let them get away with buying Dollar Tree trash bags that won't hold 5 pounds of garbage.

You might want to set a quiet time in your agreement also. I wish I had when my roommate at 2 am decided it was time to listen to loud music or scream at her mother over the phone. Also have some type of agreement about the yard, like my roommate wanted a garden area and compost heap and I found she was placing fish parts in the compost and my dogs got into it. It almost killed my chihuahua. This is an oversight I won't make again.

It seems like a lot of work and in some ways it is. Just because you need the extra funds don't settle on letting just anyone into your home. Be picky because they will be living with you.