How to get along with your room mate

The battle to survive in Nairobi is often brutal especially if your swords (read money) are blunt. The landlord will knock every month, food, water and electricity competing for your meager money. To survive often people team up. When the two of you are fighting against one enemy then the odds of making it alive and well increases tremendously.

You team with a friend and rent a room, a bedsitter or whatever you can just lay your head at night. It could be a stranger that you are forced to make an acquaintance off, learn his mannerisms and so on. The single instinct that kicks in is to survive, just survive. You put up with his everything, hoping that things will get better. Here are some of the things to help you get along:

Don’t contribute to buying ‘assets’

The assets I am talking about are woofers, TV sets and such like things. Don’t contribute to buying them. One day when you have to part ways it will be difficult to share them. If you do agree to contribute, make sure that you agree on who owns it. This will avoid squabbles when it’s time to part ways. You could have plenty of assets but you own none because you collectively bought them.

Respect.

The truth is one of you will feel superior and will want to get the upper hand in everything. He will not want to do chores or cook. But that won’t help in any way. Respect your roommate. Don’t let arrogance drive a wage between the two of you.

Respect will enable both of you to agree on who does the chores in the house. Respect will enable you to honor your part of the bargain.It will enable you to live in harmony.