The time after high school is a time of change. An important phase of life is over and the spirit of optimism is high. Choosing a career is imminent and the decision to study or train is often associated with a change of location. The first time away from home and standing on your own two feet is a great feeling. At the same time there is this uncertainty, especially when moving to a new city. How is everything going, how much rent can I afford, how quickly do I get to know new people? It’s great if you don’t have to go through it alone, but move into a shared flat with your best friend. We know that. That’s why you can set up your own shared flats at Kubus Living. Just inquire whether or when rooms are available in an apartment.
Unfortunately, this is not always possible, since you are either alone or there is currently no apartment with several free rooms available. The following tips will help you to get to know your potential roommates and to assess whether a joint flat share can be successful.
Here are a few tips for flat share newbies:
WG rules: Everything is possible, nothing is mandatory
It’s always a weird feeling living with people you don’t know. But rest assured, the other person feels the same way. Always remember that both of them made a conscious decision to live in a flat share. It is best to sit down together right at the beginning and discuss what ideas you have about living together. What is important to both of you, what kind of flat share do you want to be? Are you at home a lot and looking for a roommate with whom you can do a lot or are you more looking for a community of purpose?
The clearer you formulate your expectations and show mutual consideration, the more beautiful and harmonious your life together will be.
Looking for a new flatmate: initiative is required
As you may have found out through your own search, KUBUS LIVING is represented on many platforms and we constantly receive room requests. Of course, that also means that many different people come to us. This can have advantages as well as disadvantages. You’re either lucky and get to know someone who fits in perfectly, or you realize afterwards that a different flat share constellation would have been better.
If you don’t want to risk it, you can of course look for your own flatmate(s). Just recommend us to others or post on Facebook, Instagram or another social medium that we have a room available. Then you can organize your own flat share casting in advance đ.
Of course we are happy about every recommendation and take care of the necessary paperwork. Just send an email to: kubus@wullkopf-eckelmann.de
The flat share casting: casting couch
Depending on what kind of flat share you prefer or which roommate(s) you are looking for, you should design the casting for your flat share. If it is a purely functional flat share, you should consider which points of friction can arise and what you personally value. This could be, for example, sticking to the cleaning schedule, not smoking, common interests, etc.
But if you are looking for a roommate with whom you want to do something together or spend nice evenings, you should make the casting much more personal. With a personal casting, live on site or virtually in a video call, you will notice immediately whether the chemistry is right. Of course, at the beginning the formalities are ticked off, like âWhat do you do?â, âWhere are you from?â and so on. The next step is to assess your counterpart as well as possible in a short space of time.
One possible strategy is to organize some kind of speed dating. For example, you can give each other pairs of words to choose from and the other person then always has to answer them spontaneously. “Do you prefer pop music or heavy metal”, “do you prefer to go on winter or summer vacation?” Of course, such a game is no guarantee for a harmonious flat share life, but it is a playful way to find out whether you like the other person or not.
WG stress: Dealing with conflicts correctly
It doesn’t matter whether you choose your roommate or not. In the end, at Kubus Living you will always live as a couple in an apartment and unfortunately there is no magic formula for the perfect roommate. That has always been the case and will certainly always remain so.
Communication is the be-all and end-all in shared flat life. Problems must be addressed openly. How is the other person supposed to know what’s bothering you if you don’t talk about it? Sitting out is useless. If anger is suppressed, the situation is often so deadlocked that the pent-up anger erupts in a bang. This is usually followed by a period of closed doors and silence.
But such a situation can be easily avoided. Set a regular date when the flatmates come together and you can talk to each other in a relaxed atmosphere about what you would like to improve. Mutual reproaches and accusations bring nothing. Remain objective and above all friendly. Instead, talk about what you noticed, how it affected you and what you would rather like. Or would you clean the bathroom more often just because your roommate asked you to do so in a fit of yelling? Hardly likely. Mutual respect is the magic word.
