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More and more people are taking in roommates or moving in with other people, and more older folks who might have considered themselves past the roommate stage in another era are living with roommates. The reasons for this shift are pretty obvious: Housing costs and inflation are up, wages are flat, and everyone is making do with less—including less space.
Living with roommates isn’t always a descent into hell, of course, but it does present challenges. People have different ideas about everything from cleanliness to courtesy, so sharing private space with other people inevitably causes friction. Luckily, we live in a consumer paradise and you can buy solutions to many of life’s problems. If you’re going to have roommates, buy these nine essentials immediately and you’ll have a (slightly) better time sharing that space.
Power strip
An unofficial rule of modern life is that you’re not going to have fewer devices any time soon. Even if you get along with your roomies and have the run of a shared space, having a power strip with USB ports is essential. Many apartments just don’t have enough power outlets to begin with, for one thing, and you don’t want to be forced to charge up your devices out in a common area. Outlets often get hidden behind heavy furniture, too, making them inconvenient to use. And if you have your own bedroom or private area in the apartment or house, you’ll want to set it up for everything you need, whether that’s just a relaxing place to binge Netflix on your own or a home office where you can do your Zoom meetings without your roommate wandering into the frame.
Noise management
People have different sleep cycles—and different definitions of the phrase “inside voice.” That makes noise management absolutely crucial to your roommate experience. If your roommates are going to sit up talking right outside your door all night, or play video games at full volume into the wee hours, you’ll be very excited to have the following:
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White noise maker. For general zen and calming, being able to block out the maddening sound of your roommate on the phone with their significant other will be a godsend. You can install apps on your phone, of course, but nothing beats the ambient sound of an actual white noise machine.
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Noise-cancelling headphones. Sometimes you need more silencing power, so headphones are a must. And sometimes you want to crank up your music or your own games and media and you don’t want to be rude about it.
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Earplugs. Since sleeping with headphones on can be difficult (and music may keep you awake), having some good squishy earplugs to jam in your ears might enable you to sleep even when your roomies have guests over late into the evening.
Shower bag
Even if your roommates aren’t the sort to steal your soap, shampoo, and expensive skincare regimen, it’s a good idea to have all your shower supplies in a portable bag. This way, there’s never any confusion about what belongs to who.
Label maker
Yes, it’s passive-aggressive and kind of annoying, but better to have a label maker in case your roommate turns out to have a loose concept of private property. A label maker has a lot of uses beyond preventing food theft, of course. Over time, possessions get shared and mixed together, so marking stuff now will save you a lot of headaches a year or two from now when one of you moves out and you can’t remember who originally owned the spatula.
Mini fridge
Food is always a point of stress in roommate situations. People sometimes innocently “steal” food, especially if you buy many of the same items as your roommate. And groceries bought in a communal spirit aren’t always shared out in an equitable fashion. A small fridge you can keep in your bedroom will allow you to have supplies that your roommates can’t access with the bonus of giving you access to snacks and drinks without having to emerge from your room when you don’t want to interact with anyone.
If you find that your roommates are not as anti-food-theft as you’d like, an alternative is to buy a food locker. As bleak as it might seem, being able to keep your expensive produce in the communal fridge without worrying about it mysteriously vanishing (into the stomachs of your roommates) is well worth it.
Robot vacuum
People have wildly different concepts of what “clean” means. Some people aren’t bothered by layers of dust as long as the place is neat, while some people break out the industrial solvents three times a week and complain bitterly about a single crumb left on the kitchen counters. A solid robot vacuum can find that middle ground—a shared space that isn’t absolutely filthy but also doesn’t require the neat freak of the group to go on the warpath. (Here is our list of the best robot vacuums to buy in 2024.)
A bathrobe
A bathrobe is an essential item not because you should be ashamed of your body, but because it respects a baseline of privacy. If you’re not used to throwing one on any time you’re not fully dressed, it’s a good practice to get into, at least until you and your roommate come to an understanding that involves tolerance of various states of nudity.
