Finding a university house is often only the first part of the overall process. Another issue that you may encounter is deciding who gets which room.
Houses typically come with a master bedroom and one, two or three other smaller bedrooms. When you’re moving in at the same time as other students, deciding who gets the biggest room can often lead to arguments.
There are things you can do to ensure that you come up with a fair way to determine who gets the room and below you’ll find five of the best.
If you want to skip the fun and come up with a fairer, more logical way of deciding who gets the room, there are a few factors to take into consideration.
1. Drawing Straws
The most common and popular way of deciding upon something is by drawing straws. The person who ends up with the shortest straw gets to the smallest room. Yes, it’s silly but it’s actually a fun and fair way to decide.
Watch out though – there is the chance that someone could cheat you out of the master bedroom! However, most of the time people do play fair with this game.
2. Drawing Names Out of a Hat
Another easy and fair way of determining who gets the room is placing everyone’s name in a hat. You write your name on a piece of paper, fold it up so you can’t see it and put it in the hat. Then shuffle the papers around and the first person who is picked gets the bigger room – just like a lottery.
3. Flip a Coin
No matter how many rooms you have, flipping a coin can be a great way to see who gets the room. Starting off with two people, the person who wins the coin toss then goes up against the next person. It continues until the overall winner has been decided.
4. A Drinking Contest
If ever there was a method for university students to decide upon who gets the bigger room, it’s this one. Drinking contests can be really fun. See who can down a pint the fastest or who can withstand the most alcohol. There are loads of drinking games out there you could participate in.
5. The Person with the Largest Room Pays More
If the rooms are different sizes, it makes sense that the person with the largest room pays the most rent. This is one of the fairer, more sensible options of working out who gets the room. Is anybody willing to pay a little more for the additional space?
It can be a difficult decision but the above are just some of the ways you can make it easier. Logically speaking, whoever has the most stuff should get the bigger room. However, sometimes there’s nothing like a good old fashioned contest to make the decision.
University life is all about having fun, making friends and enjoying your new independence. What better way to do that than to start out with a housemate-bonding contest?
Jane Edwards is a freelance blogger who spends most of her time finding unique ways to save money. She regularly blogs for Vita student accommodation Manchester.