Who you live with and where can really affect your overall university experience, so some deep thinking is required.
Sharing accommodation with other students can be a daunting experience, especially if it's your first time away from home. It can be a baptism of fire. If like me, you are a bit of a clean freak, the thought of sharing a bathroom and kitchen might start to make you feel a bit...well, sick.
You might start thinking, what if I'm the only person who does the cleaning up...? What if my housemates are Jager beasts who like staying up till god knows what time and disrupting my study? How do I deal with passive aggressive housemates and more importantly - What if they eat my last tin of baked beans or use up all of the bog rolls!! I'm having anxiety just typing up these things, but unfortunately, these are some of the things to consider when moving into shared accommodation. That's not to say that house sharing can't be a positive experience - it can, it just requires compromise. By the time you read this blog, you'll have likely settled into university and established some good relationships with friends you feel you are ready to 'commit' to.
Once you've sort of established who you'll likely be living with, the most important part of your home sharing experience is finding a home that is decent and affordable. Fortunately, the houses in Sunderland are actually fairly reasonable in price - but you might want to think of living somewhere convenient for ease of travel with either regular bus service or metro links.
Rent is likely to be charged individually and be taken out of every person's bank on a monthly basis, but things like Digital tv and internet should be split between the number of people you are house sharing with. I would advise it come out of one person account at the beginning or end of every month and the other housemates should be responsible to make sure that they have their share of the bill paid to you before its taken out of your account.
I think it's important to sit down with your prospective housemates before moving in and establishing rules quite early on to avoid unnecessary conflict. Communicating with each other is a must in these situations to talk about shared responsibility such as cooking, washing up, shopping.
You might want to set up a kitty that each of you contributes weekly to cover things like bread, milk, tea, coffee toilet roll etc... 2 or 3 quid a week won't really break the bank and will ensure that you always have something in. You'll be surprised how many cups of tea and coffee you get through during exam time or during deadlines!
I don't really think there is much more to that, from my experience of living with other people, I was quite lucky. I hope you have an amazing experience with your new housemates, learning together and making new memories.
