<p>I'm going to be a freshman this upcoming fall and I've been reading that most roommates hare a fridge, microwave, and TV.</p>
<p>I'm not really fond of the idea of sharing a fridge, since I feel that some people might take advantage by eating my food and/or not paying for their fair share. Also I feel like they aren't big enough to store food for two people to begin with. </p>
<p>My family has been generous enough to buy me a fridge and microwave already, and I'm leaning towards telling my roommate that I don't want to share the fridge.</p>
<p>As for the TV, I hardly ever watch it to begin with, and I'm sure I can just stream m shows of he internet if wanted.</p>
<p>I would like our input on this. A part of me feels like I'm being stingy and a bad roommate if I tell her to get her she'll have to get her own.</p>
<p>Well when I first contracted my roommate prior to the start of Freshmen year we decided to split the buying of big appliances. I bought the fridge and microwave and he offered to buy the TV, which worked out fot me since his was still more expensive. Provided that you are going to buy a meal plan and that you are in a dorm you will not be doing much cooking or buying groceries. Our fridge was simply used for beverages or to store left over food. I am not sure what kind of food you plan to buy besides a few microwaveable things but I doubt your roommate would eat them at all or at least not without your prermission. I have never seen any room with two fridges that is a waste of money and to be honest there is just not enough room for that. I would think that telling you roommate that they can not use your fridge is not a wise idea and you will already come into school with tension with your roommate whom you will spend the rest of the year living with. I would suggest maybe you set ground rules for the large appliances but It does seem like you are being kind of stingy. Considering your parents bought you the fridge I am sure they had the idea that your roommate would be able to use it but fridges really arent used for more than beverages and left overs.</p>
<p>Some schools, like one my older daughter attended, only allow one fridge and one microwave per room due to electrical use concerns. Make sure to check out the school’s policy. If it only allows one, then are you going to get to the school as early as possible on check-in day to get yours in the room first, and then put a lock on it to keep your roommate from sharing?</p>
<p>What if you have a roommate who cannot afford to purchase the appliances for her own use and does not have generous relatives even if two are allowed? Again, are you planning to put a lock on the fridge and microwave in that case?</p>
<p>Take the high road. It is difficult for people who have been priviliged to have their own rooms their whole lives learn to share, but it can be done, and issues can be resolved.</p>
<p>Since I am also a first generation college student and I don’t know people who have left for college to give me advice, I’ve been sort of going with what I feel would be best for me. But I guess I should be more open to sharing. I suppose I can just create ground rules on what foods I’m willing to share and which I’m not.</p>
<p>To be completely honest, if my roommate immediately started setting down all these “ground rules” the first day, I’d be really put off. I totally understand that you don’t want people taking your food, but the odds that your roommate will be rude enough to just blatantly steal your things is extremely unlikely. If it becomes a problem, talk to them, but you really don’t want to be that person who immediately assumes they’re going to take everything. Your roommate could be your best friend-- just chill out and get to know her. </p>
<p>Also, I can pretty much guarantee you that you’re not going to have enough room for 2 fridges and 2 microwaves. I know a lot of people who kept their own microwave for religious reasons, but other than that, it’s virtually unheard of to keep two separate ones.</p>
<p>Choose your battles when it comes to your roommate. This isn’t even an issue yet (taking your food), so don’t make it one.</p>
<p>Eh, I don’t like sharing either, hence why I applied for a single (wish me luck, hard for new students to get singles, lol). But I don’t plan on bringing a fridge if you have a meal plan do you really need one? Plus it will take up room you could use for other things. However maybe you could agree to split the fridgespace or whatever. But you did pay for it so why should their food take up your fridge space? I see no problem with saying its for your use only</p>
<p>My roommates and I all chipped in to rent a fridge… Biggest mistake ever. One of my roommates would never clean his stuff out, and we’d always end up with rotting fish or something that made everything else inedible. He would also take up the entire fridge with alcohol and random other stuff that he never ate. And there was no way we could tell him to stop putting stuff in there because he paid for a third of it. Oh, and I wouldn’t be surprised if he ate some of our food; he would take/borrow other things without asking.</p>
<p>Make sure your roommate isn’t like that before you agree to let her use your fridge. Kindly set some ground rules about not stealing food and throwing anything out that’s gone bad. I had an exceptionally bad roommate, so I wouldn’t worry too much, but it could happen.</p>
<p>OP, your roommate probably has concerns just like you do. There is nothing wrong with saying something along the lines of “I don’t mind sharing things most of the time, but I do like to be asked first before you take something of mine.” This way you cover food, clothing, school supplies etc. Then ask, “how do you feel about sharing things?” And also, ask your roommate what her hot button issues might be.</p>
<p>I really don’t think it will be that much of a problem. If your roommate does start stealing her food, then just confront her. Odds are she won’t be hungry enough to eat your food because there’s already so much available at college.</p>
<p>There’s a polite way to go about this… It sounds curteous and inviting, but it still serves your purpose. Share the fridge with her, and kindly tell her, “If you ever want anything of mine from the fridge, just ask!” with a smile on your face. Seems friendly, serves your purpose. THREAD CLOSED!=P</p>
Roommates share fridges, not the food inside of it! Your roommate should never, ever eat your food, unless you give him explicit permission to. (“Hey, there’s leftover pizza in the fridge. Feel free to help yourself!”) </p>
<p>I do agree with other posters that bringing a fridge and not sharing it is selfish because you can’t easily have multiple fridges in the room. (Official rules aside, fridges take up a lot of space in tiny dorm rooms. I’ve seen rooms where the only space for a fridge was inside the closet.) </p>
<p>That being said, if you bought the smallest variant of fridge which can hold your food and your food only, you might have to be selfish and claim all of the fridge yourself. Just be prepared to trade up for a bigger model to be shared with your roommate if your roommate can’t bring his own fridge (e.g. because the college enforces a one fridge per room rule).</p>
<p>I rented a fridge from the school and my roommate brought a microwave. I told her that I’d be willing to share the fridge if she’d share the microwave. The school had a program where if one person opted to rent the fridge, they paid the full price per semester for rental and if the roommate selected that option too, they split the cost. Our arrangement worked out for about two weeks when I found out she complained obsessively that I was taking up the entire fridge (which wasn’t true, but I damn well tried to when I found that out).</p>
<p>If you know who your roommate is, you can start coordinating stuff as soon as you can. When I would read last year on here about how small dorm rooms are, I didn’t necessarily believe it but lo and behold…when I got there, there was barely enough room for the rented fridge and it had to block the heater (which was typically not allowed for safety reasons, but there was literally no other place for it). If you’re going to set “ground rules” do so gingerly. Don’t just assume that your roommate will be Satan and will eat all of your food and be awfulawfulawful. Just tell him/her that you’re bringing the fridge and they’d be welcome to share it. It’s pretty unlikely that you’re going to be cooking gourmet meals in your dorm kitchen anyway so it’ll probably be just water, juice, fruit, leftovers and the like. The kitchen in my dorm was disgusting and the oven stopped working about two or three weeks in. I wouldn’t boil water in that thing, let alone cook food.</p>
<p>If you live in the dorms you don’t really need to worry about roommates eating your food. Fridges in dorms are there for storing leftovers and drinks. In my case, at least, there were rarely any left overs and the fridge just held drinks and a pitcher of water. </p>
<p>It’s really selfish and kind of shows almost no forethought to say you won’t share. Rooms can’t hold more than one fridge and having more than one microwave is kind of pushing it. If you set ground rules (in a non-jerk manner) in the first week or so you shouldn’t have a problem with stuff. I had a horrible idiot for a roommate my first year (I have nothing positive to say about her) and even then I never had a problem with food being stolen.</p>
<p>I’d just like to reiterate that sharing a fridge is NOT the same as sharing the food inside. I actually had some issues with this freshman year, so I figure I’ll offer my perspective:</p>
<p>First of all - fridges are really expensive, and I think you should offer to share the space. If you’re on a meal plan, to be honest, you probably won’t need to put <em>that</em> much food in your fridge anyways, but I think you should offer to share the space. That being said, I almost never even used my fridge because the only food I ever bought was non-perishable goods like granola bars, cereal, etc. - the only thing I bought was milk.</p>
<p>However, I do understand your concern about having your food eaten! My freshman year, both of my roommates would eat my food when I was out, and then deny it (even though I knew I hadn’t eaten anything). It got to the point where anything I put on the pantry shelf would be gone within a few days, whether or not I had even opened it. My mom sent me a few boxes of girl scout cookies that I had ordered from my little sister, and within two days two of the boxes were completely eaten (I hadn’t even opened them). The most irritating part was that the empty boxes would be left on the shelf, so I wouldn’t know the food was gone until I went over hoping to get a snack. Although I made several general statements asking both of them to stop eating my food (to this day I have no idea which roommate it was), it didn’t really improve until I just started keeping my food inside of my desk drawers altogether.</p>
<p>This year, however, it worked much better, because we laid out ground rules right away: certain foods are available for sharing, and certain foods aren’t. Whenever my roommate or I went shopping, she or I would make a point to say “hey, feel free to help yourself to X” or “hey, I really need these for late at night, so do you mind not eating them?” It worked perfectly. I see nothing wrong with laying out basic ground rules while you’re getting to know each other - i.e., “in terms of food, maybe we should specify whether things are to be shared or left alone.” I wish I had done that my freshman year,</p>
<p>OP, when I first received my roommate notification I waited a week to contact them. They had no facebook due to parents not allowing until they where 18. She thought the # they gave her was a cell so she text it which I never got as it was my house phone. We talked through emails which I found via school website’s people finder.</p>
<p>I agree with others it may put off your roommate if you already have ground rules for them without discussing anything, but it is not virtually unheard of to have 2 fridges in a dorm. It all depends on how you want to allocate your space, and your needs. Many people in my dorm had 2 including myself.</p>
<p>Like you, my roommate had a fear of me eating all her food, or taking over the fridge. Lucky for us we both had received fridges as gifts along with microwaves. We decided that we would both bring a fridge because neither of us wanted to return it seeing how her’s was a relatives old one, and mine new. I also did not like the campus food so I kept food in that could be for lunch or dinner such has lunch meats. She did have a smaller fridge so it stayed on her dresser, and mine stayed on my side of the room. I offered to return my microwave because she didn’t want too. I bought a printer instead and brought that to school. There was problems with sharing this so I would advise against bringing one. As for the tv like you I don’t watch too much tv, but I offered to bring my sister’s so she wouldn’t have to go buy one. Problems with this to since she complained about placement often, and left it on or would turn up the volume for no reason. I didn’t move it a 3rd time for her since she was not being cooperative other times and only thought about herself.</p>
<p>Email or call your roommate and discuss your concerns. See what their response is. You may find out they are out of state, or live further away and it is too much for them to bring a fridge, and tv. They might also decide that they only need one to keep drinks in. If this is the case I would offer to share it. You can both decide on ground rules either this summer or when you arrive to campus. This may be taking it further but I would suggest that you both write and sign a roommate contract. Just so that you both are clear in case you have other concerns such has boy or girl friends coming over. Alone time in the room, or whatever it may be. My dorm was suppose to have this done with each floor’s RA leading it but sadly for me it never happened. If you feel uncomfortable asking them to do this, or having to remind them of it ask your RA to go with you. Keep it in a place both of you can access and make sure it address both of your concerns so that they feel “protected” too.</p>
<p>You can always write you name on your food, and beverages so if there is any question they know whose it is. Sounds like you are, but I would share the microwave as you can’t run into too many problems with it. Just keep it in a place accessible to your roommate also. Please PM if you would like to know any of the problems I encountered with the printer if you are taking one as I do not know when I will be later to check this forum.</p>
<p>if you’re worried about sharing food, label it as yours. If your roommate is a reasonable person, she’ll respect that! If not, bring it up with her. as for not sharing the entire appliance, that’s pretty stingy and will leave a bad first impression. i found that sharing your stuff is beneficial for you in the long run. if you need to borrow something, your roommate will be more willing to lend you it or do you favors if you guys get along well and exchange things mutually. for example, printer, paper, hairdryer, office supplies, chores, etc. and i recommend against bringing a tv because you can watch your shows on your laptop and having the tv available to just be turned on will waste a lot of time.</p>
<p>Hmm, I never heard that ‘most roommates share a fridge’. I always assumed if it was your fridge, only your food would go in it. The microwave and tv are easier to share though. My roommate and I both had our own fridges (lol I can’t imagine sharing one with her, she cooked A TON). She was always very nice and shared milk and some of her food with me but we never would have shared a fridge. Unless your room can only have one fridge, I say bring your own and don’t share it. Fridges can be expensive.</p>
<p>~And let me add that both of us were NOT on meal plans, which is why sharing a fridge could have been a problem. We both needed all the room our fridges had.</p>