<p>^ “Edited.” Good decision, though I thought the first paragraph showed a lot of maturity.</p>
<p>My only other thought on this is that August is snippy time in my household. Things tend to even out in September, and I suspect things will settle down in your off-campus house also. Good luck, and I’m sure you’ll value your off-campus experiences.</p>
<p>Yeah - I have seen houses with the garbage laid out on the floor like an area rug, and I do NOT want it to be a struggle to keep our place from looking like that! That’s just totally unacceptable to me. It’s true about needing a fund for common items like TP. I didn’t even think about that. So we’ll definitely discuss that when we do up our contract.</p>
<p>As far as paying in advance, unfortunately we don’t have the money; that /would/ take a lot of the anxiety out of everything…haha.</p>
<p>NewHope33 - sorry, but since, like I said, this is a college message board, I feel a need to correct things that are false concerning the process of applying/attending college. I know a lot of incoming freshmen/current freshmen feel “bad” that they “settled” for a state school (similarly, some don’t apply at all), and that kind of attitude comes from false statements - like barrons’ - made by their peers, parents, or even people on a college message board. Helping these kids out trumps anything I might owe barrons because of his advice.</p>
<p>I think it just might be true that UMCP is a little more rowdy than Caltech.</p>
<p>UMCP–#11 in the 2009 Playboy Party Rankings. (UW #8) I have yet to see CT make any such list. I’m sure there are plenty of smart people at UMCP but nobody is mistaking it for CT in this lifetime nor would they expect to find many coeds dancing on the bars as they do at UMCP and my old school Wisconsin which can probably out party even UMCP but still has plenty of smart people graduating and becoming doctors too. Don’t be so defensive. The only place that can say it measures up to Cal Tech is MIT.
Two of my old roommates are doctors now but they certainly had some times in the old house. One fond memory is the now surgeon having the habit of smoking in the shower and putting his cigs out in the soap. Actually he was not even officially a roommate as he paid no rent–he just slept on our couch most nights but we let him stay.</p>
<p>LOL, I think it’s almost certainly true that on average UMCP is rowdier than Caltech, but Caltech is pretty famous for its very elaborate parties. Our house hosted the Halloween Party every year, and I’m sorry to say most years there were kids who drank too much of our punch and one year someone who will remain nameless overdid the hash brownies and was pretty much in a daze for the party.</p>
<p>umcp, I’ve lived in a group house with UMCP students. We rotated chores weekly and kept the schedule on the refrigerator. This encouraged people not to get too sloppy in the kitchen when they didn’t have kitchen duty, as they knew – or learned the hard way – that what goes around comes around. 
</p>
<p>Each student was responsible for his/her own dishes and food. This was not a communal meal house; our different schedules didn’t allow it. If one of us cooked, we were expected to clean it up that evening. Dirty dishes were not allowed to spend the night, and big chores such as “clean the kitchen” were spelled out (mop the floor, wash the shelves in the refrigerator, wipe the counters and table, etc.). </p>
<p>For the holidays, we had a little celebration and had a limit of $5/person for presents. I still have the four (!) mugs one housemate gave me for Christmas that year, use them often, and wonder sometimes whatever happened to Chip.</p>
<p>…I dunno. I have heard that kids from MIT party ESPECIALLY hard. Most of those nerdy kids at MIT and CalTech, man, they worked so hard through all that fun stuff in HS and probably had crazy, anal retentive Asian parents; what happens when they’re free in college to let loose? Some crazy stuff has got to go down. (Jk, jk…sorta ;)).</p>
<p>What I DO know is that those “rankings” aren’t to be trusted. Did you catch the thread - also on the parents forum - about Alfred U being ranked as having the “least happy students” according to Princeton Review to one year? Then the next, they were #3 on the “happiest” list? I doubt Playboy is anymore scientific. These rankings play to our stereotypes and expectations and don’t seek to reveal the truth.</p>
<p>In any case, the original post implied more than partying habits…intentionally or not ;).</p>
<p>And I like all the advice :). Very encouraging.</p>
<p>Please, please make sure there are working smoke detectors and fire extinguishers in the house. We know a family whose lives were changed forever by a tragedy involving a fire in one of those old houses near UMCP.</p>
<p>I think the most important piece of advice is to come up with a group checking account. Yes, one person can be the money manager, that is accountable to everyone else, but that doesn’t mean you cant double up the duty and do a 3 or 4 month rotation (depending on the lease). I rather like the “work wheel” idea, but it would also work just as well if you took two hours on either Saturday or Sunday morning - or even a Weds night - for everyone to give the place cleaning. My Goodness, there are six of you! I live in 4500 square feet and it takes one woman three house to clean my whole house. </p>
<p>If part of your responsibilities include the outside, someone is going to need to buy the snowshovel and be responsible for shoveling. Usually we did the 2" rule in that you only needed to shovel when it snowed more than 2 inches, so not knowing how much it snows or in what amounts in Maryland, I wouldnt know if it applies.</p>
<p>Let’s admit it: Beyond the bill paying, the worst things to clean are the bathrooms and then the kitchen. You will need to all chip in, just like condiments, to get cleaning supplies. I suggest for your budget that, while you may not be able to pay ahead for utilities and such, you certainly have to know someone who can get you into a costco and/or Sams Club to stock up on the toilet paper, paper towels, baggies etc, and general cleaning supplies.</p>
<p>With everything on hand, alls it takes is two hours max to play “cleaning crew” - crank the music and actually take some pride in where you live. Even a party house can survive if you make it mandatory that if you crash on the couch you are helping to clean up in the AM. No one need be a jerk about it, but it’s just understood. And I suppose you could even make a rule that if you arent there for “Mad Maid Mayhem” you can either pay another housemate $20 to do your share (I figured $120-130 a week to hire someone outside) or get charged $25 if you just blow it off (everyone gets five). THing is, you can make the occasion fun. And like I said, no one HAS to clean on a saturday. I prefer having my house cleaned on Monday so I can actually enjoy it all week before the weekend comes and it’s all messy again. </p>
<p>We have a family summer house. There are six different owners - all family (which often times can make things worse). But one person is charged with the sams club run to buy all toilet paper, paper towels, tin foil, food baggies, etc for the house for the summer. We rotate that person, but we all know how to do it. We’ve been doing it for 20 years and we’re still a family. :-)</p>
<p>My point is only this: Yes, empty the garbage when it’s full and do your own dishes when you eat, but if you clean it ALL once a week, the liklihood that people will notice if theyre being sloppy or disrepectful will increase. PLUS… a tidy environment makes for a de-cluttered mind - all the better with which to get good grades - despite the possibilities of hang-overs. :)</p>
<p>UMCP11 - maybe you should lower your expectations about house cleanliness a bit. Hopefully, your experience will exceed your expectations but even before you start the year, you might want to think hard about what your bottom line is: if your roommates are messier than you would like will you (1) call for a house meeting and hash out common standards (which still may not make a difference) or (2) pull back from some of the things you are now planning on doing/paying for in common or (3) look for an exit mid-year. </p>
<p>In my experience, a group as large as the one you are planning takes a large-ish investment of participant time in meetings to get results that everyone is reasonably happy with. Also, it helps to have at least one organized person willing to take responsibilty for record keeping and money collecting. </p>
<p>So, my advice: Raise your expectations for time to be spent in meetings, and lower your expectations at least somewhat for cleanliness, etc.</p>
<p>MMMM-- Monday Mad Maid Mayhem. You spend two hours as a group cleaning up the house. Rotate bathrooms and try to do things in 2’s. Two people in charge of kitchen, two people in charge of Bathroom (s) and Two people in charge of living and dining rooms. Bedrooms (unless you’re sharing) are the responsibility of the inhabitant or in the case of roommates, for them to work out. But common living spaces deserve common attention.</p>
<p>Bank account: Everyone chip in $100 bucks to start. Call it a living deposit. Open the bank account and you’ll probably spend about a good half of it on toilet paper, etc. Use the initials of your first or last names to come up with an acronym of an account name. One check cashing card to use for any “household expenses” approved at MMMM and delegated. Rent/Utilities should be due 5 days before rent is due. It should be one lump payment despite pay dates. With Bill pay you can just enter the amount to be paid on such and such a day. BALANCE THE STATEMENTS! </p>
<p>This is going to be SO MUCH FUN for all of you if you just do a few LITTLE administrative work on a weekly basis. No one is so completely busy that you cannot find a two-hour window that you can all just make a mandatory commitment. And oh… if you cant say something to someone’s face than you have little ethics. If it’s worth saying, it’s worth the person knowing. There are several ways to skin a cat, but this whole adventure will go up in flames if anyone decides it will be productive to go the passive aggressive route.</p>
<p>And just as a qualifier… I was very much a party girl in college and long beyond it. So I learned a long time ago that a little cooperation went a long way in not cramping “my style” and I didn’t go to MIT by a long shot.</p>
<p>UMCP:</p>
<p>Can you say what are the main sources of griping? Is it chores? is it hogging the one and only bathroom? Is it paying rent? Hogging the TV? Making too much noise? Having different sleep cycles? Different issues will require different solutions.
People I know had a rota for household chores; they stuck a weekly list of chores on the fridge with names and ticked them off when the chores were done. People could swap chores if they had exams or something unexpected came up. i don’t recall them fighting or griping over other issues.</p>
<p>things others in this situation I know have found eliminates some big headaches are: hire a housecleaner for the common areas. Not everyone defines clean the same. Add the cost of the cleaner to the rent. Second: come up with a list of basic items that are needed in the house such as toilet paper. Add the cost of those items to the rent. Find a place that will deliver those items to the house. Last come up with a list of things that are cause for expulsion, write up a contract and have every one sign it. It should include what happens to the expulsed persons deposit. </p>
<p>good luck</p>
<p>I doubt local housing laws would allow you to expel anyone based on some behavior so long as they pay the rent. Once you get into the public world (off campus) local laws prevail and such ad hoc agreements outside a lease may not be enforced. In Seattle it is almost impossible to evict anyone that pays their rent.</p>