You may be getting married, (in which case, you probably want to live happily forever after), moving in with a partner for the first time, starting university or entering a new house share.
Source: TV drama "Friends"
Regardless of how well you know someone, sharing space with someone outside of your immediate family (or even within it!) can be a source of horrible tension, especially when you have different ideas about personal hygiene and the rules of sharing.
Here are a few suggestions to make sharing a bathroom easier:
Set Some Rules
The first thing to do when you move into a new living situation is to establish some ground rules that everyone is happy to stick to so as to avoid having awkward conversations later on. Little niggles like leaving the seat up, running the tap unnecessarily or flushing the toilet after hours can make even living with someone you love a nightmare. Get your pet peeves out of the way early on.
Keep Stuff Separate
This suggestion is for the sake of hygiene as well as personal space – sharing items such as towels can spread infections (even some STDs!) and keeping toothbrushes next to each other can lead to cross-contamination. Make sure all your personal bathroom items have their own designated areas and respect your housemates' stuff too.
Source: Movie "Mulan"
Although sharing items such as toilet roll and toothpaste just seems practical, when it comes to toiletries and products such as shampoo and face wash it may be sensible to buy these items individually and keep them for yourself. Partly as a matter of personal taste – you may love the smell of your tea tree oil shower gel but your housemates may not – but also because you don't want to get into petty disagreements about how often is normal to condition your hair and so on. Buy and use your own stuff.
Take Turns
When it comes to communal items such as toilet roll it may be beneficial to decide on a budget and organize a rota so that you always know whose turn it is to stock up or to form some sort of housekeeping kitty so that you're all chipping in. Some people can be more discerning about the brands that they use on their behinds, so make sure this is taken into account too.
It’s also sensible to work out what time everyone is most likely to need to use the bathroom in the morning, especially if you all work similar hours. The race to use the shower first after trying to squeeze in the longest lie-in possible could be an Olympic sport, but negotiating how long each of you needs in the bathroom and an agreed order to proceedings can dispel some tension, especially in a house of young professionals.
Delegate Roles
Bathrooms need fairly regular cleaning, and it can be frustrating when other residents aren’t pulling their weight. The easiest way to combat this is to divvy up jobs between you early on so that you can each keep on top of your own role. This way when it gets to bins night or cleaning the shower there’s no-one shouting that it’s not their turn.
That said, it’s still only polite to make sure you are leaving the bathroom in a fit condition for your fellow housemates after use. Make sure you keep cleaning supplies and a toilet brush readily available in the bathroom at all times for when you need to do a quick spot clean.
Be Considerate
If you have long hair then keep an eye on the drain when you’re in the shower and throw away any loose strands that could form an unpleasant clog for your housemates. If you use the last of the paper on the roll, change the roll. Open the window and use the extractor fan. Don’t leave the immersion on, especially if you’re sharing bills. And don’t use up all the hot water!
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