Sharing a bathroom is one nightmare everyone with a sibling or a roommate or a partner has experienced quite thoroughly. Early morning fights, quarrels, and a perpetually horrified look on your face as you look down at the clogged drain – these are all clear signs that you and your bathroom-mate need to work on your bathroom-sharing dynamics. It is easier to share kitchens, because bathrooms, dear friends, are spaces of peace, quiet and solitude – where one can daydream at leisure. And you can’t have that with someone constantly messing with your “system”, can you? But don’t worry. As usual, we’re here to solve your problems. Follow our advice, and you will soon forget that you even have someone to share a bathroom with!
1. Fix a schedule
S/he wakes up before you every morning and finishes all the hot water in the loo? Don’t let yourself be taken for granted and fix a daily bathing schedule and impose a limit on how much water one can use.
2. Hygiene rules
There are basic cleanliness rules and bathroom etiquette, but very few people actually bother following them. Make sure you discuss all applicable hygiene rules with your bathroom-mate – AND enforce them – else your sink will become a dustbin and the WC a dark and ugly hole you wouldn’t even want to look at.
3. Compartmentalize
And by that we mean use separate compartments and drawers so that all your stuff is in its proper place. You don’t want someone else using your lip gloss and kajal, do you now?
4. Air fresheners to the rescue
Stock up on heady room fresheners. You will need it.
5. Name tags
There’s always that one person who thinks that s/he can use your shampoo and soap and you won’t notice. But you do – you always do! 😛 If that’s the kind of person you’re living with, stick name tags on your shampoo, body wash and soap case, so that it’s literally spelt out for such dimwits!
6. Cleaning duties
Set very clear schedules for whose turn it is to clean the bathroom. When they have to clean up after you, they’ll start behaving themselves automatically. 😛
7. Flushing
…is an absolute MUST. If they are sloppy/forgetful flushers, move out. Or better still, kick them out! (If this is someone you’re in a relationship with, you might want to think about your future together. :P)
8. Sharing is not caring
NEVER share your toothbrush. And if you have a super-wild imagination, wherein you constantly imagine you roomie using your toothbrush on the sly, just don’t keep it in the bathroom at all. (Or find a sufficiently well-hidden spot where no one would ever look.) Also applicable to towels and razors.
9. Separate Dirty Linen Baskets
Because if you share that too, that’s just disgusting.
10. Pets
If you are sharing your bathroom with your pet, we seriously don’t know what to say to you! Well done potty training your dog?
GIFs source: Tumblr.com, Giphy.com, blogs.disney.com
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