50 Times People Realized They Were Sharing Their Home With A ‘Monster’ (New Pics)

Last year, the National Student Accommodation Survey asked over 1,000 students in the United Kingdom about the most common annoying housemate habits, and the results might give us a better understanding of the broader picture. The list was:

1. Leaving dirty dishes out (65%);
2. Not helping with cleaning (55%);
3. Leaving lights/appliances on (44%);
4. Being too loud (44%);
5. Leaving food to rot (41%);
6. Not removing hair from plug holes (31%);
7. Stealing food (26%);
8. Not changing the toilet roll (26%);
9. Leaving windows open (23%);
10. Leaving the toilet seat up (23%);
11. Taking long showers (22%);
12. Moving a partner in (15%).

As we can see, the pictures reflect this pretty well.

However, building and maintaining a good relationship with your roommate isn't so straightforward. "Spending lots of time with another person makes it easy to settle into casual irritability," said Diana Partington, a licensed professional counselor in private practice and author of 'DBT for Life: Skills to transform the way you live.'

"We become reactive to any sign of selfishness or callousness, making it hard to live together ... Your behavior changes my behavior, and then my behavior changes your behavior. Going back and forth like this can escalate quickly."

But we have to stand up for ourselves — if our roommate repeatedly behaves in a way that negatively impacts our life, we must bring it up.

The secret to talking through conflict with a bad roommate, according to Kat Cohen, CEO and Founder of college guidance company IvyWise, is calling them in, rather than calling them out.

This means inviting our roommate into a conversation about how we can get along better rather than making one-sided accusations.

"Frame this as a discussion of living policies and how to be a better roommate, and avoid criticizing your roommate's current behaviors," Cohen explained.

“Ask him or her if there is anything he or she would like to change about your living arrangement in order to make the conversation feel more like a discussion, as opposed to a personal attack or complaint."

By calling our roommates in rather than calling them out, Cohen believes we can make sure they feel respected and invested in making the arrangement the best it can be. By using an approachable and non-threatening tone, we can have a conversation that makes both parties feel good.