Two years ago, when millions of people were out of work and politicians and central bankers were trying to pull the U.S. economy out of a recession caused by a pandemic, inflation didn't seem like a big deal.
At this point, however, nearly everyone can be heard screaming. And for the rest of us, it's always a good idea to share housing to cut costs and ease the pain of inflation. However, no matter how well-established the rules for bill-splitting are between you and your housemates, unforeseen circumstances always seem to arise.
This issue was brought to everyone's attention when the girlfriend of one roommate overstayed her welcome and began using an excessive amount of the utilities, which resulted in an increase in the monthly bills for everyone.
Under the username "summerclocks," the original poster stated that he lives in a shared house with three other people. One of them has a new girlfriend who basically lives in their house now. They have been together for about two months, and she spends at least five to six days a week in their house.
Summerclocks said they really didn’t have an issue with this, but this girlfriend is starting to become a problem. The house has three allocated parking spaces for the three people with cars in it. She always parks in whatever space is empty when she comes around, not just her boyfriend’s but also in his or his other housemates'. Summerclocks work until late, and he said that it’s very annoying to have to come home to fight for his parking space. When none of their spaces are available, she takes up even their neighbors'. They have asked her to stop, but she doesn’t.
She uses water and electricity very carelessly when she's around. She works from home, so when her boyfriend isn't there, she stays there all day like it's her house. She'll take up to two baths a day, cook most of her meals in the oven, and leave all the lights on. She does all of her laundry there, and when her boyfriend isn't around, she even has friends over like it's her house.
They have a smart meter, and ever since she started living there, there has been a discernible increase in the amount of electricity and gas that they consume. Summerclocks expressed that it is very frustrating that this girlfriend is almost moved in and is getting all of this for free.
I am just exhausted of having to put up with someone that doesn’t even live here or even contribute to this house yet causes all of our problems! Said Summerclocks
Now, he is thinking about asking this girlfriend to pay rent in exchange for essentially living in their house.
Addressing the issue of overstaying guests
A clinical psychologist at Mindframe Psychology, Nicole Cook, said that many of us are people-pleasers and like to be hospitable. The lack of boundaries from the start is what gets us into trouble. Cook said being upfront with your guests may save conflict and resentment during or after their stay. The problem is that these conversations can be awkward.
"Having these conversations with people is uncomfortable." "But it's much better to choose short-term discomfort over long-term resentment," she said.
What do you think of the situation?
Author's note
The theories and information discussed in this article are all entirely attributable to their respective sources, including oversixty, mumsnet and weforum.org.
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