Keeping Costs Down With Your Roommate This Summer

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Summers, as much as they are anticipated, can cause some disruption between the established routine you and your roommate have created over the course of the past year of living together. This could be having to spend more time together in close quarters as schedules ease up with no classes, or a lightened load during a summer session, or having one roommate away for the summer traveling. Whatever the case may be, these changes can result in a way you originally didn’t expect — your budget.

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Communicate plans for the summer 

Summer plans for college students can look very different from one person to another. Some take it as an opportunity to enroll in courses to get credits over the summer and don’t really face much change in schedule from their regular school schedule. Others spend the summer traveling back home or to other destinations, or simply relax and spend the months off with friends.

Ahead of the summer, discuss your summer plans with your roommates to identify some possible issues within the months ahead. Issues can look different for everyone, but it’s important to bring them up and come up with solutions before they occur.

For example, if both you and your roommate are staying in your apartment for the summer, there are certain discussions to bring up. You will want to have discussions around if you are expecting to have any guests over for an extended stay, the expectations around electricity bills and keeping cool in your apartment, and so on. On the other hand, if either you or your roommate (or both of you) are planning to travel for the majority, if not all, of the summer, you may consider sublet options in order to not lose out on paying rent for an apartment you are not actively living in for the summer.

Keeping your apartment cool 

If either of you are staying in the apartment over the summer, it is important to discuss expectations for keeping the apartment cool over the summer. One roommate may have a higher tolerance for the heat or spend limited time in the apartment when it’s warmer, while the other roommate may not do as well with the heat and spend more time indoors. Communicate toward a compromise where both parties feel comfortable with the arrangement.

Rather than relying on the A/C and jacking up your electricity bill, consider alternate ways to keep your apartment cool:

- Limit sun exposure: You may be used to relying on natural lighting to keep your apartment lit up during the day, but letting in direct light during the summer can make your apartment hotter than it needs to be. Keep blinds shut during the day where direct light would be shining in to reduce heat gain during the day.

- Take advantage of nights. During the nights, embrace chilly winds and cooler air by opening up your windows and patio door to allow some cool, fresh air in.

- Share common areas when possible. Depending on where you live, you may not have the great luxury of central air conditioning. Rather than spending more electricity keeping multiple rooms cool, discuss concentrating your efforts on a common area like the living room during the day by installing a window A/C unit or moving more fans into the designated room for blasting cool air.

Propose sublets or communicate expectations on paying the bills during the summer months

If you or your roommate are not going to be in the apartment for extended periods of time during the summer, you can consider subletting your apartment for a month, or the entire summer. Make sure you and your roommate are comfortable with the arrangement, and that it is allowed in your current lease agreement.

If you and your roommate opt to not rely on a sublet, but will still not be staying in the apartment for an extended period of time, you should discuss how bills are going to be covered. If both of you are going to be out of the apartment, it’s easy to just agree that everyone will pay bills as usual. If one roommate is out, they may consider it unfair to pay utility bills when they are not going to be there.

You can work out paying partial utility bills to be based on usage, or just cover them depending on your financial situation. Have a plan established ahead of time so there are no arguments when it comes time to pay bills, causing a possible delay with payments. If your roommate is gone for the summer, has not set up a sublet, and is stating that paying their rent while away is unfair, remind them they are still on the lease and equally liable for rent to be paid in full regardless of where they are actively living during the summer.

Regardless of summer plans, there are plenty of ways to keep costs low with your roommates this summer with proper planning and communication. Good luck!

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