Roommate

Forbe!

So, here is the low down. This is my first semester for renting at university. I am currently renting a two floor duplex with one of my buddies in the same program as me. We get along great, everything that needs to get done, does get done. However, there is one area of contention between both of us. It is fairly hot around where we live, and we usually have a few fans running in the house, no big deal. His room, however, came equipped with a window unit air conditioner. We talked about it before I moved in, he even said I should get one (but I can't afford it) then I told him unless we move it to the main room, I really don't want to have it running because its such a power hog. He reluctantly agreed, and then I moved in. He has admitted that he runs it for 'an hour' every day when he goes to sleep. I wake up fairly early (7 AM during weekdays 9 AM during weekends) and he wakes up around 1PM every day. So when I wake up around 9 AM, like today and take a shower, and hear the AC running, it is a bit disconcerting. I honestly don't care that he runs it, but I just don't want to take the hit when the electric bill comes around. Not to mention he runs his ancient PC 24/7. I casually made a suggestion that he should turn it off (it sounds like an airplane) when he isn't using it, but he replied with, "Its ok, sleep mode goes on after an hour". I have yet to see it in sleep mode. It seems counter productive to leave your PC running all night, which generates a colossal amount of heat, and then run the AC.

So, how do I go about discussing this with him when he seems so adamant about keeping it or not changing his life style?

Improvolone

I can't imagine that those things are sucking up soooo much energy it will bankrupt you.
When it comes to living with other people, it's not about getting them to do the things you want, it's about finding a way to live with someone who does things you don't want them to.

But why not move the AC?

Elin

Split the electric bill 2/3 him 1/3 you. Then he can do as he likes and you don't take the hit financially.

Improvolone

Elin wrote: »

Split the electric bill 2/3 him 1/3 you. Then he can do as he likes and you don't take the hit financially.

Unless you do the math and prove he uses that much more, it's a dick move that will cause bigger problems.

Crashtard

Indeed. Running the AC isn't going to make enough of a difference in your electric bill that you're really going to have a big problem. Neither is his ancient pc. If it's a big deal just suggest that he should be more of the bill than you do.

Forbe!

Improvolone wrote: »

I can't imagine that those things are sucking up soooo much energy it will bankrupt you.
When it comes to living with other people, it's not about getting them to do the things you want, it's about finding a way to live with someone who does things you don't want them to.

But why not move the AC?

Even if the bill is only $20 extra a month, that is $20 I can spend on food. I am a jobless college student, every bit of cash helps me.

I could really care less if he does it, I just don't want to take the hit when it comes to the bills at the end of the month. I've tried talking to him about it, but he justifies it by saying that he only runs it for an hour, when some times, I can hear it running at 9AM, 5 hours after he went to sleep.

Also, I suggested moving it, but the AC unit is lodged in the window pretty well, we would have to get the screen repaired. Our bottom floor is pretty open and large, so the size of the unit is probably too small for such a big area, and would end up costing us even more money.

Improvolone

How much do you pay for electricity?

Crashtard

I guess you need to explain to him that when you wake up in the morning it's still running 5 hours later. Either you're going to have to get a little rough about it and make him understand or you're paying part of his share of the bill.

Forbe!

Thanks guys.

Tarantio

How much money would you expect these things to cost you, at the current rate of use? I have no idea to be honest, but you can probably check the difference on your meter to see how much power they use, and extrapolate from there.

My general advice for roommate blues is to not make a big deal out of things if you can avoid it. You don't have to keep it a secret if something bothers you, and I guess if you need to bring it up repeatedly you have to make it a big deal or ignore it, but most things can be dealt with on friendly terms with a couple of sentences, in my experience. (I'm probably lucky in this)

RUNN1NGMAN

There are certain things that you just have to put up with with a roommate, and inequitable use of the utilities is one of the biggies. Look at it this way, the $20 extra your electricity bill might be is still compensated for by all the money you are saving by having a roommate.

You're never going to find a person that sees eye-to-eye on everything--you just have to put up with stuff like this until you can afford to live by yourself.

Thanatos

For those of you saying it's not that big of a draw, I've got to say that you're flat-out wrong. Air conditioners use up a huge amount of energy, and the way power bills work, the more kilowatt hours you use, the more you pay per kilowatt hour.

On the bright side, this will probably be the last month it's an issue. See what the power bill actually looks like, and if it's a problem.

Shogun

If a window unit has been properly picked to meet the specs of the room and installed correctly it is actually not that bad. However if some lazy git just went to home depot and grabbed something that fit the window it can be ridiculously wasteful and end up using a lot of power while it doesn't cool the room correctly.

However your argument that you are jobless college student is moot. If you're broke why are you living on campus? That would save you thousands right there. And it isn't like its impossible to find work around or better yet on campus.

Forbe!

I'm not broke, I never said that, but I like being frugal with my spending. I don't like spending my money on unnecessary power usage when it could be put to better use, such as buying supplies.

I'm living on campus because I can't afford gas to drive to school every day. My school is in a very rural community, and the nearest major town is 20 miles down the road. I'm not living in a dorm, which already saved me thousands. The job situation here is hard, especially when you don't have a completely open morning schedule, and you don't qualify for work study. But this is an entirely different argument, and completely unrelated to my original question.

ManonvonSuperock

other than the ac unit, are the rooms similar? do you split the bills and rent 50/50? have you actually seen a bill yet?

If the rooms are otherwise identical, agree on an additional cost for having the one with the unit.

AC is the bulk of the average resident's power usage. Do you guys have central as well as the window unit?

The Crowing One

I think the point here is a little moot. If there's an AC unit in the house, you should expect it to be used. If you want to benefit from the AC, move the unit into a more communal area of the house.

I am assuming you recently moved in and have not yet gotten a bill, right? So, theoretically speaking, you have no idea what the actual cost of all this will be. I think you need to wait and see before you get worried over the costs. As was said, the AC is about to be a non-issue (one would hope your roommate doesn't run the AC into September) and you don't know the impact of the computer's power usage.

You can make the "let's lower our bill" argument until you puke, but until you wave a bill that is unreasonable in front of his face you have nothing to back yourself up. On the other side, no one likes a utilities nazi (I know, I'm one of them) telling them to break personal habits in the name of lowering a charge by $20 a month.

If there's a serious financial reason, you need to let him know as soon as possible. At the moment, dealing with other people's habits seems more the roadblock. There's no real right answer, here, because there's no present danger of running out of money due to the utilities. Unfortunately people have different habits, and it's often not worth it to make a big stink over a 50/50 bill unless one side has a clear claim to exemption that was discussed and agreed upon previously.

Of course, if he's obviously inflating the bill to no gain on your side, you can talk to him about it and make arrangements for the next months. Don't try to get him to pay more on something you have already agreed was 50/50.

What you should be worried about is the heating bill, imho. Electric is chump change when compared with the cost of heating a home in January.

ManonvonSuperock

depends on where he lives. Last year was the first of the 5 i've lived here in two different apartments that i even cut on the heater. In contrast to that, to keep our pad comfortable, our AC comes on in like early March and stays on until early November. Sometimes, between Nov and March, we'll have uncharacteristically hot weeks that call for AC as well.

The Crowing One

Sometimes I forget that not all the world lives in the Northeast.

I mean, you're all late to the party. The AC off in September party.

ncallaway

I agree that you should wait until you see an actual electric bill. Without that, it's really going to be hard to talk to your roommate about the problem.

Living with other people is definitely a hassle, but I find it's one that's pretty well worth it. You learn what other people do that bother you, and then you learn how to best live with it.

If the electric bill comes and is unreasonable, talk to him and he'll probably listen (since I'm guessing he doesn't want to pay through the nose either). If it is a small amount, I'd say let it go (I'm frugal as hell, so I understand what you're trying to do); just think of it as a $15/month roommate tax. That money could go to food, but instead it's going to not making your roommate pissed at you...

In the end it's up to you, but I'd wait to see the bill and see how big a deal it really is.

Good luck!

ManonvonSuperock

I've yet to live somewhere that breaks the rule of:

"The colder it gets, you can warm up by wearing more clothes, but you can be butt-ass naked and hot is still fucking hot."

Then again, I haven't lived anywhere north of Memphis.

Rook

This may sound daft, but can't you just get one or four of those plug in power meter things, that tells you how many watts you've drawn through the socket. Of course it relies on a little honesty, but maybe it'll be enough just to make him realise "fuck, that is quite a bit of electricity I'm using". Or you could suggest that you both choose 2 high draw things in each others rooms or something. It just sounds like your more conscious of money than he is, and maybe you just need to train him onto your thinking.

JohnnyCache

I would suggest you just split the bill. It's not even worth worrying about, it's costing you maybe 60 bucks a year and it is not a huge deal - people that want to try to quantify things like that are INFURIATING roommates, far worse than dudes that exploit the power.

As an alternate suggestion, you might consider discussing moving it again.

Forbe!

Thanks guys, I think the problem is solved.

pogo mudder

its probably very tetchy to tell him to move all this and that, you don't want to ruin your friendship over it. just tell him plain and simple, that you don't mind him running his shit, but could he please pay for it in the electricity bill, as you just don't have the money to spare or something. i wouldn't be offended if asked to.