With all the new students starting Uni at the moment, and ads for Fresher’s Week around town, it made me think back to when I started University.
I was 19 and it was my first time being away from home. I moved into halls, sharing a flat with 5 other people and it was madness. Great fun, but absolutely crazy.
I remember most of it fondly although living with 5 other people had its moments, in fact, I was just thinking that living with kids is actually not that different from living in student accommodation.
Here’s why living with kids is just like living in student accommodation…
The mess
For 3 years of Uni, I lived in complete pigsties. The sink was permanently full of washing up, I don’t think the bath was ever cleaned, and the hoover definitely never left its cupboard. I’m not sure how I lived like that as am now a bit of a neat freak. However, if it wasn’t for me my house would probably be in the same condition as a student house as there’s about the same level of contribution to housework – but with more toys and less empty beer cans. An hour after cleaning the house from top to bottom you can guarantee there’ll be toys everywhere, sofa cushions scattered across the lounge, trails of crumbs and empty toilet roll tubes – which leads me on to….
There’s never any toilet roll
My family have about the same ability to change a toilet roll as my ex-housemates. I used to keep a hidden stash of toilet roll in my wardrobe as there was never any left in our communal bathrooms, maybe I should do the same now.
The Noise
At Uni it was music blaring out at all hours, or drunk housemates singing and shouting. Now it’s constant screaming, Disney Jnr on full blast, shouts of “Mummmyyyy” and me or the husband shouting “BE QUIET”.
Midnight Vomit
I lost count of the number of times we woke up in the morning to see a sign stuck to the toilet door telling whoever was sick all over the bathroom floor to clean it up! Obviously, it was always alcohol induced and could have been any one of us. Now the vomiting is normally down to a stomach bug, but why do kids always throw up in the middle of the night?
Being woken up in the night
In student halls, we regularly ended up standing in the carpark in our pyjamas because some idiot had set off the fire alarm, or were woken up by a drunk housemate banging on the door because they’d lost their keys. When you have kids you also get woken up in the early hours, but this time it’s usually crying because they’ve had a bad dream/wet the bed/had a nosebleed/lost a sock.
Someone eats all the food
I lived with the same group of housemates for a couple of years, including one guy who always ate everyone’s food. It used to drive me mad, so much so that when he found me on Facebook a while back he reminded me that he was “the one who used to steal your bread and cheese”. Between my child and my husband I’m regularly opening up the fridge to get something to eat only to find that it’s already been devoured.
5 hours sleep
I used to crawl into bed at around 3 or 4 in the morning, and still manage to get up and be in my classes for 9 am. God, I wish I was 19 again! These days I still get about 5 hours of sleep, but I’m definitely not so bright & breezy when I get into the office every morning.
The need for alcohol
You can’t go on a night out as a student without a lot of alcohol. Parenting’s not that different – if you have to get through dinner, bath and bedtimes then you’d better have a good supply of wine waiting for you in the fridge!
Basically, my life hasn’t changed much since I was 19 – just different people in the house driving me mad 😉
there’s far too much truth in this! #marvmondays
Great thoughts… you’re totally right!! Life is so glam!!
I never went to uni, but I recognise all the things you have described with my family. #TwinklyTuesday
Lol… such a hilarious (and scarily true) post!
#bestandworst
I never thought of life this way, but it’s so true! And there were always people fighting/disagreeing during those Uni housemate years – now it’s the kids always fighting with each other! Loved this post. Brings back memories!
#StayClassyMama
Yes arguing! I only have one child and there’s enough answering back, I can imagine that 2 or more can be worse than a load of housemates!!
Hah! Ain’t that the truth. Really enjoyed this! #stayclassymamma
Ha ha, excellent, this is so true especially the mess and the noise x
#SharingtheBlogLove
I had never thought of it like this before, but I guess that means our lives are actully very rock and roll!! #BestandWorst
I am a student and a mummy, so I have (thankfully) missed out on the shared accomodation. I will say though, it sounds a lot like living with my bloody husband – he is the worst housemate ever haha! #sharingthebloglove
I’ve never made this connection before, but it’s so true! I have no idea how I managed to function on so little sleep as a student, I certainly can’t do it as well now! And right now I’m just grateful that my son isn’t tall enough to reach into the fridge himself as I’d definitely be losing food at a rapid rate! Just wait a few years for that one I guess… Thanks so much for joining us again at #SharingtheBlogLove
This is so, so true. Except the difference these days is that I can’t take my alcohol like I used to. #stayclassymama
Ah you had me in stitches from start to finish. You just described my house.
Ohh there is so many similarities isn’t there, ha!! Great post – thanks for linking up #bestandworst
haha laughing out loud at this! It is all so true. Especially the noise, mess and vomit haha x
So funny! My house is exactly the same – if it wasn’t for me we’d be living in a hovel x
#twinklytuesday
Ha Ha this is brilliant! With Alice having a sickness bug last week, I can totally relate to the sick connection. Thankfully as a student I did normally make it to the toilet, unlike her! I honestly don’t know how I managed on very sleep when I was younger. I guess age plays a big part. Thanks for joining us at #SharingtheBlogLove x
Haha this is so true! Although I lived with pretty clean people all through uni so I probably live in a worse state now with kids than before!! 🙂 x
Oh god this sounds about right. I too live with people who can’t change a toilet roll!! xo
I don’t think my student accommodation was that bad. Thankfully we didn’t have too many things to annoy me. But this is so much like having kids.
This is so true! I’d not thought about it like this before! Thank you for sharing! #Sharingthebloglove
haha I feel like this was really true for my student days! #Sharingthebloglove
I love this, I am in my last year right now and graduate in July. I’ve always said that I am truly living the student lifestyle because my home is like a frat house most times with similar reasons to yours lol great post, far too many comparisons haha
#sharingthebloglove
Hilarious and so true! But I think there was less noise in my student accommodation haha. It’s unbelievable how noisy a single kid could be at times. 🙂 #SharingtheBlogLove