r/roommateproblems

Hey all, curious what the norm is here because I feel like I might be overthinking it.

We have a shared TV in the living room, and it’s currently logged into my streaming accounts. For a while I was paying for Netflix (no ads), Apple TV, and Crunchyroll. I ended up canceling Apple TV and Crunchyroll, but I’ve kept Netflix since it gets used a lot in the apartment.

The thing is—my roommates both use my Netflix regularly (they even have their own profiles), but no one has really offered to split the cost or contribute another service for everyone to use. I did bring up splitting Netflix before since it’s the most expensive one, but it didn’t really go anywhere. I also mentioned I might cancel it if the cost keeps going up.

I guess I’m starting to feel a little weird about being the only one paying for something everyone uses a lot. I don’t mind sharing, but I kind of assumed the polite thing would be to either:

• offer to split the cost of a shared service, or
• contribute a different streaming service for the apartment

Is that a reasonable expectation? How do you all usually handle streaming services with roommates—do you split one, each pay for your own, rotate, or just not share at all? Sometimes I do think about going petty and saying I canceled the Netflix but keep it on my personal computers in my own room (but I also enjoy watching on the TV).

Curious what’s typical vs. me just being mildly annoyed over nothing 😅

I (28) have 2 cats. One roommate (22) has lived with cats before, the other (21) seems to have no idea how to interact with one.

Sporadically, over the past several months the 2 of them have come to me to tell me that the apparment smells because of the cats. I will admit sometimes I'm not on top of the litterbox as I should be and I am partially nose blind to the smell, however they describe the smell as completely unmanageable. That they cannot stand to be I'm the main areas for any amount of time. While I'm am a bit nose blind I am not that nose blind.

Since they started I have been a lot more consistent. Additionally I have gotten diffusers, charcoal oder absorbers, air filters, candles, the works. It got to a point where I hadn't heard anything then yesterday I got a mostly friendly, hey it's starting to smell, can you priorize taking care of the litter box. This was not big deal to me. I needed to do a deep clean of the box anyways. But then again today: there's a really strong smell in the living area I think the cats are peeing / pooping in the main areas. I have never had an issue like this with my cats. They aren't stressed or territorial, it would make no sence for them to do this at all. Regardless I come scour the apartment. I smell nothing, I find no evidence. I have lived with other cats before where this was an issue so I know what to look for but there is NOTHING.

I check to confirm they it was a cat smell and they insisted but I am so confused. I am convinced they are smelling something else, making it up or exaggerating because I am trying so hard to eradicate this smell and they never seem to be satisfied. Idk what to do because I don't want to be the problem roommate. On top of it all it feels like I'm the only one cleaning this damn apartment and I'm struggling with so much in my plate rn.

Dhak dhak ho rha hai baba 🥹💁🏻

MCA aspirants gather here

I was talking with coworkers about shared TVs in apartments and it made me wonder if I’m overthinking my own situation.

One roommate owns the living room TV, and I’ve always treated it as: they have priority, but it’s fair game when it’s free. That part mostly works. The friction is more about day-to-day shared use.

A few things I’ve noticed:

• Subscriptions feel uneven. One roommate shares multiple streaming services, and everyone uses them without really discussing it. I don’t mind sharing, but it can feel off if someone is using my account more than I am without contributing. I know you can't also force roommates to pay for subscriptions. However, more than 90% of the time sharing subscriptions turns into people leeching and going "ooh lala free TV" without either offering to split the cost or buy a new sub that everyone can enjoy.
• Dinner time feels “claimed.” Another roommate watches an episode every night during prime dinner hours. Totally reasonable on its own, but over time it’s started to feel like that slot belongs to them, even though nothing was agreed on. I usually just go along with it to avoid awkwardness.
• Shared space awareness varies. For example, I had friends over once and we were waiting to use the TV, but my roommate kept watching. Not a huge deal, but it made me realize we might all have different assumptions about how shared spaces work. My friends also both mentioned to me that it felt a bit awkward because she kept watching without offering the TV.

Overall, it feels like whoever is most consistent kind of sets the norm by default. I also realize I contribute to that by being pretty go-with-the-flow.

I don’t think anyone is trying to be difficult, but I do wish the living room felt more like a shared space during peak times instead of something I’m intruding on.

For context, I try to be mindful myself — I don’t usually watch more than one episode at a time, I binge in my room, and I turn the TV off around 10.

Curious how others handle this:

• Do you treat shared TVs as communal, or does the owner get priority?
• How do you handle prime time like dinner/evenings?
• Do people usually talk about this explicitly, or just let patterns form?