<p>I distantly know a girl who used to attend Davis. She, like myself, is an only child… well, a kinda spoiled only child. When she left for Davis she brought with her all her high qualitity, EXPENSIVE clothing. Well, she kept it all nice and clean, hung up, u know, to keep it looking all pretty and all. She took really good care of her stuff. Well, turns out her roomate would steel her nice jackets and jeans behind her back and would get them dirty (stuff that can only be dry-cleaned). Does stuff like this happen a lot in college dorms?</p>
<p>I’m afraid that someday i’ll find myself in this girls situation… I’m an only child too and have (well not a lot) but a great deal of high quality clothing (coats and cashmere scarves in particular) that I don’t want other people messin garound with and getting dirty or what not. I hope i dont sound pretentious or *****y, i just wanna know if i should leave stuff like this at home or what. Or like, create an “off limits” zone in the dorm lol? Have any of u had experiences with roomates borrowing stuff and then saying something like " well u can take my things whenever u want bla bla we should share?"</p>
<p>I go to Davis, never heard anyone complain about this sort of thing, but I suppose it could happen if your roomate was about the same size as you and liked your stuff… but I think most people would ask permission rather than just take it. If your roomie does end up wearing your clothes, just set the boundaries… or make it clear when you move in that you don’t like sharing your stuff, especially without your permission.
The worst thing I took from my roomate was a piece of tape and a rubber band haha.</p>
<p>Actually, yeah, it has happened to me, though the clothes were returned clean.</p>
<p>There was a formal event on campus a weekend I was away, and one of my roommate’s friend’s need a dress. She asked around, and couldn’t find one. So, my (ex) roommate lends out one of my dresses. This specific one I got very cheaply on sale, but I was really suprised when I got an email saying she borrowed this dress and felt bad for doing it. My roommate never said a word about it.</p>
<p>My best advice is keep your expensive scarves in a box in a drawer. In general, people don’t borrow coats.</p>
<p>It would be best to set the rules when you talk over things with your roommate. My roommate and I borrow clothes from each other all the time, but we’re both courteous and ask before doing it, and we’d never dream of taking each other’s clothes if they’re not there.</p>
<p>However, that’s not the case with everybody, and I would just say keep your best clothes somewhere where she can’t easily access them.</p>
<p>Never happened to me - and I would never borrow anything without permission.</p>
<p>If it happens, there are a few ways to deal with it - and the most important thing to realize is that you can deal with it if the situation arises - if you so choose. Consider:
*You could approach her and say: it’s just my own quirk, but I feel very uncomfortable with anyone borrowing my things. Sorry to not communicate this sooner, but it’s my quirk, very sorry if you are disappointed, but just don’t like people borrowing my things, etc etc.<br>
*You could hand her the dry cleaning bill. Simply say, “I dry-cleaned the jacket and two shirts you borrowed. I took the pants to a tailor to fix the hem. Here’s the bill.”
*You could, if the above fail, talk to your RA about it. The “zone of privacy” is called your closet! If she can’t respect that, it’s HER issue. No one thinks that everything in a dorm room is community proprety. Trust me on this - would she like it if you started making out with your boyfriend in her sheets?<br>
*Switch rooms if she’s that inconsiderate and stupid.</p>
<p>At first, it is, unfortunately, out of the control of the person who has her stuff commandeered. After a while, though, like any other issue, it ultimately becomes the problem of the person who doesn’t confront it. </p>
<p>I heard of this happening several times when I was in college although not always with really expensive clothes but just regular shirts or jeans. If you and your roommate are remotely the same size then I would address the topic early on. Set guidelines that you both agree with. Hopefully that will keep it from happening. If it doesn’t, then you have a roommate problem and might want to consider trying to switch to a roommate who doesn’t steal from you.</p>