Stop Asking 'Are You Tidy?' Ask These Instead   'So... are you pretty tidy?' I asked this in four different flatmate interviews one summer. Every person said yes. Every person had a completely different definition of what yes meant. The problem with flatmate interviews is that everyone performs. You're speed-dating someone you'll share a bathroom with for a year, under pressure to fill the room before rent comes around. Most questions are designed to get reassurance, not inf

Why Your First Night in a New Flat Never Goes to Plan — And How to Survive It!   Moving into a shared flat is a rite of passage for most New Zealanders. Stats NZ estimates around 32% of households rent, and the majority of first-time renters in Auckland, Wellington, and Christchurch start out flatting. Yet almost nobody prepares for what the first 48 hours actually involves. What Moving Day Is Actually Like The reality of moving day tends to involve discovering the previous t