Bathrooms are places of sanctuary where many enter soiled and emerge renewed. That sanctuary cannot be defiled in any way because once it is, the bathroom loses that strange sense of safety associated with its cleanliness.

With college comes shared bathrooms. If you have shared bathrooms with siblings and family before, you know it is already a hard life. Now, share the bathroom with total strangers and the sanctuary has essentially disappeared.

Whether you live in a college dorm room with communal showers, independent inclusive showers or even the locker room showers, here are simple ethics that you should really put into practice:

1. Get a Shower Caddy.

What are those? They’re simply a nice container for all your shower items. Gone are the days where you hurry to the bathroom with all your products balanced precariously in your arms. Save yourself from stress and buy one from Target.

2. Do not leave/forget your stuff in the bathroom.

I feel like this does not have to be said. Unfortunately, it happens. People actually leave their body washes or toothpaste or deodorants in the bathroom for perfect strangers to find. It is not nice. This is why you use the shower caddy so you can stuff everything in there and just leave.

3. Clean up the toothpaste in the sink.

It happens to the best of us. One errant blob of toothpaste plops onto the sink side and refuses to vanish even after splashing water on it. Do NOT leave it there! It is disgusting. Take up a piece of tissue paper and wipe that sucker off. It’s your toothpaste.

4. Wear flip-flops or shower shoes.

This is for your own benefit. Bare feet and communal bathrooms do not go together. Help yourself by wearing flip-flops to protect against all the germy germs on the floor.

5. Wrap up used tampons and pads.

This is for all the ladies. Be a considerate lady and wrap up your used tampon or pad before throwing it into the trashcan in the communal bathroom. It’s not a nice sight to observe at all, even as a fellow lady. Just be considerate and reuse the original wrapper of the tampon/pad. It’s called sanitary for a reason.

6. Do not pee on the floor.

This should be obvious seeing as there are toilets in the bathrooms, yet I have reason to believe certain individuals need the reminder. There is a toilet. Please use it!

7. Lock the bathroom door (if it is a single bathroom setting).

Another obvious but highly unused one. No one will automatically know you’re in there! Just save everyone the embarrassment and lock the door. There is a lock. Use it.

8. Don’t leave the toilet messy.

If you take a dump and have issues flushing it down, it is still YOUR problem. Save the next bathroom user the horror of that unsightliness by figuring out a way to clean it up or calling a cleaning service (which most colleges provide free). This also includes pee. If you pee and mess up the toilet seat, wipe it away. Because that’s what a good person does.

9. Sing in the shower (if you want to).

Don’t let anyone tell you that you can’t sing away or blast your music loud in there. If you have the lungs, belt out your favorite song over and over. Don’t be ashamed or shy, just do you! And you’d be surprised by the number of people outside, jamming to whatever it is you’re singing.

10. Nakedness… NO!

You are not allowed to wander from your room to the communal bathroom and back naked. I understand that it is your body and you shall do whatever you like but seriously… just use a towel/bathrobe and spare everyone the sight. It is hilarious at first but after a really short while it gets old.

So those are the simple bathroom ethics that I wish every knew and practiced. if you have any other plain as day ethics that piss you off whenever it's not practiced, just comment and let the world know!