<p>Here a link to an article:
[Capstone</a> Maids a ridiculous idea | The Crimson White](<a href=“YouA moves from Youtube - The Crimson White”>YouA moves from Youtube - The Crimson White)
Someone must have thought about this…
opinions?</p>
<p>i think i agree with the crimson white article.</p>
<p>After much thought, I think I’ll have to agree with the article also. I feel badly though for those who find themselves in situations like the OP. Been there, done that, and it is an awkward situation where students have to decide to live with it, try to resolve it on their own, or report it and hope for a peaceful resolution. :)</p>
<p>I wonder what the resolution was for the OP?</p>
<p>i’m siding with the article too… until i get a maid for me…S2 can clean up after himself at his house :)</p>
<p>I agree with the article as well. Providing a maid service is not the answer to these roommate issues.</p>
<p>I think there’s a big difference between maid service and a cleaning service that would deep clean bathrooms, steam mop floors, do windows, dust mini-blinds etc once or twice a month with their own cleaning supplies and equipment. Students should absolutely be accountable for picking up after themselves, doing their own laundry, washing dishes used, etc on a daily basis but I don’t see any harm in offering a strictly optional cleaning service.</p>
<p>^^^i would feel sorry for anyone that did that for my S2… they would have to find the floor under the clothes carpet before they could start :)… i actually went down a few weeks ago… washed all his clothes in the laundry basket…oops…those were the clean ones (dumped in when emptied dryer) . S2 isnt “dirty” but he is messy! amazingly his car is always tidy</p>
<p>^Perhaps my opinion comes from the fact that I am very far away and can’t do something like this for my son. Knowing the place would be “mom clean” on occasion would help take away a little of the mom guilt.</p>
<p>^^I understand your thoughts also, Class2012mom.
Unfortunately, it doesn’t sound like a cleaning service would really help with the particular messes the OP said the son’s roommate was (is?) leaving.</p>
<p>Those rooms could certainly use a good scrub down between semesters.:)</p>
<p>No bamagirls, once a month mom-clean is not the solution for the OP - we seemed to have drifted a bit off track (or at least I did). Sorry. </p>
<p>I also wonder where the situation stands today.</p>
<p>To the OP, sorry If we have strayed off the original track, we would like to know if there was a resolution to the problem.</p>
<p>If the problem persists, I am afraid that your son will have to stand his ground and dig in his heels and demand that they clean up. If they do not, then he has to take this a level up. First, go to the RA and put his complaint in writing, include photos. If nothing happens (give it a week) then he needs to go to the residence hall director and demand a room change. He deserves to be safe in his room and free of bio-hazards. Now, how he proceeds will depend on just how much he is willing to put up with. </p>
<p>It might be easier to ignore the mess, and just live in his own clean room. I have known similar situations like this to happen, where one student could not even use the common areas of their own suite, due to the excessive mess and dirtiness. The solution of ignoring the mess would be very challenging, but perhaps possible. It would likely depend both on your son’s personality and how much of a mess continued.</p>
<p>Advice about the roommate contract: all four roommates need to sit down together and talk about cleanliness, visitors, loud music and video games and food sharing. At minimum, these are the very points which need to be addressed. After those items are discussed, they can add in other items. They should talk also about sanctions ie: someone continually leaves dirty dishes in the sink sanction: extra bathroom duty. If you have something specific like this spelled out in the contract it will be easier to address. When the other three roommates agree that there has been a violation, then the sanction is imposed.
This would make the contract much more civilized and respect should be emphasized.</p>
<p>Even random roommates can work out, if each party respects the other person and their property. Even if the students know each other from facebook or a roommate finder survey, sometimes problems arise. I cannot stress enough the importance of locking their individual bedroom door as a safeguard and habit.</p>
<p>He should document everything otherwise it’s going to be his words versus theirs.</p>
<p>Besides documenting everything, I also would recommend that you take pictures. Otherwise, it’s his word against the others.</p>
<p>That said, my son has had roommates who do not clean up or dump the trash. I can remember him calling me and asking for advice. He tried to get them to clean up things, but they didn’t. One time, my younger son and I visited and helped the older son clean the place. We ran nine bags of trash – most did not belong to my son (one roommate was big on calling out for pizza late at night, so we dumped the empty boxes.) I also washed lots of dishes (my son cleaned the bathroom and the younger one ran the vacuum.)</p>
<p>My son was a bit embarrassed that I had to help him clean, but he needed help since some of his roommates did not seem to care how the place looked. He later told me that two of his roommates admitted that they never cleaned at home. Their moms always did everything for them from their laundry to cleaning to cooking.</p>
<p>Needless to say, my son got different roommates the following year, and things did get better.</p>
<p>Next on my list: Teach 14 year old son how to REALLY clean and do laundry!</p>
<p>S called yesterday to say he needed more jeans now that the weather has turned colder. He claims that only 4 pair lasts him less than a week. What?! I told him to do more laundry. Jeesh. Learning how to clean and do laundry is not the trick. Learning the consequences of NOT doing either, is. :)</p>
<p>Take pics, move somewhere else and then let RA know. No reason to suffer like that!!</p>