Hi everyone! I have a question about how often you think the bathroom should be cleaned. I live in a suite with 2 other girls and we all share a bathroom. I asked them if we could meet and talk about how often we should clean the bathroom who, should buy soap, and if we were going to share toilet paper or use our own. The reason I asked to have a meeting was because roommate A was venting to me all the time about how Roommate B didn’t clean the bathroom and didn’t buy soap or toilet paper. Roommate A doesn’t clean either, because she says she is on strike because of Roommate B. Also, I was getting pretty tired of being the only one who had cleaned the bathroom at all. When we were talking I suggested that we each wipe down the sink and toilet once a week, because they get fairly messy with all the makeup and hair styling we do in there. Then, I suggested we should each clean the bathroom completely(clean the floor and shower too) once a month. So bathroom gets completely cleaned almost each week. They both immediately agreed to this and said they thought that was a good plan. Now, Roommate A(who still hasn’t cleaned anything ever) is throwing a hissy fit about this among many other things. She says I’m an OCD germaphobe for thinking we should clean the bathroom once a week. We’re having a CA meeting tomorrow to discuss our issues and sign a roommate agreement. So, I just want to know if you guys think I’m being reasonable or not so I can know whether to compromise on this or not?
tl;dr Is cleaning the bathroom once a week reasonable?
When I lived in an apartment with my sister and her former suitemates, we designated every Sunday as cleaning day where we would clean every inch of the apartment including the bathroom. Depending on how messy the bathroom gets, once a week is reasonable if you want to keep it in tip top shape all the time, but you can also go for two weeks without cleaning if your bathroom hardly ever gets noticeably dirty. Also, just out of curiosity, has Roommate A ever cleaned the bathroom before she “went on strike” because of Roommate B? Because if she’s never had, then it seems hypocritical of her to complain about Roommate B never cleaning the bathroom when she hasn’t, either.
In my daughter’s suite (was 6 girls last semester, now 5) they posted a sign-up sheet for the bathroom to be cleaned weekly. The agreement states the bathroom must be done by Sunday night each week.
If there are only 3 of you, maybe you could go every other week, but longer than that gets gross IMO.
It might help if you have a box of disposable gloves for everyone to use.
Long ago I lived with someone who had never cleaned a toilet. And wouldn’t. As a result, I made sure my daughter was well acquainted with toilet cleaning-- it was her chore, ever since middle school! Nothing like a bit of practice, LOL.
Ahh mziggy, your parents raised you well. My son goes off to college in the Fall and I’m afraid he will be like your roommate B. I’m seriously thinking about hiring a cleaning service for him. So anyway, a single bathroom used by three people? I say at least once a week. Maybe the person who doesn’t clean can opt out by paying a fee of some sort.
Cleaning a bathroom once a week does not make you an OCD germaphobe. I’ve grown up in a home where bathrooms are cleaned top to bottom twice a week. Cleanliness is very underrated these days, and I don’t believe that you’re being unreasonable at all. Everyone should be willing to pitch in for a decently clean bathroom. Even so, you may end up the one cleaning the bathroom more often if it’s more important to you, whether that’s right or not.
At one point, we had a bathroom for 12 of us. Twelve weeks, twelve guys; each has bathroom duty for a week, right? Unfortunately, one of the other guys “sort of” did it for his week and two of us had to do 5 weeks+ each because the remaining guys couldn’t bring themselves to do it.