<p>Hey, big problem. So I have roommates who are especially dirty in the living room and the kitchen and it really annoys me because I don't even want to go home anymore. They would leave their food out/ sweet beverages overnight or couple of days!!! And it would go all moldy or furry with fungus or something. Other foods would just basically leak juices every where and the whole house would basically reek that I would want to gag. The kitchen counters are basically covered with bacteria as they do not clean the counter tops of spills or crumbs. </p>
<p>I did talk that as a roommates we have to keep the house clean as we are all sharing it. I would sometimes clean after them when I come home at night but it has come to a point that I can't take it anymore.</p>
<p>I would talk to them again. They might not have realized how frustrating it is to you. Otherwise you might talk to your RA about it. It’s not fair that you have to live in those conditions.</p>
<p>meet them halfway.
you are living with them, so you don’t want to get on their bad side.
you’re all living there; so you have the right to be comfortable, but so do they.</p>
<p>maybe say like 1 or 2 days of leaving food/dishes everywhere is ok, but not to leave it sitting there longer than that.</p>
<p>I’m assuming you’ve only been living together for ~2 weeks? I wish I could say things will get better but honestly in my last 2 years living on campus, my apt mates rarely cleaned up after themselves. If you think a few days is bad… I lived with girls who didn’t clean their dishes for MONTHS. I think I literally took the trash out every single time the entire year. Their crap would be all over the living room and cause me embarrassment every time I had guests over, not to mention gross me out and attract flies. I spoke up a few times but nothing ever changed, so I completely empathize with you. </p>
<p>If cleanliness really matters to you, bite the bullet and clean up after them a bit. Just something rudimentary like wiping down the area you need to sit in/put your stuff on, heaping their things over to the side and throwing out anything that seems like trash. Hey they don’t seem to care about their things, why should you? If they confront you about “where is this” or “why’d you toss out that” then just politely return with “I needed somewhere to sit and your stuff was all over the furniture” or “Well, it looked finished so next time if you don’t want me throw it out then be safe and put it away.” That’s something civil, simple and reasonable you can say/do.
and you know what? they’re probably so reckless and sloppy they won’t even notice or care what you did with their stuff so long as it isn’t something they’ll need later like electronics or clothes.</p>
<p>It might take about 2-5 minutes of your time to clean up after them but it’ll make you feel better the rest of the day coming back to a home that is reasonably tidy.</p>
<p>My most insistent advice is as someone said before; you all are sharing this space and as unfair and lame as it may be, the fact is you need to stay on the good side of the people you’re living with even if they’re wrong and you have good reason to be upset with them. Flipping out or nagging them will harbor resentment on both sides and make your living space even more unbearable. Be glad the resentment thus far only lies on your side. Because you can’t control how other people deal with their resentment toward you, but you can manage your own feelings toward them. whatever you do, find a healthy, productive way to deal with your discontent.</p>
<p>All in all this is a thorn of college living you just have to confront, deal with, and put past you. Remember there are plenty of us out there who are clean and neat and are also frustrated with our house mates. I’m in my third year of college and I still haven’t found a group of people that are totally up to my expectations of cleanliness. but ultimately people > things. Whatever you do, don’t jeopardize your rapport with your house mates over material, trivial things by getting passive-aggressive or moody. it’ll only hurt you in the end.</p>
<p>Be smart and put your peace of mind and happiness first, even if that means making some sacrifices and suppressing your ego in the mean time. Tolerance and a healthy perspective will get you far not only in college but in life. Think of this as a life lesson in progress. I hope things work out, take care. you can pm me as well :)</p>
<p>It’s a common problem. Try to avoid fighting. I suggest placing handy wipes and small plastic lined trash cans throughout the apartment. You will most likely continue to be the one to use these items to clean up but sometimes it makes it a little more convenient for all. I would not have a problem to throw away dirty dishes. They will resort to paper plates that wont need to be cleaned. Good luck.</p>
<p>Kingelite and ohyeahlj: thanks for the tips! I am totally going to meet them halfway to save the arguments in the future.</p>
<p>92faim: Dam, your roommates are even worse than mine! At least my roommates take turns taking out the trash every couple of days. Haha, and wow thanks for the great advice. I mean if they just toss their stuff everywhere, its basically a good chance that its going to stay there for probably the next 3 months or so LOL. Good thing I didnt give out attitude yet. But I’m totally going to give a smile and just tell them how I feel and give a rundown of how changing things up a bit would benefit both worlds. Thanks!</p>
<p>Muf123: haha, too boss, “I would not have a problem to throw away dirty dishes”. Now I wish I thought of buying paper products. Saves me time and the hassle.</p>
<p>You need to visibly clean up after them: move around furniture, things, make the room look nice. You need to make an indirect statement. Then when the room is clean, as soon as they make it look dirty, they need to feel guilty about it. I live with housemates as well, but I feel like im the dirty one</p>
<p>Do not listen to buranka.
Sorry, but being “indirect” NEVER works. People are too busy with important things to be picking up your subtle clues.</p>
<p>Be confident and speak up. You have the right to clean living conditions. As long as you are respectful nobody will get angry.</p>
<p>nooodles: Hey guys, can you guys please leave the place a bit cleaner, it’s always really messy when I come back.
nooodle’s friends: Sure.
nooodles: But I’m seriously, look at this **** here and there and even food left out here like **<em>.
nooodle’s friends: Oh sorry, I’ll try to keep it cleaner. *cleans a tiny bit</em>
nooodle: No dude/girl you don’t get it we talked about this before this is really really messy. We can’t keep living like this. I mean if you have any respect for me you can do this out of courtesy for me. You know if the roles are reversed I’d at least try because we’re friends/roomates there is some level of respect in being those roles.</p>
<p>noodles"friends: says random **** mostly agrees but points out some excuses.</p>
<p>then more or less the conversation ends and nobody really wins since a week later the place will get messed up again. So the best advice I can give you is to remind them constantly or work out a cleaning schedule so that everyday someone can do something, or everyday someone have a specific part of the house to have cleaned by whatever time. And if you all agree on that schedule then when you do talk to them again you’d have better grounds and they would have to start taking this more seriously.</p>
<p>Hope this helps and hope you enjoy my little play.</p>
<p>Sometimes you just have to go with the flow.</p>
<p>At times I would be the neat freak like you… and other times, I was not clean enough for some roommates… or maybe just didn’t clean up my mess "soon enough’. I had a lot of roommates. The dynamics were always interesting.</p>
<p>Perhaps you could work through your OCD and join the party. I couldn’t help but think of the “Odd Couple” movie and sitcom during the 70’s when I read this thread.</p>
<p>The next go-around, you need to be more selective of your roommates… maybe come up with a litmus test.</p>
<p>Hey guys. basically 2 months after the first post. and wow, they improved…a bit. at least no rotting foods, but now they just live their bedroom garbage in front of the main door? The main room is a big mess–caused by only one person too! Yet, even though I do tell that one person basically everyday, it just doesnt seem to work.
I havent seen my other messy roommate for more than a month, but she is somewhere LOL!
Thanks for all the suggestions though! i tried
Samling265: str8 up script. how u know? haha</p>