Haha @sseamom. “Sorry honey, I know you’re busy with classes starting and all, but the moms on CC have a few questions for you.” She would actually find that funny. She knows I post here.
Yeah, we’ll wait to find out what “deep cleaning” really means here.
@Consolation, I can kind of see that. Maybe she had been sitting there staring at a smudge on the wall all semester, and finally she couldn’t take it any more and she HAD to get rid of that smudge in order to be able to concentrate on studying for finals. Um, not that that’s ever happened to me or anything. :-"
When D1 was in middle school, she would line up her pencils and notebooks perfectly before starting her work, but I think she was just procrastinating.
@dustypig Oops, I wasn’t referring to your comments so much as the general parlance of "I’m so OCD about . . . " – just an awareness/sensitivity issue.
Hope your daughter sorts it all out! If my roommate had told me I was expected to clean the windows, I would have been incredulous and definitely checked in with my mom about what was reasonable expectation.
Wisconsin stopped roommate matching a long time ago because they found it did not help, unless two students choose each other it is randomly done.
Deep cleaning-never! That’s the job of the staff once a year before students move in. Windows- never! UW requires the dorm refrigerators be emptied for winter break and turned off- can’t leave stuff in them to rot. I imagine there are some pretty gross refrigerators most of the time except when this required cleanout occurs (they get checked).
Did you know that blueberry pie will ossify if left on the windowsill long enough? A dorm mate eons ago could turn the plate upside down and it was hard and stuck to the plate. We wondered what food service cleaners would do when it came through the dirty dish line.
Clean sheets- can go 3-4 weeks easily if keep yourself clean. I used to do sheets every other week, not any more. Bed making- oops, then boyfriend discovered I didn’t bother to make my bed decades ago. Won’t always when H (same guy) goes on trips now. And yes, I know when sterile technique is necessary (and, equally important, when it is not).
Laundry- color catchers! I mix everything together- not enough to bother with sorting. I can’t see college kids needing a wardrobe that requires much time sorting et al. If it needs dry cleaning often or other extensive care it isn’t worth owning.
Messy is not dirty. Neat is not clean. Moderation in all. The more obsessive learn to be a bit less so and the very laissez faire learn to be less so. I’m reminded of one dorm roommate who was from a farm- she started the semester getting up at very early hours but gradually slept in for more college norm wakeup times.
Boston University stopped the questionnaire thing for roommates as well. I don’t think Santa Clara did one either. Reason given was that it didn’t really help.
Really, 2 weeks is the absolute longest anyone should ever go without washing sheets and even that is kind of gross.
People really underestimate how dirty sheets get in normal usage, even sleeping without anyone else in the bed. I suppose if one sleeps in full pajamas, every night, the amount of sweat and skin cells is less than for someone who sleeps nude is lessened but very few people wear full length pajamas with long sleeves year-round in college dorms.
Even if one did that, what about the pillowcases? Pretty much everyone deposits perspiration, hair products, skin products on them every night and that doesn’t even account for other bodily fluids (saliva, etc) that accumulate there.
It’s pretty sad how much we’ve normalized slobbly behavior over the past few decades but dirty sheets are pretty nasty, even if you haven’t actually gotten ill from them.
Did you know that towels should be changed every 3-4 DAYS? I’ve been feeling ok changing them once per week but apparently that’s not often enough.
I change the pillow cases every other day or so. Ideally one night per side of the fabric. So easy to do vs. changing the top and fitted sheet which I do less often.
My kids actually use a new face towel every night. I only noticed that when I saw a stack of towels in D2’s bathroom. She said her older sister told her it would be good for her face.
Shhhhh . . . don’t tell DS that towels should be changed every 2 days. I’ve been trying to convince him that he doesn’t need to get a new towel every time he showers (leaving the old wet one on his floor in an ever increasing pile). He marked on his form that he was messy but I figured how messy can he be if he only had 2 beach towels?
“Did you know that blueberry pie will ossify if left on the windowsill long enough? A dorm mate eons ago could turn the plate upside down and it was hard and stuck to the plate. We wondered what food service cleaners would do when it came through the dirty dish line.”
I think that’s not very nice to do that to hardworking food service staff, to make them clean up after your little joke. That’s like making a mess in a hotel because the housekeeper will clean it up. I wouldn’t look kindly on a roommate who did that.
@DrGoogle Yes you are right. There is also micro-agression against night owls/late sleepers, why?
As far as the slob–it’s because slob habits effect everyone. Slobs spread beyond their allotted space. You have to step over their shoes every time you want to walk across the room and you have to spend 10 minutes scraping the dried up cereal out of the bowl with your fingernails instead of just sticking it in the dishwasher like you could have if they had taken the .05 seconds it would have taken him or her to rinse it out after using. Slobs do things like drop their dirty underwear on the floor RIGHT NEXT TO THE EMPTY HAMPER. THEN YOU HAVE TO LOOK AT THEM OR STOOP DOWN AND PICK THEM UP YOURSELF. WHY? WHY WHY WHY??? The hamper is RIGHT THERE.
Slobs also tend to take credit where credit isn’t due. They do things like say “Hey I got the trash!” and then you look and see, yeah, they pulled it out but they left it by the door for you and they also did not put a new bag into the trash. You usually discover this when you have something disgusting in your hand like pulled off chicken skin and then no where to put it. And while you are finding a place to put it your dog rips open the trash left by the door.
The slob will never replace toilet paper. Never. They might leave it there on the floor where you can’t find it in the dark or on a strange shelf but they will never actually put the roll where you expect it to be.
Sorry, just venting here. DH is a slob. Love him but do not love picking up his dirty underwear or looking at it on the floor. Right next to the hamper. Not for a second.
For the record I can also be a slob and am often a late sleeper. These things are relative.
I think making the bed is no big deal, throwing the comforter up takes a minutes. The girls should take turns wiping off the mirror. Keeping things straightened isn’t a huge thing but It sounds like the roommate might take it to the extreme. Making sure your laundry is in the hamper and trash is thrown away should pretty much be good. As for the deep cleaning,if the roommate feels that strong about it, she could do it. And the sheets, it’s not the roommate’s decision as to how often your daughter washes them! I think your daughter needs more than anything to sit down with her roommate and make a roommate contract they can both agree on.