How To Deal With Dirty Roommates

Dishes pile upward in the sink, clothes are strewn over every piece of furniture, toothpaste sticks to the bath mirror, and you've had plenty. The messy roommate has pinched your terminal nervus, and you lot're non certain how to solve the problem. Believe it or not, you don't have to become ex-friends. Here's a step-by-step guide to dealing with a messy roommate without starting a fight.

1. Explain Your Distress

Paradigm via Shutterstock

First things start: communication. Instead of pointing fingers and lobbing accusations, start the conversation with you lot. Explain that you'd like to suggest some changes, and brand it your problem instead of your roommate's. For example, you might say, "Listen, I know that I'thousand a bit of a neat freak, so do you think you could help me out?"

This frames the trouble every bit your issue and invites your roommate to assistance you lot out. It'south a much better strategy than telling your roommate what he or she does incorrect and demanding better habits. In the latter state of affairs, you'll put your roomie on the defensive, which rarely leads to productive chat.

2. Choice Your Battles

When it comes to communication, the 2d step is to choose what exactly you demand to phonation your stance on. While you don't desire to alive in a pigpen, you lot don't have to quibble over every dish left in the sink or every crumb that appears on the sofa.

Relieve your confrontations for bigger bug that affect your power to utilize your living space. Maybe your roommate forgot to put away their clothes after doing a load of laundry. A gentle reminder might outcome in a sincere mea culpa and immediate removal of the offending pants and shirts from the living room couch.

3. Ask to Go along Spaces Split

Speaking of that laundry left on the couch, here's another tip: determine which spaces are yours, theirs, and communal. If your roommate's clutter is sneaking into your space, such as your chamber or the shared community areas, you have every right to remind them to move their stuff. You lot tin can also move it to their bedroom yourself, and reiterate your expectations.

You lot can't control what a roommate does with his or her bedroom. The but exception involves wellness issues, such every bit nutrient that attracts pests or ataxia that blocks a fire escape. Don't try to dictate how ofttimes your roommate cleans his or her bedroom or the status in which that bedroom is kept.

4. Advise a Chore List

Here's a battle y'all'll probably need to selection at some betoken: how to tell your roommate to make clean the bathroom. It'south not exactly a pop chore – and getting your roommates to help clean the bathroom can feel similar a job in itself.

Enquire your roommate to help you come up with a list of daily and weekly chores, which could include cleaning individual rooms, vacuuming the flat or firm, and dusting. Create a chore list and assign each task to one person. To make certain i roommate doesn't accept to face the bathroom every calendar week, alternate every week or two to go on information technology off-white.

This messy roommate solution ensures that neither person suffers from resentment. Every person knows what he or she must do each week, so you'll feel more than confident that your space will remain make clean and ataxia-free.

5. Clean & Organize Together

Still wondering how to motivate your messy roommate to clean upward? Maybe your roomie simply prefers grouping activities! Some people hate cleaning as a solitary activity. If your roommate falls into this category, offer to clean together. Put on some music, grab the cleaning supplies, and accept a party while y'all scrub and dust the grime abroad.

Manage the clutter in your dwelling house past organizing your space together. Y'all tin split the toll of organization bins and declutter the public spaces y'all and your roommate share, like the kitchen and living room. Got a crafty roomie? Put those skills to work with some DIY storage ideas that put the "fun" in "functional."

6. Rent a Storage Unit of measurement

If all else fails and your roommate has ventured into hoarder territory, offer to split up the rent on a storage unit of measurement. Put everything you don't use regularly into the unit for six months. At the finish of that time, decide whether to throw out or give away the items inside or to movement some of them back into your domicile.

These messy roommate solutions tin salve your friendship and make your home more livable. As long as you accept a diplomatic approach, you tin can cure bad habits – and keep your ain expectations in check.

Yous may also like

About the author

We know a thing or 2 about moving. Together, we share the best tips in organizing, storage, navigating your city, and more!

Source: https://www.cubesmart.com/blog/your-space/cleaning/how-to-deal-with-a-messy-roommate/

Share this post