Dear Darla,
I’m living with a lot of new roommates this term and I’m really frustrated by some of their kitchen habits. There’s no organization in the fridge and I keep forgetting which milk is mine, the dishes are either always dirty or they put wet dishes on top of my clean ones so that I have to dry my dishes when I go to put them away, and no one ever cleans the counters or the floors. One of my roommates is always using every dish in the house and inviting people over without telling anyone. We had a house discussion at the start of the term about responsibilities and cleaning schedule, but I hate confrontation and I don’t want to bring it up with them. I can’t keep living like this though, it’s driving me up the fridging wall! What should I do?
Frantic Fred
Dear Frantic Fred,
Living with roommates is hard work; you’re supposed to be a team and when one person starts to feel like they’re keeping everything together things can go sour quickly. Things don’t get out of hand at home because normally there’s a parent policing things but at university you have to be your own police, and some people are easier on themselves than others. I can understand your reluctance for confrontation, but it sounds like you have a lot of things to discuss with your housemates. A quick, easy thing you can do is to label your food, that way you won’t lose track of it and you’ll stop worrying that other people are eating your stuff. Then, maybe try putting Post-It notes up with messages to your roommates. You can leave these on cupboards, in the fridge, but refrain from sticking them directly to their doors as that might come across as a bit rude. If the counters and floors are bothering you a lot, clean them yourself and talk loudly about it to friends on the phone when your roommates are nearby. Don’t forget, this is a shared space, so if their stuff is taking up too much room in the drying rack maybe get a box and store all their things in that box and stick it up on the fridge where they will be sure to see it. If they’re ignoring your cleaning schedule, then it’s garbage anyways; rip it in half and leave the pieces stuck on the fridge or wall where the schedule was before. You will be sure to get your message across that they have not been pulling their weight. Lastly, if you don’t like that they’re inviting people over without telling you, have a raging house party but be sure to let them know in advance that you will be doing so; they will feel guilty that they have not been letting you know about their get-togethers. Hope things work out for you!
Love, Darla
Leave a Reply