Ask Ally: How to solve your 'dirty roommate' problem

Dear Ally,

My roommate never cleans up after herself. She is always leaving dishes everywhere and refuses to help out. She also leave her clothes everywhere and hogs the washing machine. I don’t know what to do? Help?

Sincerely,

Living with a pig

Dear living with a pig,

This is an issue that every college student faces during his/her college career. Some people are cleaner than others and some don’t feel anything is wrong with living like a slob.

If you are like me, you like your house to be spic and span and will do anything to keep it that way. This usually leads to you cleaning up after everyone in the apartment. If you do this, your roommates may think that you will do this every time and may assume that nothing wrong with this situation.  That will not solve anything.

You will have to stand your ground and have a conversation with your roommate. Approach the conversation with a level head and ask them if they could please help out around the house. Just mention little things that everyone could do together or suggest a rotation. If making a chart of responsibilities will help then that might be an option for you and your roommate.

When you have this conversation make sure it doesn’t come off as yelling at your roommate or acting like their parent. This will just breed hostility and make the situation worse. By the end of the chat, you should have asked for more help around the house. Usually this will do the trick and keep the peace in your apartment.

If this doesn’t work, you may want to start cleaning up after yourself and leaving your roommate’s dishes behind or put their clothes on top of the dryer. You can’t be malicious about it; being rude about the situation will make you the bad guy and get nothing solved.

Finally if none of this works, you may need to request a new roommate. Usually you can do this through your apartment complex or your residence manager.  Just remember that by requesting a new roommate means you will have to find a new place to live with new people. They may not be better than your previous roommate. Try to exhaust all forms of communication before you take it this far.

Sincerely,

Ally

*If you or someone you know is suffering from a problem, and would like some advice, you can email me ANONYMOUSLY at awiley@houstonianonline.comand you could see my response in the newspaper!*