As the second year of my college career comes to a close it has become abundantly clear that I do not have the patience to function with roommates. That being said, I am officially on strike.
Over the course of the semester, two of my roommates and I have been randomly alternating trash duties. One, however, blatantly chooses to ignore the trash every single day. There have been days when I would take out the trash and literally the next day it would be overflowing with an item from her bedroom. That is not even an exaggeration.
That actually happened. She then took her trash out of the trash bag, took it to the dumpster, and left the rest of the trash in the kitchen. The next day she burned a hole in the trashcan. It’s been sitting there ever since. I refuse to take out another bag of trash that isn’t my own.
If you are a college student here are some tips for dealing with messy/inconsiderate roommates.
1. GO ON STRIKE.
I honestly should have done this sooner, because though some of my roommates take out the trash few of them have made any other strides towards cleaning and maintaining our apartment. Not one of them has ever cleaned the living room. Ever. And we’ve been here since August. The person I share a bathroom with has cleaned it 3 times over the course of 8 months.
And one of them cleaned the refrigerator. So, I went on strike. I’ve made the comfortable stress-free decision to not clean the apartment anymore. It’s been liberating because I mostly stay in my bedroom now.
I’ve already made a mental note to pay all of the fines that we’re going to have at the end of the semester because I know that no one is going to clean up the mess. The trash will probably be here until next semester, but it won’t be my problem at that point. I’m moving out. So is the trash girl.
2. Move out if you can.
If the option presents itself, move out. You are not responsible to teaching other adults how to clean up after themselves and respect common spaces. Asking a 20-year-old to wash out his/her bowl or clean the toilet is not an unreasonable request.
