Nothing can cause tension and stress in regard to your relationship with your roommates than cleaning, especially if you’re an avid cleaner and they not. With three or four people living together in a small space, always being clean can be a huge and frustrating issue. Here are some tips and things you can do to ease up that stress.
What does “clean” mean in your household?
Do you live in a house that has to be clean and tidy daily or weekly? Or do you clean when it gets really bad? Regardless, determining when and how often to clean with your roommates is important and can reduce any potential conflicts or rifts in communication. Me and my roommates originally had a weekly cleaning schedule but became lazy and only cleaned when it became bad. That wasn’t problematic, and it still worked for us. Everyone is different and it’s good to establish how often cleaning needs to be done and compromise if everyone’s tolerance isn’t the same.
Create a cleaning list/schedule and clean together.
Decide between your roommates beforehand what each of you will be and when you will be doing it. There’s obviously things you should always clean yourself like your room, dishes, space in the fridge but public areas like living room, bathroom and kitchen can be divided and conquered. Try cycling those tasks every time you clean to keep things interesting and fair. Lastly, try all doing your cleaning at the same time. It keeps motivation high by seeing your roommate clean or your roommate seeing you clean. It also holds everyone accountable since everything is being done at the same time and there won’t be a need to constantly remind your roommates to do their part of the cleaning.
Always Be Proactive
Never stop your routine or reminding your roommates to clean. The only way things will get clean is to make it a regular thing and to not forget it. With all the things you or your roommates could have going on, forgetting to clean can easily happen but finding a free period of time during the week to clean isn’t challenging. Constantly keep them updated them and remind them to do their part if it hasn’t been done. Make it a routine habit for them is just as important as making it a routine habit for yourself.
