AAAAAAAAGH.

[mk_tortie]

You may remember on Tuesday, I posted because I was annoyed about being the only one to clean the house for the party me and my housemates had that night. I spent 6 hours tidying and cleaning, and putting out all the food etc. So, the party was great, loads of fun, and at the end of the night the girl I'm living with next year (Jane) and I put all the rubbish in bin bags to save doing it in the morning. Since then I have been waiting for my housemates to do the rest of the tidying up. I didn't explicitly tell them it was their job, I just kind of assumed they'd do it, since I did all the preparation. It's now Sunday. Downstairs, the living room is covered in mud and sticky patches on the floor, and still smells of booze. One of my housemates washed up the few bits of glassware we actually used (we were using plastic cups, so that amounted to about 3 mugs and a couple of plates). Other than that, there are cigarette buts on the floor in the other room, leftover bits of bread in the corner, and the rubbish bags that Jane and I filled have just been dumped in the corner rather than taken out to the bins outside. Nobody has even brought in the grill tray from the barbecue, which is covered in meat fat, even though that was the one bit I specifically mentioned to my housemate because I didn't want us to get rats. Even the kitchen that I took hours to clean is covered in crumbs and sticky stuff, because one of my housemates likes to prepare her food directly on the sideboard and not clear up afterwards. I'm a bit pissed off.

My parents are arriving tonight to put down the carpet in the other room. So guess who now has to do all the tidying up? Me. Or I'll get it in the neck from them. I can't fucking WAIT to move to Berlin, and be free of all of this. I'm just glad I'm going on holiday on Tuesday and my sister is moving in after that. At least then it won't be just my responsibility to make sure the bloody house is clean.

I hate conflict and so I really don't want to have to bring this up with my housemates, but to be honest I think I may have to. I'm quite tempted to just leave them a note, but I don't know whether it might be just easier to do the cleaning and swallow my annoyance than to create bad feeling. Any suggestions as to how to handle this would be greatly appreciated!

Comments

[born-to-try.livejournal.com]

I feel your pain! in my experience the best way to approach untidy housemates (although of course I have been known to be one from time to time...) is to be matter-of-fact about it, casual and unconfrontational - as if it's not really an issue (although of course it is!). just say "do you think you could [whatever needs doing] because my parents are coming and I want to give a good impression [or whatever...]" and maybe stick in some humour if you can! if they object, then stay calm and justify yourself by explaining what you and Jane have already done to clear up. if that doesn't work then maybe you need to confront them, without getting angry or upset - although by the sounds of it you don't have much longer with them so it might be worth sticking it out!! good luck with it :-/ xxxxxxxxx