The Neat Freak And The Piggy: How You Can Learn To Be Civil

By Francine Fluetsch on May 30, 2014

This article is brought to you by CORT, a subsidiary of Berkshire-Hathaway and the world’s largest furniture rental and relocation services company. To learn more about how we can help college students like you, click here.

image via www.insiderguides.com.au

You know that questionnaire you took before you got a roommate? On a scale of one to ten, how much did you lie? From what I’ve noticed, no one is ever really truthful on there, especially when it comes to how messy or clean you are. Everyone is going to put that they are less messy than they really are because, well, they don’t want to get stuck with someone messier than them! And I’m sure they have convinced themselves that they are going to ditch their messy habits upon moving into their dorm room.

Everyone is going to be a little messy here and there; it’s understandable. But if you got stuck with a legit messy person, here are some ways to cope.

 1) Keep your side clean:

The messier the room gets, the smaller it is. If you can keep your side clean, it will help keep your place looking like you can actually live in it. Simply doing little things like making your bed (at some point during the day) or de-cluttering the little items that have accumulated on top of your desk can really make a big difference, especially if you like things more orderly.

If you notice your messy roommate’s stuff getting on your side, simply nudge it lightly back over when the roommate is gone.

2) Communicate:

Just a hunch, but your roommate will probably get pretty pissed off if you confront them directly that they are messy. They hopefully know they are messy, and are trying to actively change it; maybe they just don’t have time. If it’s really starting to get on your nerves that you do everything in the ways of cleaning, start putting sticky notes around the place and see what happens. I can’t guarantee how your roommate will react, but they may like being asked nicely to take out the trash on a sticky note—make sure you are out of there when they read it—rather than in person.

As mentioned in this article “because it’s hard to convey tone in a handwritten note, keep it short and simple.” You don’t want your roommate to get pissed off, so you want to remain friendly and make sure they know that that is what you are trying to do.

If sticky notes offend them, maybe ask if they would like to make a chore chart. This is yet another thing that most people will be opposed to, but it’s worth a try. The room is just as much yours as it is theirs, so it’s not fair for you to have to put up with their mess if they aren’t willing to help clean once in a while.

According to this article, “as soon as it becomes obvious that your roommate is a habitual mess-maker, you need to address the issue immediately.” You want to start this communication process ASAP, because the longer you wait, the bigger your problem will become, and your roommate may not even know that it is bothering you all that much. If you bring it up out of the blue later when you’ve bottled it up for so long, you’re going to snap, and that is never fun.

 3) Have people over:

One thing that could definitely kick your roommate into gear to clean their side is if you have people over a lot. You wouldn’t think so, but most messy people are self-conscious about being messy (I’m messy at home so I know.). If you have friends over glancing at the mess every once in a while, your roommie will hopefully get to cleaning when they leave.

It also helps if you have mutual friends with your roommate, and if they come in, they could jokingly drop a comment like “lolz it’s a little messy in here.” Save this for desperate situations, because if your roommate gets angry easily, it may not end well …

4) Keep the room smelling nice:

Invest in some Febreeze, nice candles, plug-ins, etc., to keep your room smelling nice and fresh. You never know what will get buried under your roommate’s crap, so once it starts smelling like a dead rat, Febreeze it! Keep your window open a lot as well to constantly air the place out, and refrain from turning the heat on—heat plus bad smelling stuff equals no bueno.

5) Pick your battles:

If you’ve tried some methods and they still aren’t pulling their weight, you are going to have to address them more directly, but still try and be polite. You need to decide what the most important aspects are to you that you would want to keep clean. The messy person may be down to fix a thing or two if it isn’t that much effort on their part. Reaching a compromise may put you on the loosing side, but hey, it’s better than you doing everything yourself, right?

 6) When enough is enough:

If you really can’t handle it, you might have to consider moving out. Most roommates won’t get this bad, but you know some of us just get lucky. As you can see from this Yahoo Answer, “I am a certified slob and nothing is gonna change that;” some people just aren’t going to care enough to make you feel comfortable and will keep being messy beyond repair. In these cases, it will save you time and effort to count your losses, and get out of there. Aim for a single; you deserve it.

Hope these helped! Good luck dealing with your little piggy.

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