[lexapro]

Which of these would you all suggest at the best method for distributing cleaning chores? I am rather under the impression that a rotating schedule which changes weekly is the most fair.

Note that some of the jobs, like cleaning the kitchen, take much longer than others, like taking out the trash.

Oops. Option D should read "pubic" not "public". Moderators, can you please change this?

Fixed

[Paco500]

Pool together and get a maid that comes in every week.

[lexapro]

Originally Posted by Paco500 

Pool together and get a maid that comes in every week.

That was discussed and rejected due to lack of funds.

[turtle777]

Missing option:

[ ] The women do the cleaning

-t

[brassplayersrock²]

Missing option two:

[] Everyone just cleans up after themselves, and if someone slacks to much; make them clean, or have them get the fsck out, and find a replacement.

[Doofy]

Missing option three:

[ ] Kill everyone else and assume their identities. Take out lots of loans.

[IceEnclosure]

My roommate owns the place, and he doesn't clean up after himself. He reminds me of myself at 15 years old in that regard. It's quite bothersome. We used to have a maid that came every two weeks, that HE paid for, but even in two weeks a mess is easy to make. The kitchen and sink are the major problems.

I don't see a solution really, besides moving, and I'm not financially able to do so currently.

[SpaceMonkey]

Originally Posted by lexapro 

Oops. Option D should read "pubic" not "public". Moderators, can you please change this?

These kinds of requests are usually the other way around...

[SpaceMonkey]

It completely depends on the personalities of everyone involved. In college, I lived with 3 other people and we all basically had permanently assigned jobs that more-or-less tried to divide responsibilities fairly. For example, one person was assigned to the bathroom, one assigned to the kitchen, and the other 2 assigned to all floors/carpets/common spaces. This worked fairly well because we all tended to be very organized about how we conducted our own lives, and no one would have tolerated any whining.

Currently, I live with a roommate who I know will never lift a finger to clean common areas no matter what I do, because he doesn't even clean his own bedroom, so any kind of organized rotation would be counterproductive. Luckily, we each have our own bathroom, so I'm able to clean my own space and his laziness does not impact me as much. The kitchen is a mess, though, and I wouldn't force my worst enemy to use his bathroom.

[sek929]

I'm a messy person, but I'd always clean my own dishes and sh!t when I lived with two other dudes for 4 years. When it came to cleaning the bathroom and shower my OCD roommate and I differed about when it should cleaned, hence he just ended up cleaning it all the time because, well, the more stubborn person wins in that regard. Taking out the trash is easy, if it's full, take it the f**k out, no need to set a schedule.

We had a rotating list for the general cleaning of the house, but eventually my other roommate was throwing parties every weekend, so me and my OCD bud basically just stopped caring. There is no way in hell I'm cleaning up after drunks I didn't invite over. Eventually I became the guy who always mowed the lawn, which is good because I actually like mowing the lawn. So no problem there.

Bottom line in there will be no perfect system, and arguments WILL happen regularly. The only fix is to live by yourself.

[brassplayersrock²]

Quote = sek929 "The only fix is to live by yourself."

That's what I ended up doing. One of the better decisions of my college dorm life.

[andi*pandi]

When there are more than two roommates and you don't know each other well, the Wheel of Chores is best. I had friends who roomed with 5 other people, that was a PITA.

Mostly I only ever had one other roommate, and we were both pretty good about sharing chores.

[lexapro]

Originally Posted by andi*pandi 

When there are more than two roommates and you don't know each other well, the Wheel of Chores is best. I had friends who roomed with 5 other people, that was a PITA.

Mostly I only ever had one other roommate, and we were both pretty good about sharing chores.

It's interesting you mention that. We had a Wheel of Chores, until just last week.

4 of us live here. One is particularly messy. The other three of us are normal in our mess making habits. The Wheel of Chores had the jobs divided up between kitchen (including mopping and counter top washing), bathroom (cleaning other people's pubic hair from behind the toilet), "common areas cleaning" which meant sweeping and straightening up of the 2 common rooms and, lastly, trash/recycling (easiest job by far). The jobs ran from Sunday to Sunday and rotated. Everyone had one of the jobs every month so the load of responsibility was fair, equal and balanced.

The problem is only I ever did my job with any consistency. Two of the roomies (including the major mess maker) never did theirs. The last did hers with somewhat regularlity, but also slacked.

Somehow it got in their minds that we should be "adults" and remove the Wheel of Chores and all clean up after ourselves. I assert we should be doing this WITH the Wheel of Chores and the jobs were meant as a last-resort/failsafe sort of deal. The Wheel of Chores was voted out (I dissented) and instead a new system which is more confusing than the US Tax Code has been put in its place. I assert that if they weren't doing their assigned jobs before than they won't be doing them with a new system. We have given it a 60 trial period and I am almost certain it will fail. Our apartment will become more of a dump than it was before. Without a list of weekly assignments the pubic hair behind the toilet will never be cleaned. People will clean their mess (unlikely) but not others, so if someone begins to sweep they might say "those crumbs are mine but the others are not, thus I shall not sweep them".

In an effort to find out if I am crazy for thinking that the Wheel of Chores is the most fair and balanced way I opened this poll and thread. I'd really enjoy to hear of people's experiences and opinions on this matter.

Lexi

[goMac]

I never have any problems with my roommate.

Of course that's because I have my own place...

[klb5090]

although i chose the "act adult" option, i'll say from experience its not working. It seems i do the more labor intensive chores and my roommate gets to run the sweeper and take out garbage (the easy ones).

[sek929]

The crux of the problem is everyone pays the same to live at a certain place, so who's got the gall to tell someone else how to live?

My aforementioned OCD roommate had a penchant for moving my keys, wallet, and cellphone. I always would dump them on the coffee table when I got home, that's my place for them, it's my living room too. He never even used the coffee table for anything. Regardless, every other day he would move them under the table, in my room somewhere obscure, or somewhere else entirely. Finally I had enough so I broke into his room and rearranged his sh!t. Mouse to the left side, sock drawer to the pants drawer, etc... He was pissed but he got the message.

I'm tired when I get home from work, I want to sit on the couch, empty my pockets, and kick off my shoes. If I want to keep my wallet on top on the TV just leave it there, it is of no consequence to you.

The other roommate has it's own unique style of problems.

It's Friday night at 1am. I'm high, he's drunk. I want to watch TV, he wants to play Xbox 360. The 360 is mine the TV is his. This situation has no acceptable outcome.

It's Monday night, I have work in the morning, he doesn't. I get kept awake all night by Beer Pong and sh!tty music.
It's Saturday night, I have no work in the morning, he does. He gets kept awake all night by bong hits and video games.

Who's in the wrong here? No one, we both share the financial load of living in the house, neither of us have the right to tell the other what to do.

Your own place is the only way to truly have it the way you want it.