Houston Apartments

If you thought that your Houston apartment room sharing woes ended with the splitting of the rent, think again. There is that issue of who would do the dishes, clean the refrigerator which by now is emanating a horrible odor and the like. And if there is a pet, then the situation gets messier. Yes, we are talking about your messy Houston apartment roommate.

You have told your Houston apartment roomie a number of times that he or she should keep the common area clean, but to no avail. Then maybe putting that person’s stuff in one big box and pushing it under his or her bed may help. Of course, if the box is overflowing with dirty clothes, there is not much that you could do. This is only a short term fix. Either speak with your roommate or pray that he or she may change his attitude.

If you are in a single room Houston apartment, then divide the area into yours and the roomie’s. In this case, you would have to ignore the pile of clothes, shoes et al. Tell yourself that it is not in your ‘room’. Resist the urge to clean up your roommate’s mess. This would encourage him or her to not tidy the room at all. Rarely would the action of you cleaning up the clutter that is not yours, hurt your roommate’s conscience and make him or her change his ways. Talk to your Houston apartment roommate the minute the clutter starts bothering you. It is better to address the situation while you could actually do something about it.

Try and reason with your Houston apartment roommate – maybe the need for cleanliness wasn’t stressed enough during his or her upbringing. You could make a chart to list out your tasks and your roomie’s. Split the work and for starters you could take the major chunk of work. Initially you could let the person have his or her say in not wanting to do the dishes. Slowly you could get the roomie to do chores that may not go down very well with him or her. Be regular in your cleaning activities; it is not too much of a burden then.

It is important that you break the news at the appropriate time. Watch out for your tone – do not be condescending or accusatory. And stick to the issue on hand – your roommate’s messy nature and not his or her loud music or late night partying. Maybe the person just needs to be made aware of the dirty situation around him. Propose a solution and don’t just point out his or her ‘mistakes’.
A change in your attitude may help – turn into the dirty person that he or she is. Twice the clutter is not the same as one person’s trash. Your roommate may see the need for cleanliness. You would have to literally turn your nose up when you walk past the kitchen but it maybe worth it. There is a catch to this; he or she may take it as a license to leave the rotten milk in the can or leave the plates in the sink.

You could ask your Houston apartment roommate if he or she wouldn’t mind hiring a cleaning service. If the person is a Scrooge, then they would mend their dirty behavior a little bit. Else he or she could agree to this new arrangement. Either way, your issue is solved.

If nothing reasonable seems to be working with your Houston apartment roomie, then it is time you shifted gears. Ask him or her to look for another apartment. Your constant nagging could make the person want to look for some other place. You could tell your landlord that the roommate is violating some terms. This could either backfire in a very bad way or if you are lucky, things could work out in your favor. Telling a third person, especially your landlord should be the last resort as this could widen the chasm between you and your Houston apartment roomie. If your roommate is a real toughie then you would have to even consider the possibility of being asked to move out!

This may sound a little naïve – but avoid getting into a lease agreement with a messy roommate. You would have a fair idea about the person’s attitude towards cleanliness after your first meeting with him or her, during the days of your Houston apartment roommate hunt. If you are at the extreme ends of the spectrum, don’t bother looking at the other compatibility factors. It is easier to not get into a ‘sticky’ situation at all than to get out of it.