How to Organize Chores with Your Roommate

Chores. No one really likes to do them, but they need to be done. And things can get tricky when living with other people. Depending on your expectations and lifestyle, you may find it easy or extremely hard to work together with your roommate to keep your apartment clean.

The first step in organizing chores with your roommate comes before you find your roommate. If you’re in the process of looking for someone to live with or possibly moving in with your friends, have an honest conversation with yourself about what you expect from them. If you’re a little extreme with cleaning, it’s in your best interest to find someone with similar cleaning habits. If a messy house or even one that is just lightly cleaned (as opposed to sparkling clean) irritates you to no end, be honest with your potential roomie about what bothers you. Dishes in the sink? Clothes left on the floor? Dusty surfaces and unswept floors? Make sure they’re on the same page as you.

When you do find someone you think would be a good match (yup, finding a roommate is kind of like dating!), it’s best to figure out separate chores for each person and daily expectations. For instance, you might expect your roomie to wash and put away their dishes after each meal. They might expect it to be ok to leave their dishes in the sink overnight and clean them in the morning. Find a way to compromise so that each of you feels comfortable with the situation.

Then there’s keeping the house clean in general. Have a talk about which chores you prefer to do and which you hate. If you don’t mind cleaning the kitchen, but can’t stand cleaning the bathroom let them know and vice versa. In best case scenarios, you’ll prefer to do different chores so that everything is covered. Of course, it doesn’t always work out that way. In that case, switch off chores each week so that neither of you ends up cleaning something you hate on a regular basis.

Communication is key between roommates. Most of us have been in a situation where we feel we’re doing the bulk of cleaning while the other roommate slacks off. This is a no fun situation! But there are ways to help prevent this.

• Always have a conversation up front about expectations.
• Have a planned chore schedule each week. Even better if it’s written out and posted on the fridge so you can each take a look at what needs to be done. Use these handy chore charts and cleaning schedules from Neato Robotics to guide you.
• If you have similar schedules you can knock out your chores at the same time and reward yourselves with something fun to do afterward!
• Communicate in a friendly way with your roommate if they’re not doing their end of the job. Maybe they just need to be reminded. This also can help prevent resentment towards your roommate when they don’t live up to your expectations. By letting them know in a friendly way that they missed one of their chores, they’ll most likely go ahead and do it.

Of course, there are those situations where no matter how hard you try, your roommate won’t do their fair share of cleaning. At that point, it’s time to have an honest conversation about whether your roommate situation is a good fit. But if you follow the tips above, chances are you’ll find someone who compliments your style of cleaning resulting in a great and happy roommate match!