House/Apartment Share Chore Sharing

johnwest288

So Im running a house share and have never ever asked anyone for help to clean the place NEVER. So There are 4 tennants and me.
Now dont get me wrong they fill the disherwasher..... and put most of their refuse in the bin.... But i Do everything else and i actually do mean everything . Unfortunatly Im back in college and I literally cant work full time and be in college part time and run a house.
The garden actually had weeds that were 6 foot i kid you not. They wont even pull in the bins from the street after they have been emptied. (Despite the fact they take up their car spaces!! They would rather park down the street then pull them in and take a neighbours space lol)
Each saturday I mop, hoover, clean bathrooms, Cut grass, Literally everything. The ODD time they will help me by changing the black bin liner (even this is made pile up before replacement). I dont mind the work at all, Afterall its my pad but is their a way to organise this so im not having to clean EVERYTHING. I hate having strict rules as we are all around 30 years of age. I thought they would acknowledge i was up to my ears with stuff and help but no chance. They are happy to have me as the in house cleaner.
Whats the standard way house share Chores are dished out? Must you have a roster? Any advice?

kildare.17hmr

Stop cleaning and see how long it takes someone else to lift a finger

johnwest288

kildare.17hmr wrote: »

Stop cleaning and see how long it takes someone else to lift a finger

I did... Bins were left overflowing.........Garden we had actually hay and 6 foot weeds........ Kitchen lino was sticky with spilt beer. Hoovering was left for 6 weeks before i broke and did it. Everything WILL be left. They will actually wait for me to do it even if it affects their comfort levels!

Mr.Wemmick

Sit down and have a house meeting about the chores. Firstly, get them all to agree that it is unfair that you're doing it all, and as you have lots of college work to do, ask them to help find a solution to how it will work from now on. At this point, keep you mouth shut and wait to hear what they say about to taking their share of the responsibility for cleaning/chores.

If you want them to take responsibility then they have to say it and agree verbally of their own accord. If they don't then pressuring them into doing it, won't work, unfortunately.

That saying is very true "Start as you mean to go on". As you have been doing it all along, I doubt they'll bother.. leaving it to become unbearable and you'll give it and do it again.. if you're anything like me, you will

If it doesn't work, move out and spare yourself the grief.

sillysocks

I know of a few friends in different houses lately who have started getting a cleaner in every week to avoid these problems. She comes for 2 or 3 hours a week and cleans all the communal areas like kitchen, bathrooms etc. cleaner is a tenner an hour so maybe 20/30 eur a week but between 4 that's not much. Might be worth thinking about!

christmas2012

ya get a cleaning roster out and have each person assigned to different cleaning task that way you all get to clean your bit

Lyn256

Call a meeting-tell them you can;t do all the cleaning as you have too many other commitments.
Offer two options-either everyone takes responsiblility for cleaning or you get a cleaner and everyone will have to contribute.
If they go with the shared option-give it 4/6 weeks, if everyone plays ball-grand. If not, second meeting and insist on cleaner.
With 5 of you in the house the cleaners not going to cost much more than e25-e30 each a month (cleaner coming 3 hours at e10 an hour once a week- 30x4=120/5=e24 each)
Thats really not much for having a clean house!
HTH

Marcusm

If this has been going on for any period of time, you'll likely have to wait and change tenants.

ebixa82

johnwest288 wrote: »

So Im running a house share and have never ever asked anyone for help to clean the place NEVER. So There are 4 tennants and me.
Now dont get me wrong they fill the disherwasher..... and put most of their refuse in the bin.... But i Do everything else and i actually do mean everything . Unfortunatly Im back in college and I literally cant work full time and be in college part time and run a house.
The garden actually had weeds that were 6 foot i kid you not. They wont even pull in the bins from the street after they have been emptied. (Despite the fact they take up their car spaces!! They would rather park down the street then pull them in and take a neighbours space lol)
Each saturday I mop, hoover, clean bathrooms, Cut grass, Literally everything. The ODD time they will help me by changing the black bin liner (even this is made pile up before replacement). I dont mind the work at all, Afterall its my pad but is their a way to organise this so im not having to clean EVERYTHING. I hate having strict rules as we are all around 30 years of age. I thought they would acknowledge i was up to my ears with stuff and help but no chance. They are happy to have me as the in house cleaner.
Whats the standard way house share Chores are dished out? Must you have a roster? Any advice?

This.
You allowed them get away with it and so they now know you are a soft touch. Very foolish on your part in fairness.

Any normal house would have a cleaning roster. However if they are willing to live in filth they obviously have no concept of cleanliness and will do a half arsed job. You will then end up having to do it properly anyways.

Short answer. Get a cleaner. They usually charge 10e per hour. 5 in the house so probably 3-4 hours per week.

That's 6-8e each per week. Anyone objects kick them out.

Problem solved.

Cuddlesworth

After years of house sharing, here's my advise.

Move.

You obviously want a different level of cleanliness to the others, nothing you do or say is going to convince them to work to your standards. So find somewhere that does.

the_syco

johnwest288 wrote: »

run a house

<snip>

Any advice?

Don't run the house. The other housemates are leaving you do the chores as you'll do the chores.

johnwest288 wrote: »

They will actually wait for me to do it even if it affects their comfort levels!

No offence, but you seem like the resident neat freak, and they probably had a bet to see how long it'd take before you cleaned the place.

Question: have the others lived away from home before, or is this their first time? They sound like they're used to their "mammy" being around...

Baralis1

I understand from this that the OP is the house owner?

Firstly, I think that the garden is the OP's responsibility as landlord. It's normally the done thing that the landlord looks after the lawns/garden and outside of the house.

Secondly, tenants are never going to be as clean or look after a house as well as the house owner, and probably won't go to the bother of extensive cleaning, especially as they are only renting rooms in someone elses house.

However, you would expect people to do the basic stuff like wash any kitchen stuff they use, clean kitchen work tops/oven/microwave, keep their stuff in their rooms rather than thrown around, keep place tidy and clear of rubbish, change bin liners and bring in bins, brush and hoover floors and wash floors every so often.

I've shared for years and sometime you can be lucky with a bunch of likeminded people who appreciate a tidy house and at least perform these basic tasks, and sometimes not!

You can't really go shouting orders as some people hate being told what to do and you will fall out with people. Rosters and such usually cause resentment and will not work unless everyone agrees and are happy to have one.

I suggest having a house meeting and laying out the issues diplomatically, and encourage people to tidy as they go so that everyone can have a tidy house to live in. Appeal to their sense of right and wrong. Suggest a roster if you like but I would make it dependant on everyone being happy with it and would withdraw the idea if there is resistance.

If the situation doesn't improve and there are certain individuals who are messier than others, you may have to weed them out and give them notice to leave.

P.S. I don't know how big your house is but it sounds like it is very crowded especially if everyone is using the same kitchen. This would also contribute to the messiness.

johnwest288

Just thought I would update this post for anyone having same issues,,,

Initially we all sat down, I was decent enough said I was up to ears and was there anyway they could help out a bit.
Ended up setting up rostered cleaning schedule (nothing much would take maybe 2 hours on a saturday if even)
Alas all done half assed. Mopping the floor would be cold water quick wipe and away. Hoovering meant around the table and just the dirty parts. Cleaning the bathroom meant instead of leaving old shampoo bottles on the shelves and toilet roll inserts on the floor they were piled into an overfilled bin. Place was as grimey as ever. So i asserted that we would get a cleaner in that would be better if people didnt help properly. Ahhh Empty threat from myself they assumed. Still no movement. WELL WHEN they saw a cleaner arrive and tear the place apart over 3 hours they assumed i was paying for it and immediatly went about dirtying the place as soon as she left. As soon as it was confirmed we were splitting the cleaners bill evenly:eek:....... Well MY GOD.... I live with such decent clean people. Amazing .. they have transformed overnight
Thanks for advice Certainly when the dirt leads to them being out of pocket even by 10 euro a month they change their ways:cool: