How to Deal With a Messy College Roommate

College can be a fun time to experience lots of things and meet a lot of new people, especially if you're living in the student dorms. But if you get stuck living with a roommate whose cleaning habits aren't quite up to par with your own, things can get, well, messy. Here are some tips for dealing with a messy college roommate.

Instructions

1. Understand each other's preferences. Getting to know your new roommate's living habits early will help prevent his way of living from becoming a problem later if it's contradictory to yours. Find out if he does laundry every week, if he prefers to eat in the dining hall or make food in the room and if he takes showers at night or in the morning. This will give you a better idea of whether or not dirty dishes and laundry piling up will be an issue.

2. Divide and conquer. Just because the two of you are living in the same room together doesn't mean that you don't each still have the right to claim part of it as your own. Splitting the room into your half and her half--with a possible shared space in between for things like a shared computer, fridge or microwave--will encourage her to keep her mess on her side of the room.

3. Share the workload. If you eat in the room sometimes or leave some of your laundry on your bed or hung over a chair, part of the mess is yours. Even if the majority of it is because of your messy roommate, if you contributed to it at all, you should still help participate in the cleanup. Split up responsibilities with your roommate so that he doesn't feel that all the cleaning is being left to him and so that you are being a responsible roommate. If he dislikes emptying the trash, offer to take over that part of the cleaning if he will agree to wash the dishes or sweep the floor.

4. Set a schedule. Cleaning won't be nearly as much of a hassle if it's done on a regular basis. Making it a weekly routine will help keep dishes and dust bunnies from accumulating, and once the schedule is followed for a while, it becomes second nature to even the messiest of roommates. Plan to do dishes on two or three designated days a week, sweep the floor and take out the trash another day and make laundry a team effort with one night a week scheduled as a planned outing to the campus laundry facility for both of you.

5. Get outside help if necessary. If you have repeatedly asked your messy roommate to clean up her portion of the room and she is still not taking responsibility for her mess, ask a resident adviser for advice. The RA may be able to offer more suggestions about sharing cleaning duties and carries a little more authority in requiring that the dorm room be kept clean and neat. Most colleges have penalties and fines in place for rooms that are left disorderly or dirty, and the threat of financial penalty may be necessary to your roommate to clean up.