Memorial Day Weekend

About two weeks ago, I was actually home for a week…vacation but no money to actually go anywhere. To start my vacation, I took the trash out…because that’s what I always come home to…a full trash can and a lazy roommate. To end my vacation, I took the trash out. Because, it needed to be taken out and I knew if I didn’t, I would most definitely come home to it.

Well, I came home from my trip and spent a few days home before having another trip. Once again, before I left for my trip, I took the trash out. This time I was away for four days. When I came home, the trash was full. Since took the trash out before I left thus not contributing to the current state of the trash, I did not take the trash out. I only had two days off. My first day home, my roommate continued to pile trash in the can…the lid was no longer closing. My second and last day home, MR continued to pile the trash even more…the top attachment was now an inch away from the can. So now the lid itself is open and the whole top attachment is lifted from the can. I come home from running errands that last day, and there’s my roommate chilling on the couch watching tv.

I saw the trash can in its current state and said, “Gee, do you think the trash is full when the top is no longer attached to the can and the lid is stuck open?” MR: “I’m planning on taking the trash out.”

What I wanted to say next: “The trash was full yesterday morning, were you planning to take the trash out then or when the lid wasn’t closing yesterday evening, were you planning to take the trash out then?”

After MR took the trash out, which only happened after I said something to him, I went on a three day work trip which ended this past Friday night of Memorial Day Weekend.

I came home to a MESS. The trash can is FULL. Soiled paper towels were lying around the kitchen counters and the coffee table. Dirty dishes were left on the counter. There were three t-shirts strewn on the couch as well as the packaging materials in which they came. And, who went to visit his parents for the weekend?

Yep, my roommate went away for this long weekend leaving the trash full and garbage and other junk laying around common areas as well as not washing his dishes. And, I’ll actually be home this weekend to soak in the smells of the festering garbage, because it will be waiting for him when he gets back!

Discussing issues or sending e-mails to highlight issues doesn’t seem to work…although he has stopped starting auxiliary trash bags when the can is full, but I think that is probably of fear that if he does do that, I will put them in his room, which I have and I would do again. So he doesn’t! lol

So now the issue still remains, what’s a solution for when your roommate just doesn’t take the trash out? Playing chicken doesn’t work, because I always end up taking the trash out. Although, I’ve been working a lot lately, so I haven’t been home much…which has helped because I refuse to take the trash out, when I haven’t even contributed to adding trash to the can. When it’s all him, it’s on him!

I’ve thought about taking the trash can away. I don’t have a problem just taking a small bag of my own trash out daily…keeping in mind, I am only home a few days a week, even less if I pick-up more trips (which I do as much as possible).

A friend suggested that I get him an inexpensive trash can and put it in his room and tell him, since he has proven himself incapable of sharing in the responsibility of taking the trash out, he can have his own trash can to put trash in, and it can stay in his room so if he wants to over pile it and let it smell, it can stink up his own room instead of the rest of the condo. I think this sounds great, but how likely is it to uphold? Again, I am not home that often and I really hate coming home to a mess so I could only imagine what he’d leave around considering, we have a trash can in the kitchen now, and he still manages to leave trash laying around on the kitchen counters. So, I doubt the trash would ever make it to his room…that is without my helping hand

Has anyone else had this ongoing problem with a roommate? Anything work?

I’m almost ready to draw up a chart…like a cleaning schedule that tracks when the common areas are cleaned by each person. It sounds anal, but in college one of my roommates did it since there were three of us and although we all cleaned up after ourselves, she made a calender so that once a week it was one of our turns to put some elbow grease in either the bathroom, kitchen, or floors.