She Spent Months Cleaning Up After Two Unemployed Roommates—Then Deducted a $300 Monthly “Janitorial Fee” From Her Shared Rent Transfer
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Living with roommates can be a great way to save money, but it can also be a great way to make enemies.
In this case, a woman was tired of being the only person consistently cleaning the shared areas of her house, despite repeated attempts to divide up the chores.
She wasn’t even expecting much, but they refused to do their part. So she decided to charge them a small fee for cleaning.
They did not like that, and now she’s wondering if she’s in the wrong for suggesting it.
Read the full story below.
AITA for making 2 of my roommates pay me 10 bucks for a “cleaning fee” every month?
A tiny bit of context: I (29F) live in a shared house with my three roommates (29M, 27M, 21M) – Don’t judge me.
The housing market is in shambles were I live and it’s the most cost efficient arrangement while I save up after finishing up my certificate.
As I’ve mentioned, the three of us rent an entire house that is privately owned by our neighbour and we each have our own rooms.
Now, we also get to use the entire rest of the house as well but are therefore also responsible for general upkeep.
They don’t upkeep it, though.
I’m personally a bit of a neat freak and prefer to keep my own room and at the very least the bathroom very clean. This means, I do a weekly deeply clean of it.
I’m well aware that it wouldn’t be fair to demand that the other three guys meet my cleaning standards which is why I’ve offered to take over cleaning the bathroom and the guys share the other chores.
The oldest of the guys has willingly taken over the kitchen and does it regularly enough too.
The other two, however, will only turn on the dishwasher occasionally (and not even empty it out) or pick up some toilet paper on his way home.
That’s so not enough.
Meaning that aside from the kitchen, the rest of the chores are left to me as I refuse to live in an absolutely filthy house.
Mind you, I once again don’t expect them to meet my cleaniness standards and have communciated as much.
However, we have tried cleaning schedules, charts, everything and nothing stuck to the point I’m at my wit’s ends because I refuse to mother two theoretically functioning adults.
Thus, I’ve told these guys that I will now be expecting 10 bucks per month on my account as a “cleaning fee” from each of them since they refuse to do any sort of chores.
But she thinks she might be in the wrong for this.
Now this is where I might be the ********:
I’ve privately talked to the 29M roommate that he doesn’t have to pay me anything as he is doing his part of the chores.
However, it seems my roommate 27M overheard me and is now filing a formal complaint to our landlady about me – especially since he “is providing toilet paper regularly and thus contributing despite being barely home”.
The last part is partially true.
He does work odd hours due to this job and spends some days at his mother’s place at home.
However, it is often instantly noticeable in terms of the state of our shared bathroom whenever he is home and more than once did I have to clean up the messes he left in the bathroom.
AITA?
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Some people don’t know how to pick their battles (I’m talking about her roommates). What did Reddit think?
It is absurd.
Yup.
Exactly.
Another reader chimes in.
If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a neighbor who wants their shed gone, and won’t listen to any arguments.
This person has a different take.
Even just reading this annoyed me!
She should charge more or hire a professional cleaner.
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