Catching the sight of a messy hostel room can be annoying. But this scenario is common when your roommate doesn’t participate equally in cleaning and other chores.
Students are too young to fully understand the importance of being organized and participating in daily chores to make community living fun and successful. However, once told and sensitized about these concerns, many students would change and proactively share day-to-day responsibilities.
Here are a few tips that can make your room partner participate in daily chores.
Talk to Your Roommate
You should begin by talking to your roommates and making them understand that everyone must clean, do laundry on time, shop for the necessary things, etc. While doing so, maintain a healthy and positive relationship with your roommates. It is good to speak about the issues that have been troubling you. Talk to your hostel roommates about how you want to split the chores.
First, List All the Chores
When you decide to distribute the routine work at the hostel accommodation, it is very important to identify all the tasks that need to be done. Some tasks will need to be done on priority. Others may have to be done daily, like cleaning the room and laundry. Certain tasks like shopping for the essentials, etc. can be performed on weekends. Based on these, you can split the tasks and then divide them among the roommates.
Keep Convenience in Mind
All the chores need to be divided equally between you and your roommates. Apart from that, you evaluate how feasible a job is for the person it is being assigned to. There are certain times when you are free to take up a task and some other times some of your roommates are. Besides, personal interests can also be taken into account. To motivate your roommate to work, you can ask about his/her interests, likes, and dislikes and can divide the work after that.
Exchange Your Chores Often
To avoid boredom, you can consider exchanging tasks often. Also, this will not let your roommate feel that he/she has done only difficult tasks. Sometimes, new and unexpected work may come up, and also at times, you may have a new person as a roommate. In such situations, it’s good to be flexible and ready to do some extra work. It helps forge a bonding with your roommates. They can see that you are ready to work more to keep the affairs organized and harmonious.
In Conclusion
It is the duty of all roommates to do the essential chores. Leaving the duties to one person is
unfair and unjust. When you talk to them to collaborate, be polite. It is always good to talk to them about what would happen if somebody turns off or does not perform.
The person who turns away from duties should be penalized or should be assigned extra tasks for the following week. If a student living at a hostel tries to avoid doing routine daily work, only healthy discussion can solve this problem.