Ever since I was little and capable of doing things for myself my parents taught me how to clean. My brother and I would have a list of chores that we had to around the house. When school was in the chore list wasn’t big. Wash the dishes, clean your room, sweep, and help our parents with whatever they asked. During summer the list got bigger. We had to water the plants, feed and take care of the dogs and cats, sweep upstairs and downstairs, dust the house, do yard work and wash dishes. Once we got older we were given more chores. I started doing the laundry and cooking while my brother mowed the grass and even helped me cooks sometimes. There was always a punishment if we didn’t do our chores. For example, we had to do them before we went anywhere with friends and if we didn’t do them we couldn’t go anywhere that weekend. Of course there was always a scolding involved too. Also, if you didn’t do the chore correctly and did it “half assed” as my mom would say, you would redo the chore completely.
Well this looks familiar
At the time I hated that we had to do chores because none of my other friends were made to do things like my brother and I were. I hated cleaning and never wanted to do it, but now I am so thankful for my parents making me clean because I have realized how important it is. I have also realized how many of my peers now don’t take any responsibility or time to clean. Not even in the slightest bit. I learned that the hard way when I went to college.
I have roomed with nine different girls since I started college and none of them have ever taken responsibility when it comes to cleaning or sanitation. The first room I lived in was the worst experience for me. One of the girls never cleaned in the whole year I lived with her. That includes dirty dishes. She would leave her food mold in the fridge, borrow my dishes without permission and ruin them because she couldn’t cook, never cleaned the dishes she used and kept her room a mess. Another girl wasn’t too bad. She wasn’t around much so never really made a mess, but never took part in cleaning our kitchen or living area that we all shared. The other girl would help me clean, which was good, but she was a messy, cluttered and unorganized person. If she cleaned by her self she would do a half assed job of it.
I would come back to Pittsburgh from being home for a weekend, walk into my dorm and see how much of a complete mess it was and start crying. I don’t mean just a little dirty I mean it was unsanitary. Its hard to describe how bad it was, but it was terrible.
The second room started off okay. The girls would clean the kitchen and living area every so often. Maybe three or four times in the whole time I lived with them, but considering we had bed bugs for six months the entire living situation was always a complete mess. There was a lot of times where Travis (boyfriend) would come out to see me for a weekend and clean the place for me because he knew how stressed it made me.
Now I am in a third room and new school and I still have the same problem. I clean every weekend and by Friday this place is a disgusting, shit hole. My roommate hasn’t cleaned ever. She barely does her dishes. The other two girls in the next room wash there dishes, but they have never taken time to clean the kitchenette or shared living space that they use more than I do.
When I clean I go all out. I use bleach and other disinfectant sprays. I scrub the shower and the toilet, clean the inside of the toilet, clean the bathroom sink, faucet, and count top, wipe the mirrors, vacuum, swifter, mop, scrub the kitchen counter, clean out the microwave, clean the garbage can, the whole nine yards. It usually takes me three-four hours to clean the whole place.
I think the most frustrating part about it is that I work (15-20 hours) and am taking six class on top of that. I’m also a junior who is close to graduating and they are only sophomores. All three of them have jobs but they don’t work nearly as much as I do. So I have less time to worry about cleaning up after someone’s mess. But this place is so gross that I keep cleaning because of how much living somewhere that is unsanitary stresses me out. I don’t deserve to clean up someone’s mess because they are too irresponsible to do it themselves.
I don’t understand how someone can be okay with living that way. Do they just not care? Did their parents never bring them up to clean up after themselves? Are they just spoiled brats who are used to having everything in life done for them? I’m not sure, but from my experience its not going to get any better.
Only eight days left until spring break and I am defiantly ready for it to be here! The only things standing in my way of going home is two exams, one test, one quiz, two presentations, one video package, six classes, 24 hours of work and a three hour car drive home. It’s mid term week here at Point Park and a lot is going on this week but with lots of coffee and keeping calm I can get through it. I hope spring break gives me a chance to relax and refuel myself to finish out the semester. I have become really burnt out with school, my job in Pitt and my living arrangements here. I’m not really enjoying any of my classes this semester. I don’t find them engaging or really interesting to me. This makes it really hard to get up in the morning and want to be in class. Work is more drama filled than ever and well, I live in a dorm, nuff said. I want summer to be here so I can go to the beach and just do whatever I want and finally have some privacy! But for now I must settle for the eight days of spring break I have.
Turning a New Page 