Do you have a messy roommate?
Do they leave their dishes in the sink for you to wash, or their clothes hang on the couch, or they never take out the trash? You're not alone. It is very difficult to find a roommate that you get along with and has the same cleaning habits. If you can't or don't want to find a new roommate, there are ways to calm the tension.
The most important rule is to not clean after your roommate. It will encourage your roommate to clean up after they have made a mess. Also, it is unfair to you, because you may find yourself constantly tidying up.
Set up some rules that you all can follow.
Remind yourself that your bedroom is the only place in the apartment you truly have control over. Decorate or furnish your room, so that you have one haven in the apartment. You must compromise over the common areas.
It is hard for many tidy roommates to understand why their messy roommates wait so long to clean the dishes or take the trash out. Remind yourself that not everyone works on the same cleaning schedule. While some prefer to clean and pick up after themselves every day or every other day, others clean once a week or every other week. If your roommate cleans a little less often than you do, resist the urge to force your roommate into your schedule. Instead, try compromising on the number of days dishes are allowed to sit in the sink or when trash must be taken out.
Try to separate the chores.
This will help your messy roommate focus on only a few chores and develop a routine of keeping certain areas clean. Make sure to assign yourself chores that you care most about, so that you can be certain these will get done.