Cleaning communal areas in a house..?

Question

I just moved into a house in holland that i will be sharing with five other people, we each have our own bedrooms but share the bathroom, kitchen, fridge. I havent seen neone else yet but clearly people live her so maybe they are on vacation or holiday at the moment..i know one girl is from america too and doesnt get here for anoher week.

The place has no living room so basically its not that hard to clean but it just doesnt feel clean. The fridge is ..gross too.

Do you think anyone would be offended by me doing a deep cleaning? I mean.. I am going to do this while I assume no one is here haha but I just cant live like this...yuk.

They may think Im a neat freak and I will probably resent having to clean by myself but maybe if i make is SPOT FREE, they will keep it as such?..maybe set the standards a little higher..??

Answer 1

Communal cleaning has it's pros's and con's.  Everyone has their own habits... some will be tidy some won't.   You say everyone is absent from the apt.  Nothing wrong with tidying up the fridge so it will be nice and clean when they get back.   One thing I would avoid from past experience is throwing other peoples stuff out.  If you find something that has expired, put it back in, unless it is something rotten meat in which case you can tell them that it was smelly and you had to throw it out.  

They will appreciate you not having moved their stuff out.  From there on, being the new girl in town, you won't be able to make too much of a fuss unless you see that other are complaining as well.

A little later, you can mention the fact that everyone must pick up after themselves in the bathroom and kitchen for the next person.

Chances are you will have problems no matter what.  You will either have to live with it or be the sucker in the movie.  I know how frustrating it is

We once rented a really big house with another 2 couples on one of the Greek islands.  Each couple used the bathroom taking endless showers because of all the swimming and exited leaving hairs and suds all over the place.  I ended up doing all the cleaning in the kitchen and bathroom as I couldn't stand the dirt.

Answer 2

i could not live in filth either. i would be cleaning with gloves and a mask on for fear of getting sick from the germs stirred up . i would also  be depressed of the fact that my new roomies don't care and never will and that i will be known as the new roomie scrubmaid  cleanfreak    hopefully the girl from america  likes a clean enviroment too  then 2 out of  5 are participating.  and don't worry what others think. it's okay to want things to look and smell good before you touch them.