What can I do about lazy roomates?

Question

I have begged, pleaded, and the whole bit. I can't kick them out cause they are also family...anything I can do now to get my point across?

Answer 1

Attend to only your area and let them wallow in their own filth until they get sick of it.  Or threaten them with being kicked out.

Answer 2

Family matters not when someone is taking advantage of someone else, you either act or you are the victim. and if your the victim then its your fault. talk to them if they don't change through them out.

Answer 3

DONT PAY THE BILLS

Answer 4

If they don't pay rent the I would start making them pay part of it.  If they do already then tell them you will start charging them more for rent if they don't help out.  You are not their maid.  Tell them the extra is for the maid duties.  But don't be a softy about it.  Be firm or they won't take you seriously.

or make them pay for their own food, shampoo, soap, which I think they should already be helping out with that too.  Give them responsibilities or they will never learn.  Life if going to become pretty hard for them if they don't learn now.

I also hope they have a job.  B/C then they are just learning to mooch off of people.  If they don't tell them to get a job.

Answer 5

Who says you can't kick them out because they are family!?!?  If they're not acting how you would like them you have every right to kick them out.

Answer 6

Offer a deal. If you do the cooking or something they enjoy, stop until they are willing to pull their weight. When the time comes don't even think about re-newing your lease.

Answer 7

First assume that they are not lazy or ill intentioned in any way, but assume instead that they may simply have different goals or ideas from you.  Think about that for a while until it really sinks in.

Now, talk to them again.  Instead of begging and pleading them to start doing things YOUR way, ask them how they want things to be in the house.  What level of cleanliness makes them happiest?  How do they think things should be organized?  What chores do they like least and which ones are they more happy to do?  Make it a discussion where everyone has equal say instead of making it seem like you're trying to pull everyone towards your direction.  If you discuss things in this way, you are actually MORE likely to get your way than if you simply beg people to do what you want.  

How do I know this works?  Well, I was a "lazy" roommate once, and it worked on me!  The discussion led to us dividing up chores, with me handling all the recycling and garbage tasks (which everyone else hated and I kinda liked... we all agreed that we wanted to recycle everything possible so it was a daily chore)  Once everyone knew that I was doing that one task that they all hated, they felt ok with putting my dishes in the dishwasher for me when I forget.  

Hope this helps!

Edit: (another thought I just had) Remember, you see and remember 100% of the things that YOU do around the house, but you probably notice only 30% to 40% of the things that others around you do.  Take that into consideration.  I usually take the amount of work that I actually SEE others doing and multiply it by 3 to get the amount of work I need to be doing to keep up.

Answer 8

If "family" can't live by the rules, "family" would have tto find another place to live!

Answer 9

punch em in the face