apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

boy, you would hate my bathroom.

My biggest peeve in the kitchen is half-assedness; i.e., cleaning only some of the counters, or improperly wrapping or storing leftovers so they dry out, or putting dishes away in a jumble, rather than taking a minute or two to stack them properly.

In the bathroom, the only thing that really bugs me is failing to clean hair out of the drain screen at the end of the shower.

http://www.angelfire.com/ct/tpdebate/images/tpaper.gif

Toilet paper should always be hung in such a way that the sheets can be pulled from the front, not the back.
That's how every housekeeper in every hotel I've stayed at does it, so it MUST be the right way.

My boyfriend never closes the kitchen cabinet doors. Ever. It's the most annoying thing. He leaves empty drink bottles out, he never rinses them and throws them in the recycling tote. Luckily he doesn't have many annoying bathroom habits, just leaves his dirty tshirt on top of the toilet tank...

When we have to share our boyfriend.

I think i agree with everything on that list... and not replacing ice. Since I cant make water freeze instantly, i wind up with a warm drink.

"When someone takes the last paper towel and doesn't replace the roll."

You still use paper towels?

And have you considered installing a second TP dispenser just for him - so you can have yours your way and he can have his his way?

I'm with you on the toilet lid issue - Nobody enjoys things accidentally dropping in there and it won't happen with the lid down...

Oh, and someone here is bound to say that anyone other than Elizabeth Windsor refering to themselves as "We" is their pet peeve - so I might as well get that out of the way...

I trained my last boyfriend quit well- close lid on toilet after flushing, replace tp roll in the right direction, clean up stove after cooking, leave no dishes in the sink, sleep with window open because its healthier and do not turn on heater at night..now he will eventually make a great house pet for the next girl.

my husband has the worst aim! Seriously!?!
I just can't figure it out.

Leaving the grounds in the coffee maker.

I'll buy that maybe you were in a huge rush and didn't have time to wash the pot and basket. I'll even buy that you forgot you ever made coffee at some point later in the day. But, for goodness sake, when you pour your first cup, just dump the grounds. There is nothing worse than finding dried out coffee bits in the basket three days later.

*whew* I feel better now.

Kitchen - when someone pours a big glass of water and doesn't refill the pitcher. It takes a long time for that water to filter through and when I go to get mine I'd rather not wait.

Bathroom - when people crumple up the wet towels and just shove them over the bar. Really, it's not so hard to hang it straight. It looks a thousand times better and makes for quicker drying.

I have the same peeve as Buddha's Wife: the inability of men to get their pee into the toilet

Re: bar of soap - 99cent Suave/VO5 shampoo works as body wash, shampoo, shave lather, and bubble bath... Sometimes they're on sale for even cheaper!

My biggest pet peeve is sitting on a toilet only to realize there's MOISTURE ON IT. Whether at work or at home, that totally tweaks me off. Who knows if it was pee, toilet-water splatter, or what... and now, it's on my butt.

Also, finding the toilet is CLOGGED only after you sit, do your thing, and get up to leave. People who feel the blockage will shift itself if given enough time are in denial.

I put a sign on the cupboard in our alterate work kitchen (not the main one) that said "This is where the paper towels live. Empty rolls make them sad. Please don't leave an empty tube."

They didn't learn, however. I would use the 2nd to last sheet and actually PUT the full, new roll on the counter, next to the nearly empty roll, and STILL walk in to find the wrapped roll sitting next to an empty tube. WTF.

And speaking of work kitchens I loathe the begging money signs my coworkers put up, whether it is for hoagie sales, or candy, or whatever. I refuse to support YOUR children and their stupid dance classes. It's even worse when it's for grandkids or nieces. Or a college dressage team. Hello, you are in college and/or have a horse. You're already doing better than I am!

The advertisements got so bad in our alt kitchen I scribbled "SIGN" on a piece of paper to hang in mockery.

Oooo..I'm with you 'bigwavejen'! Especially when it comes to guests and their crumpled wet wash-rags in the shower! GAG!!! At least hang them straight so they can dry before I have to touch them!!

1. Cluttered countertops
2. not replacing the trash bag after taking out the trash
3, rumpled carpet

And as far as I know, it's not a freaking crime to use paper towels, so yes, a lot of people still use paper towels and/or do not believe the hype about the freaking climate and are tired of hearing the disdain. THERE is a pet peeve about bathrooms/kitchens! Keep QUIET if you don't like the way other people aren't "green" enough for your tastes. Someone has to comment every time this comes up with their McJudgey attitude. Damn. We get it, we get it, and we still don't care.

While we're on the subject of guests...I have a recurring guest who always...I mean ALWAYS...leaves something behind. Like, I'm supposed to store it until the next visit, or pay to mail it to her. I finally made a decision...unless it's expensive, or can't be replaced, it goes straight in the garbage can.

Thanks for listening. I feel better now.

My boyfriend will do all of the dishes- which is very thoughtful of him, but we don't have a dishwasher and need to do them all by hand. His version of washing a glass is filling it with hot water and soap, giving it a swish, and moving on to the next one. Once they dry there is scum and scuzz all over them and I have to redo the dishes anyways.... Also, he never puts the cap back on the toothpaste and anywhere he sets it, little mountains of blue are left behind and harden on the countertop... grrrrrr.

I'm a woman but I've never understood being upset with the toilet seat being left up. I'm just happy it's getting put up in the first place!

God bless my husband. I do so many of the offenses above (besides peeing on the seat) and he never complains. He pretty much does none. And, he does the dishes.

Heidi- you gotta look at the seat- from different angles- before you plop yourself down on it. Especially at work, there's bound to be something on it. Yuck.

Hair.

I agonize over the impossibility to get every hair in the bathroom and loving my beard.

Leaving all the lights on like a child just ran through the apartment in a frenzy switching on all the lights.

AND WHEN THE TV IS WAY TOO LOUD! THAT I CAN'T HEAR MYSELF THINK!

Also clumsy people who just have to break or wreak something every time they are a guest somewhere, I understand things happen but when it is a reoccurring event, its time to take a ballet class and learn some grace because you act like you have gorilla hands.

Oh - one more pet peeve:

Guests who leave wet bathtowels on the bed (WTF???)

all of the above.

and
passive aggressive signs
chewing
loud people who clomp around and bang things...

Like I have a friend who is a big guy and just doesn't realize his strength and he slams things and will just fall down onto my couch and move it back a few inches. I put rubber on the bottom because of him! Also he puts his feet up on my coffee table (which I am fine with) but ends up shifting it several inches over time and I am always having to straighten out everything, pillows, rug etc when he leaves. Tends to break things too because he is just too rough. My husbands wife is the same way SLAM SLAM SLAM and she is a little thing. BE GENTLE PEOPLE! GENTLE!

I basically get startled easily (and thus annoyed) with unnecessary loudness. My co-worker leaps off the stairs so that he makes a big bang at the end and will slam his door shut and he just doesn't realize it. These people think they are the only beings living in their world.

i am glad i live alone. I dont have to deal with stuff like this, but when guests come, I clench my teeth when this crap happens:

Bathroom -

1) When people get water all over the sink, mirror and faucet. The water on the faucet and mirrors dry and leave marks and the sink stays eternally wet and gets all gross when my cats jump up to say hello.
2) people who throw poo paper in the trashcan. Toilets flush, DAMNIT. Honestly, WTF... Makes me gag.
3) Not putting crap back where it belongs. I brush my teeth in the shower, so if you're gonna brush your teeth at the sink, please toss the tube back in. Not that hard. and DON'T SQUEEZE FROM THE MIDDLE!
4) Leaving the TP some place other than on top the tank. There isn't a good place for a paper holder in my bathroom, so I leave it on the tank. Not on the wet sink, not on the floor where your dirty shoes have been. That paper's going to clean my fancybits - I don't want it soggy or dirty.

Kitchen:
1) Rotting food in the fridge or fruit bowl that has not been disposed of. I hate the waste as well.
2) Overflowing garbage and compost bins, esp. when fish has been consumed.
3) No ice. But I'm on top of it, so this is not usually a problem in my kitchen.
4) A dishwasher with a clean load that has not been emptied all day.
5) Cabinet doors and drawers left open.

Bath:
1) Yup, those with bad aim get my grumpy face. This includes our cat with her somewhat messy litter box habits.
2) Dirty towels.
3) Rings around the tub.
4) Cabinet doors and drawers left open.
5) Not a tp roll or bar of soap in sight.

@That70sHeidi..

Just so I understand you, this is a place to spout your feelings... but only if they do not in anyway hint toward you know what. (wanted to make sure not to say that dirty dirty word that is so offensive -- which by the way had not been mentioned prior to your ranting)

By the way, I still use paper towels but was not offended by the question.

Wow...looks like a lot of people had a lot of stuff to get off their chests! This post is very therapeutic! Can we do Pet Peeves EVERY day??

@msjessiemeghan
"My husbands wife"? Sorry, just had a chuckle at that.

Now that I let the husband go and the child is off at college, it's only my own mess. Still, the memories:
-1/2" of milk left in the carton in the fridge. Just finish it, rinse it out and put it in the recycling bin!
-the cat box. Unfortunately the cat was husband's idea and belongs to child so I am stuck for another couple of years.
-Visiting parent(s) who do not EVER reprimand their children for any transgressions in my home, whether it's wrecking a toy of my child's as a toddler (more excusable) or breaking a sculpture and hiding the pieces (as an 8-9 year old). Larger issue: being a good guest and being a good host are arts that not all learn.
-wet toilet seats. ewwwwww.

I had the worst roommates ever last time when it comes to cleanliness/consideration.

Used floss never actually in the waste basket always draping out and falling on the floor. They'd clean their ears with cotton swabs and aim them at the waste basket but wouldn't care if they didn't make them in so I would have to touch all their yucky crap when I cleaned the bathroom. Globs of hardened toothpaste everywhere because they put so much on the toothbrush it just falls out of their mouths. Toothpaste and spit all over the mirror because they had to 'watch' themselves brush. Hair. Everywhere. On the sink on the toilet in the bath drain in the tub on the tub surround. Hair of all varieties. I also hate going to the bathroom in the middle of the night or first thing in the morning to find someone else's waste in the toilet. Just flush. Its gross to let it sit!

In the kitchen they'd forget what pots and pans they used and they would just sit there dirty. What they did wash I always had to rewash because I found stuff crusted on them in the dishdrainer. One would cut peoples hair in the dining room and wash their hair in our kitchen sink and leave color tubs and piles of hair around.

Oh, one had a dog who used piddle pads she wouldn't replace daily. Sometimes our entire second level smelled like urine.

I live alone now. I have never been so happy in my entire life!

Ugh, I used to have a roommate who grew up with a maid. I was lucky if she brought her plates back to the kitchen and stacked them on the counter above the dishwasher. Not IN the dishwasher, but above it. Usually I'd find drinking glasses on a little-used shelf in the livingroom with 6 day old orange juice in it, or dinner plates from three nights ago on the coffee table. I can only ignore that for so long, because dirty dishes drive me nuts.

The bathroom was another matter. I know people read in the washroom. I do, and almost all of my friends do. Hell, my dad even calls the washroom "The Library". But seriously, the downstairs washroom by the front door? Should never house your mail, bills, and bank statements IN THE SINK. To be honest, I have no idea if she moved her mail every time she had to wash her hands, or just didn't wash them. It was her bathroom though, not mine, so I didn't press.

I don't want to know. :P

In regards to the toilet lid being left up...

Really? This is still a problem? Out of every time I have ever had to go to the bathroom (and needed the lid down) I have never ONCE not noticed it wasn't down and fall in. Seriously, what is wrong with any woman that doesn't pay attention to something as stupid as this? It doesn't matter if it's 3 in the afternoon or 3 in the morning. Unless you're 3 years old you should have learned by now. I'm sure I'll get yelled at for the comment, but women that complain about this particular topic need to get over it.

For what it's worth, I close the lid after every flush.

Matt. M
I don't turn on the lights at three in the morning, want to stay as asleep as possible, so that one has gotten me before. It's not fun, even if it's also not life threatening, so I do ask that my husband remember me at night time. Otherwise I agree, it's not too terribly hard to look first, especially if I want him to look when he's aiming.

As a woman, I understand this neither. I've never fallen in. It's still annoying when men leave the seat up, it's like leaving the closet door open, or replacing the full garbage but not taking it out. It's like eating the last pickle and putting back the jar, it's like eating a sandwich on the couch without using a plate. What's the thought process here?

Oh lord, these are relationship peeves not house peeves if you think about it! With messy guests I say suck it up, but for someone you live with I feel like the dirtier person should work on it since overall, cleanliness is a good thing. But here are mine:

Bathroom:
BF squeezes toothpaste from the top of the tube and mangles the tube... so I switched to plastic bottled toothpaste.
He also leaves the seat up... it's at the point where I walk in the bathroom, yell his name, and he's like, Sorry!!! Soooo... why can't he just remember when he's THERE??? His aim is also so-so... sigh.
Also, he NEVER wipes the toilet rim down... I'm like, you see it every time you pee, so several times a day. *I* see it maybe once a week, when I remember to check and clean it, and it is GROSS every time. If you look at it when you pee and see hair/splashes/etc., take some TP & WIPE IT. I would wipe the seat if it looked like that!!!
Yesterday, for like the first time ever, I forgot to replace the TP-- got distracted by laundry on my way to get it from the laundry room... of course he immediately YELLS my name and is like, WTF, where is the TP??? ... I don't think he *ever* replaces it, the only reason we don't have constant *emergencies* is I put a spare every time.
Also, a variety of his hair everywhere when I clean... I'm blonde and he's dark-haired so it's pretty easy to tell whose it is...
Never re-folding and hanging towels-- he throws them over the top of the shower on the floor, which = instant towel stink as well as ugly.

Kitchen:
Leaving wet sponges/cloths in the sink instead of wringing out to dry, etc.
Whenever he takes the trash out, he just leaves the empty trash can sitting in the middle of the floor with no new bag...
...When he does put a bag he doesn't tie the drawstring to make it tight so it won't slip off the edge of the can when the trash starts to get full.
NEVER cleaning the kitchen rug... I just throw it in the dryer on low for 5 min to get all the dust, etc., off... I'm pretty sure he's NEVER done this.
Half-assed dishwashing with lukewarm water... hot "burns" his hands(???!!?)
Leaving grounds in the coffeemaker
NEVER wiping down microwave or oven splatters and spills
Never rinsing anything that goes into the recycling... creating a wonderful mix of rotten beer, soda, cat food, canned goods, milk, etc...
Slamming refrigerator door into the wall EVERY TIME...

And generally, massive clomping, crashing, breaking of things, and leaving cabinets, etc. open and laundry everywhere. And seriously, he is so much better than a few years ago, so this is pretty good. I have a certain amount of sympathy for the manchild behavior... both parents are slobs too so he never learned to clean anything, and he does do the tasks I reeeeeally hate, like taking trash and recycling out, dealing with our storage unit, etc., and he handles all kitty care. And I think he really has a poorer sense of smell than I do, which is nice in a way since he enjoys when I burn scented candles and incense and wear perfume, which my dad always hated. But as you can see from my list, I am a *bit* exasperated!

My husband steadfastly denies that the dried-pee drips on the sides of the toilet bowl are absolutely not his. I try to remind him that it would take a lot of effort for female me to not get it in the bowl every time...

I also hate that my husband uses up his (guh) Irish Spring bar of soap, forgets to replace it, and so uses handfuls my luxury shower gel.

- not deconstructing boxes before putting them in the recycling bin, and then piling them up outside the bin when it fills up in two days.
- pulling the coffee maker out to the middle of the counter to make coffee and leaving it there rather than using it from it's place by the wall (nit picky, but I just don't understand).
- leaving the utensil drawer out because it catches and you can't take the 5 seconds required to shift it so it closes.
- creating a huge puddle under the dishrack after washing dishes-- give them a shake to get the extra water off in the sink!
- food grime left on the stove that gets baked on and the inevitable war of wills that results as I refuse to clean it because it's not my mess and my roommate refuses because she's in complete denial, and me ultimately giving in because I'm too grossed out.
- spilling things on the kitchen floor after I *just* mopped it and not wiping them up with a sponge.

I can't wait to move...

There are plenty of things that annoy me. But as for "biggest pet peeve," I have to say that leaving the toilet lid (not just the seat) UP annoys me. Men or women.

One even sees toilet lids photographed in the open position in real estate listings!

Why why why? It looks so trashy to me. CAP. IT. OFF.

Or, if you can't seem to close the lid, remove it altogether. And take your cabinet doors off while you're at it.

Jeesh...

It should be obvious that these complaints involve my teenage children.

*Empty chocolate milk or Ovaltine glasses not filled with water while awaiting being washed. Cereal bowls, too.

*Jeans in the wash inside out, with underwear still attached.

*Gum put in the garbage or wastebasket without being wrapped.

*Wet towels on the floor or bed.

*Empty boxes put back into the pantry.

*Food of any kind in bedrooms. No matter how often I ask, it happens.

*Lights left on in every room.

On the upside, my son is so well-trained about the toilet (from living with two girls, me and his sister) that he would never think of leaving the lid up and keeps his room very neat--he will make someone a good boyfriend/husband someday, if the other things on the list don't drive her nuts. :)

I so hate when guests use my bath towel to dry their hands, there is a hand towel right next to the bath towel and that stays dry all evening every time we have people over. It's so gross, why would you want to use my used bath towel to dry your hands anyway? And I am not the only one of my friends who has this issue. It's gross, worse than man-pee on the rim.

Matt, I've not fallen in since I was little (and I had a good giggle about it). it's more that the toilet rim tends to be spattered with urine as many guys have poor aim and I don't want to put my hand near that. when the lid is down, I can pretend it's not there. and some guys do it as a passive-agressive way to assert their 'manliness' and not seem 'whipped', which I find childish.

really, it's just a gentlemanly gesture and much more aesthetically pleasing. so your closing the lid is much appreciated!

Pet peeves?

Toilet paper not replaced.

No towels in the bathroom, or conversely, no hand soap.

Kitchen? Using up all of the milk, except the last four or five drops, and then replacing the carton in the fridge. Same thing with the handful of dust in the bottom of a cereal box or bag of chips.

Apparently I have ghosts that live in my kitchen. My husband can be in there, then leave, then when I walk in...every single cabinet door, and every single drawer is open. How can one man do this? I tell him the ghosts are back, however, I don't think he takes hints very well *obviously*

For those of you who mention signs, you should submit them here:
http://www.passiveaggressivenotes.com/

It's hilarious!

Wow, reading everything here reminds me why I am incapable of living with other people. My biggest problem is finding a way to keep my stainless steel stovetop clean and sparkly - the products made for this are a PITA ordeal.

My biggest pet peeve with kitchens is watching people make nasty bacteria mistakes with raw chicken - putting the cooked chicken back on the same platter they used when it was raw, using a sponge to wipe up after the raw chicken and then reusing said sponge.

I keep a cute metal bucket full of toilet paper rolls next to the toilet. My toilet paper holder came off the wall a year ago and it was the best thing that ever happened to me (well, if that's true, that's rather sad, let's say it was the best bathroom thing that's ever happened to me!). Free yourselves from the toilet paper holder and worrying about who replaces it and it which direction they replace it!

If I had a dollar for every time I replaced the TP at my father's house....

I don't have many- but the biggest one for me is when my husband changes out the roll of TP he throws the empty tube on the floor. There is a garbage can 6 inches away ! It's right there, and yet, everytime, on the floor.

The other is he will not put dirty dishes in the sink. He puts them on the counter. They are dirty. They go in the sink. I'm not even asking for him to wash them. Just put them in the sink.

Only one:

Neither of my children EVER rinses out the sink after they brush their teeth.

I have cleaned dried toothpaste off the side of the sink literally every day of their lives.

everything my parents do at their house.

they don't take their shoes off when they come in the house. even in the snow.
they cut everything on the dirty counter top.
they leave the butter out on the counter untill it is gone.
they leave the soap in the sink and tub.
they smoke all day long.
my father listens to rush limbaugh, watches sean hannity and bill o'reilly, and the rest of the assholes at fox news 24-7.
NEED I SAY MORE!
everything about that house is toxic!

woops meant my BROTHERS wife. hmm...

Oh and as for the lid being up...yes I hate it when its left up but not because I might fall in (because I wont) but because it just LOOKS bad. Its just a looks thing, really. Also I have a dog who might prefer the cold tank water over her bowl no matter how fresh the bowl water is.

My boyfriend and I have a truce: he leaves his dirty clothes on the floor, I put his clothes into laundry baskets, he does the laundry, and I fold and put away the clothes. He also does the dishes and I put them away.

He has not yet acknowledged my superior logic as to toilet seat position: if the majority of use is with the toilet seat down, it stays down. If the majority of use is with the toilet seat up, it stays up. Example: in college I lived with four men and the seat stayed up. We now are one man and one woman and the seat should stay down. One of these days I'm going to install elastic cords to return the seat to the position I prefer. *SNAP*

It's probably been said before, but my biggest pet peeve is when something isnt closed all the way.

Cabinet doors left cracked, drawers left slightly open drive me absolutely bonkers.

That70sHeidi, you are in denial. I use paper towels, but I try to not use more than I really need for messy things like pet cleanups. (I consider it a tradeoff for times when I would really want to wash the cloth after every mess, creating more laundry.) And there is nothing wrong with being challenged on that use now and then, especially as non-combatively as this incident was. But if you don't think that there is an ecological problem with unnecessary use of paper products, you have never been near a paper mill (I grew up in a town that makes paper) and seen the disgusting mess that they create, the amount of clean water they pollute, the stench in the air they make from the fermentation and chemistry involved... And that's just one issue. But tell me, what harm is there in being more consciencious about our use of resources in general, even if you don't believe what every credible scientist in the world states as fact?

The make up all over the counter in the bathroom, as well as all the utensils. It's really annoying, there's powder all over the place, you go in to wash your hands and you have to juggle through everything.
The insanity about clothes. When the girlfriend shouts at you for seating on them. If she doesn't want them to be sat on, she has to put them somewhere that is not used as a seat.
The obsession about using bottled or even filtered water, the tap water isn't bad, especially in the US.
Putting cds back in the wrong case or worst, left outside.

Cable... nobody needs cable to live

Microwave

People who print on only one side of a sheet when the printer can do both. Or uses color when b&w works well.

Defying all logic, my man doesn't throw used dryer sheets into the trash/compost bin. They are left wherever he last folded laundry (which is very nice of him to do). I have started picking them up and offering them back to him, to add to his "collection". I could go on, but this is the only unique one I have to add.

My husband unplugs everything. EVERYthing. I don't think I'll ever get used to it. Especially the small kitchen appliances. Every morning I don't realize the toaster is unplugged until the toast has been not toasting for atleast 10 minutes. And sort of like shalgal... my husband also leaves dryer sheets everywhere. It's not because he forgets them, no. It's because I told him about a post I saw on apartment therapy called "10 things to do with used dryer sheets" Yay!

Toilet paper is a mixed bag.

1 - I generally keep my TP in the bathroom, so getting a roll when one runs out isn't the end of the world.

2 - The direction the TP should be pulled from on the roller is dependent on whether or not you have pets. I grew up with cats, and if we put the toilet paper pulling from the top down, the cats would love to sit on the toilet seat and bat at the toilet paper, unrolling the entire spool. However, if we put the TP in pulling from the bottom out, then they would just bat at the roll and the TP would just spin and spin without unrolling.

Hmm... I don't have any complaints, I think I am the messy one...

ErikThe Red
you should have left the toilet lid opened, I'm sure that the cat would have fallen in there a couple of times and learnt not to go near the TP :)

My girlfriend and I are on the verge of breaking up because she has hit all my pet peeves, namely:

Her clothes are always on the floor

She is totally incapable of pushing in a chair, put the top back on any container, leaves refridgerated goods out all day, close drawers, cabinets doors etc...

Papers and books everywhere and refuses to disgard anything.

I could just go on and on

a female house guest of mine would put her make up over our sink and then i would have to wipe tons of foundation, powder, eye shadow off the sink and the vanity. and when she brushes her teeth she spatters all over the mirror and the faucet. is it that difficult to see the mess that you have created and take care of it?

I'm thankful that he actually folds the laundry (and folds them pretty well), but I CAN'T stand how he folds the towels. I always end up re-folding them so that they match mine. Coincidentally he was folding them in front of me last night so I covered my face with the blanket to prevent an anxiety attack. Petty I know...please don't judge! hahah

@chusmabilly: poo paper in the wastebasket? Really? Gads - what a horror.

Kitchen: wiping the counters down with a sponge. it leaves streaks, and the countertop is still still not clean.

Bathroom: not rinsing the toothpaste from the sink after brushing teeth.

I am on my final leg of living with roommates.

- Not wiping down surfaces after you use them
- Don't just walk by the trashcans when you get home first, take them in
- We have a white sink, use the garbage disposal instead of letting food rot on and stain it
- If you dye your hair black, clean the shower
- Throw away the junk mail, don't just leave in on the counter for me to do it
- Put the wine bottle IN the recycling bag, not next to it
- Bandaids in the shower
- Never maintaining anything (i.e., trashcan juices)
- Wet paper towels left on the counter (?)
- If you pull the cheese tray in the refrigerator off the rack maybe you can fix it instead of just leaving it sitting there
- Swiffering once a month is not cleaning.

I could go on and on...

KTG/bepsf--I've given up. The site is written by (a) conjoined twins or (b) Tara from the Showtime series.

And ever notice how people get all torqued about paper towels but love bamboo because it's "Sustainable"?

Bethz,

After reading post after post of yours, I have noticed that you continually us "we" and "our" and "us," even if it doesn't make any sense.

"Our boyfriend?" Come on. Please back off the third person once in a while in order to make your sentences make sense.

the sudden and urgent need (of others) to empty the dishwasher when i am in the middle of cooking. they are trying to help, but the crossing of paths can get dangerous at points.

I'm lucky enough to have a really nice bathroom - apart from the fact that it has no fan and never will (there is not enough space between the ceiling and the building's roof). I always leave the bathroom door open for ventilation purposes, but it gets awfully damp in there when I have a guest. Especially if I've asked them to leave the door open when they're done showering.

I'm truly shocked by all these horror stories of males missing the toilet. If my boyfriend EVER did that, I'd break up with him. Having to share a bathroom with my brother growing up was disgusting enough.

i think you guys nailed it all......but let's not forget NOT TURNING OFF LIGHTS. it's 2009, get with the program

oh yeah, and buying food, not eating it, letting it rot in the fridge, and not throwing it away. all of these things are totally annoying.

Errr... the hinge works both ways. I couldn't give a rat's @$$ if dh always leaves the toilet seat up, because I always leave it down. If the shoe were on the other foot, why isn't he complaining that I leave it down all the time? Because it's lame. Phew. Sorry. Can't stand hearing about this argument. It works both ways, sister.

I am totally disgusted when my husband does not clean off the electric toothbrush base after he uses it!

Beth, darling, I'm sure you're just a lovely person, but your persistent use of "our boyfriend" as though you were the Queen of England, despite our (here, the plural is actually correct) repeated pleas to desist, is far more annoying than any toilet seat left up, beard shavings in the sink or perhaps even a horrifically mildewed shower curtain. Your repeated use of this "royal we" construction is no longer cute, if ever it was. Please, we (and we are legion) beg of you, find a new gimmick. This one has run its course.

Put a waterproof sticker in the bowl - give the guys a target to aim at!

My pet peeves (and towards the man in my life):

-Hairs left in the sink after shaving.
-Not putting the toilet seat back down - if you can put it up, you can put it down.
-Leaving wet towels on the floor.
-Just sitting the empty roll of toilet paper on the vanity and not in the small trashcan placed in the room for mostly that reason.
-Not pulling the shower curtain back closed after finishing.
-Not mentioning we are out of shampoo - so I get to find out after I've been in the shower and gotten my hair wet.
-Not cleaning out the sink after brushing his teeth.

I could think of more, but I feel b*tchy for whining about this much.

I try not to be as picky about my kitchen as long as the dirty dishes actually make it in the sink (not on counters or any space), trash makes it to the trash can, and the glasses are rinsed out after you use them. Ok, make sure my potholders are back where you found them or you'll be dealing with someone who can be the devil incarnate if you don't.

At this point, I'd love to have someone offer to rinse off some dishes and pans and fill the dishwasher while I'm trying to serve dinner. But luckily the dishwasher isn't necessarily in the path to the table in the kitchen. I guess I have the opposite problem here since I have inconsiderate family who just walks off into the other room once they finish eating.

omg. men are apparantly all the same. and mine is not unique in his grossness. thank god.

I never understood the big deal about the toilet seat. I put it down, he puts it up. It seems fair that we both expend equal effort in putting it the way we want it. I think that I've forgotten to put it down twice in 21 years of togetherness, and that was early on in our living together. I don't see why it should be left the way one of us prefers it when we share the apartment equally.

The only thing that bothers me is my husband throws his coat and sweater on the sofa, then walks into the bedroom to hang up his tie and put his clothes in the hamper. It seems that it'd be just as easy to hang everything up in the bedroom rather than to ditch the coat and sweater in the living room.

I once read that when you flush a toilet it sprays bacteria in a 6-foot radius. Since then, I have always put the lid down before flushing. I don't want myself (or my toothbrush) exposed to that. Plus, it's gender-equal because we both have to lift the lid and put it back down when we're done.

Oh my, such great complaints on here! When it comes to my husband, I'd say him not TOTALLY getting all the little hairs out of the sink after shaving, poor aim, and doesn't use the squeegee after the shower, I've given it up because he won't do it. Kitchen wise? Comic books and papers are everywhere, won't put away soda can and plastic bottles in their recycling baggies... other than that, laundry... *sigh*

With me? I'm just lazy at times. I hate how my hair is constantly shedding and I tend to leave my makeup sitting on the bathroom counter or will bring things into the living room to do while watching tv but then won't put it away... so then things just end up accumulating.

Oh, the other thing is that he won't help me unless I ask him to do so when it comes time to clean our parrot cages...

Still trying to get over that people sit on the toilet seat at work without putting a paper shield between them and the seat.

Wow! After reading these posts, my thoughts are. Living alone is more than heaven.

Some women are as piggish as some men. Maybe women should live alone or with other women who have the same health and cleaning habits and just use men for sex, fun and breeding. Have kids and train the boys to be more like women. Maybe fastidious women would be happier with gay male room mates.

Maybe men should room with men and see how they reflect each others bad habits. (We know that doesn't work.) I've known men who were in the armed forces and they were cleaner than some women I've known.

Some of these bad habits mentioned are more like entitlement issues. Some people of both sexes really believe rules of hygiene and courtesy do not apply to them.

Living alone is more than heaven in so many ways. One might weigh in, the peace of mind against the angst or socialization for survival of the species.

The SO and I feud constantly over the subject of toilet paper. He had his own bathroom all throughout his teen years and, at any given point, there were three half-used rolls of toilet paper on the counter. On the one hand, at least it was there. On the other hand - ohmygodwhyisitsohardtoputthepaperrollonthestupidholderthingie.

When we moved, I knew the apartment would come with another of the spring loaded pop out and load holders, so I tried to buy a freestanding unit with the kind that you just slide on - because I figured making it a one handed operation would help with his dedication to the subject - but it didn't. He still actually refuses to use an entire roll of toilet paper. It seems he feels that if there is less than 1/4 of a roll left, he has to get another back-up roll out of the cupboard, and since there's a full roll available, he might as well use that one.

I've actually been driven to letting him do this, putting the half-used rolls back in the cupboard with the new rolls so that when he goes to get a full roll, he's faced with all of the half empty ones and has to make due.

Some things my husband has in common with a lot of the men mentioned here - not wiping the toilet seat after the bad aim, not replacing the TP roll when its done, leaving the whole bathroom and sink area wet by the time he's done getting ready in the morning.

But here's 3 unique things he does -

1) Leaves paper dinner napkins in the sink along with his plates, and kindly lets them get soggy and messy so that I can think of him *fondly* when I'm putting the dishes away in the dishwasher.

2) Regularly loses lunch boxes and tea thermoses that he takes to work.
On an average, he loses one every two weeks. I don't know what he does with them.
When I ask him about the lunch box in the evening, he claims he left it on the desk and will bring it back the next day. Regular reminders for 2 weeks to get that box home are met with constant reassurances that the said box is still safe and sound in his cubicle and will be brought home soon. And then, its gone. He claims he has no idea what happened to it.
And he has a knack for losing the really good or special ones too.

3) Sometimes he forgets to flush after peeing! How one can forget that is beyond me. (My father in law also does that ocassionally, so I'm guessing its genetic.)
Everytime I scream at him for this, he claims that pee is antiseptic and kills bacteria. Ain't it sweet of him to do his bit towards cleaning the toilet bowl!

I don't have any roommates, so can I complain about my cat for a second? The lower cabinets in my kitchen don't close that well, just due to age (and maybe the wet weather we've been having is warping the wood or something). They have some sort of magnetic "catches" that don't stick as well as they could. Anyway, he's learned how to open them with his paw. I don't know why- there isn't anything in there that he'd like, and I never actually catch HIM hanging out in there, but lately I come home from work to find one or two cabinet doors hanging open (never the same ones). Pest.

Oh classic, I just love ranting about annoying pet peeves!

I think all the bases were covered so far!

TP roll placement, sponge squeezing, toilet seat drama...

I have a roommate for just a couple months longer but I just cant get over how blind he is to basic household care. A shake of the kitchen or bathroom rug from time to time- or wiping up splatters of whatever he dropped on the floor last week- or cleaning the stove-top after cooking!!

They could never live up to our wild standards, we are, in fact, perfect.

putting the cooked chicken back on the same platter they used when it was raw, using a sponge to wipe up after the raw chicken and then reusing said sponge.

I have a spicy grilled chicken recipe that recommends saving the sliced habanero peppers from the marinade and using them to garnish the cooked chicken!

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!



I haven't fallen in since I was 5, mainly because I always put the lid down. (This saved me from dropping a myriad of objects into the toilet while in college. My roommates weren't so lucky.) However, I had an enviro-conscious male roommate several years ago who wouldn't flush his urine, which is fine, but he left the lid up. Yucka. I don't need to see anyone's piss when I go into the bathroom to brush my teeth. And what if I had dropped something in there? It's bad enough when that happens and there's only water in the toilet.

Not washing or clearing up after cooking (whenever my husband cooks, which is wonderful of him, but he seems to be allergic to tidying up).
Things not back in or around their proper places in kitchen or vanity area. Honestly, it takes about 30 seconds extra max to put things away.
Sandy hiking gear on bathroom floor.

He will do it if asked, but it takes about a week, and I feel bad for nagging by then. DIY is the more peaceful option. We used to live in different cities until now, so he did what he liked, but now...sigh.

Now granted, my husband does laundry and dishes (oh glory!) however, he NEVER puts the dishes and utensils back where they are supposed to go. The utensil drawers have slots (forks with forks, spoons with spoons, etc.) why not put them there and please stop putting the bowls on top of the plates and the stack the pots in the drawer according to size!! This may be obsessive compulsive of me but just a little effort to put things back NEATLY would satisfy me. After all, I have totally given up on trying to keep the cabinets stocked with all of the labels facing front. I often joke that we would make a great couple if we had separate apartments with connecting doors!