Do you take the bins out? 20 signs you’re Lenton’s worst housemate

Living with your mates can be a lot of fun if you’re lucky, but it can also make you realise things about the people you live with that don’t sit quite right with you. Being fair, no one can be the perfect housemate all the time. But, judging by the horror stories everyone hears about psycho housemates who steal your stuff, it’s fair to say there are certainly some questionable situations in Lenton.

This isn’t to say that if you do one of these things occasionally but always rectify the situation, you’re a terrible housemate, but if you’re conscious of constantly pissing your friends off but never apologise or try to stop doing the things they’ve asked you to, it might be time for some self reflection. So, here are 20 signs you are Lenton’s worst housemate.

1. You never have any of your kitchen stuff in the cupboard

Because it’s all waiting to get washed up. Leaving a couple things is completely understandable – we are only students after all – , but if it’s getting to the point where you’re leaving plates out for so long they get mouldy, it’s time to sort yourself out. Lenton houses are mouldy enough already without your week old mug’s stinking up the kitchen.

2. Your fridge shelf stinks

Of the mouldy food you always forget to eat but never bother to throw away. Pro tip: if your chicken fillets smell like the bin, throw them away, for your sake and everyone else’s.

3. You never take the bins out

Instead, you message the house group chat saying “the bins need taking out”. You’re a grown up, you can do it yourself.

4. You never replace the toilet paper when you’ve finished

This one is not exclusive to uni houses, because people forget to change the toilet paper all the time. However, if you’re always the one finishing the roll but not replacing it or buying a new pack, you are annoying.

5. You play music until the early hours of the morning

This one is potentially fine on weekends, depending on how early your housemates tend to go to sleep and how shit your music taste is, but if you’re playing DnB at 3am on a Wednesday night when you know your downstairs housemate has a 9am in the morning, you deserve all the passive aggressive group chat messages you get.

6. You use other people’s kitchen stuff without asking and don’t wash it up

If your house gets on well enough to use each other’s stuff without asking, I would usually say that’s totally fine as long as they wash it up afterwards. However, if you’re using someone’s chopping board/mixing bowl/glass, cover it in food which will leave a stain or just be very hard to clean, it is your responsibility to clean it. You’d think this goes without saying, but I have heard of people’s housemates who use their stuff but then leave it on the side expecting someone else to clean it just because it isn’t theirs.

7. You have people over all the time

It’s good to branch out and make friends outside of your housemates, but if you’re constantly hosting pres for people who are not your housemates, it’s a bit unfair. A couple of times is fine but your housemates probably have a bit of FOMO anyway if you’re going to Crisis every week without them, so having pres in a house which they also live in is kind of rubbing it in a bit. Not to mention drunk people can be really annoying when they’re just trying to have a chill night in.

8. You finish the communal milk and leave the empty bottle in the fridge

9. You’re always first to go home for holidays

This one needs a bit of elaboration, and obviously only applies if you didn’t decide last minute to go home early, but if you know you’re leaving before everyone else, it’s unfair on the last housemate to leave them to do all the cleaning. It’s likely that your house doesn’t routinely do a deep clean – or even hoover, let’s be honest – so the last person probably does it all so you don’t have to come back to a gross house. Even if it’s just making sure you’ve put everything in the drying rack away, or going over the living room with the hoover, just do your housemates the favour.

10. You leave your stuff in the washing machine or dryer for ages so other people can’t use them

It’s not that hard. Just take it out. Your clothes will end up smelling of damp anyway.

11. You let your partner shower in your house every single day and use all the water bills

(and leave pubes in the shower – I have actually heard of this happening to someone!)

12. You leave your lights when you go out

Even if bills are included, ever heard of the environment? 

13. You make a mess in the kitchen when someone’s just cleaned it and don’t clean it up.

This one is annoying even if the kitchen hasn’t recently been cleaned, but especially if someone’s spent an hour deep cleaning the worktops just for you to cover it in toast crumbs again.

14. You complain too much about your housemates doing very normal things.

This one is going a bit to the other side of things now, but just remember that your housemates are allowed to take up space too. If you can hear someone literally just walking around their room or opening their door and it’s disturbing you – put some ear plugs in instead of telling them to shut up, because that’s also a bit unfair.

15. You leave all your plates and mugs and stuff all over the house.

If you and your housemates like a movie night with hot chocolate, ice cream, etc, chances are you’ve left a couple of mugs in the living room. I think this is understandable as long as you take them out when you remember, but don’t leave loads of things around in the hopes that the magic mug pixies will take them into the kitchen and wash them up for you.

16. You always have to ask your housemates to let you in because you always forget your keys

We all forget our keys every once in a while, but if you’re having to send that fateful message to the group chat every time you leave your house, that’s a problem. Not only is it annoying for your housemates, but it’s also obviously a security risk if you’re forgetting to lock the door on your way out – and we all know Lenton isn’t exactly the safest area in Nottingham.

17. You’re always getting up at the crack of dawn and being really loud and waking up the downstairs housemate

We are at uni. Nobody wants to be woken up at 8AM.

18. You’re constantly leaving bits of food in the sink so it blocks it

This is grim for the people who have to use the sink afterwards. Just poke it down the drain with a fork, it’s not that hard.

19. You’re judgy about housemates’ finances

Everyone at uni comes from different backgrounds, which is definitely a benefit for those of you who have spent your whole lives around people with the same budgets. When people come to uni and move in with people from different household incomes, it can be a bit awkward to deal with. But if you’re not being understanding when your housemate says they can’t go out tonight because they literally have £3 in the bank, don’t push at it.

20. You have thrown up during a night out all over the carpet

We all love an Ocean Friday, and it’s a rite of passage to throw up during a night out at some point in your university experience. Most people, however, aim to get the tacky chun in the toilet, or at worst, the sink or the bin (I will admit I have done the former – sorry xx). So if you know you have a tendency to throw up from drinking and you don’t even bother to try and make it somewhere you can dispose of it, you better be the one scrubbing the carpet.

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