Flatmate refuses to take the bin out

The only reason your housemates didn't tidy up is because they knew you would do it for them. If you had left it then it would get to a point where they thought they should clear it up themselves.

It's extremely hard to settle on such a thing because it's all so subjective. Even if you force each other into a rota with scheduled (rather than needs-based) cleaning, people will undertake their allocated task to their own standards, perceiving the job to be done while the cleaner housemate may consider it still "dirty".

Stop trying to be awkward.

Mine just says something vague like "keep the house in good condition" etc.
Pretty meaningless.

I mean you're trying to be a smart arse but failing.

...

Stop being awkward and trying to cause arguments.

I'd take the bin out for me.



There probably aren't any "rules" and if there are they'll be vague and subjective.



If the OP didn't take the bin out, eventually her housemate would. The OP just always does it sooner, because she has a lower tolerance for full bins and rubbish around the house. If the OP left the house then maybe the dirty person would be the new clean person, and someone even dirtier would move in and then the roles would be reversed. Do you see what I'm getting at?

Your argument only works to a certain extent, because you're forgetting a fairly fundamental point of principle. People should pull their weight.

That's just another subjective term. Who in the house should decide whether they are or not?

It's not subjective. You should clean up what you generate. In a house where everyone generates about the same amount of rubbish and washing up, it may be more efficient to instate a rota rather than everyone washing one plate per meal or having to segregate their own rubbish. But it is worth bearing in mind that that is a system set up only for convenience, and on the assumption that everyone has more or less the same standards and output. If one person is producing far more rubbish or washing up than anyone else, it is not fair to divide the work equally.

Main point: you clean up what you make dirty, or a requisite amount of it. Pulling one's weight is not subjective, nor is it arbitrary. It is relative, but that poses no difficulty for working out when somebody is no longer doing it.

If in theory we could divide cleaning tasks into equal portions, one part per housemate, to whose standards should the cleaning be done? Let's say a bathroom needs cleaning once per week, to standard A, to satisfy the cleanest housemate; and once per month, to standard Z, to satisfy the dirtiest. In a house of four, what sort of rota do you think would be fair and who should have the final say as to whether the bathroom has been successfully "cleaned" each time?

Your hypothetical is missing the vital ingredient: Z's standard would give everyone typhoid. Once you take account of that, I think the question answers itself.

I didn't specify that, but to clarify - standard Z will not give anyone typoid or any other disease. Even if in my hypothetical situation it did (which would be quite apart from any realistic scenario), that only tells us one way the bathroom cleaning shouldn't be managed but not how it should be managed.

Please continue and explain how you think this model household should manage the task of cleaning the bathroom.

There is no need, because it is not applicable to the present discussion. We're talking about uncleanliness to the point of maggots in the kitchen and a risk of rat infestation. That is a health issue. My amendment to your analogy was necessary to make it relevant, and I don't see the point of mooting it without.

you mustn't assume that people presenting different ideas or opinions to yours are being intentionally awkward and faking it just to cause trouble.

People really do see things differently to each other!

It's not because you have a different opinion. I welcome different opinions.

It's because you've entered this thread, have offered to advice to the OP, and have instead quoted a number of people claiming things are "subjective" when, as I have already, explained, they are not.

A house needs to be kept in good, clean order. Having rubbish left out, causing maggots and a possibly rat infestation, is not what any landlord describes as a good, clean order. Therefore something needs to be done about it.

It should be cleaned up by ALL housemates, as all housemates are responsible for making the mess/disposing of rubbish. That all housemates have equal responsibility is made clear in licence agreements.