Roommate Dilemma: Should I Put Away Her Clean Dishes?

AITA for not putting away clean dishes? Roommate leaves them to dry indefinitely, causing space issues. Community advice on addressing the situation.

Damjan

Published in Interesting
24 Dec 2025

Roommate Dilemma: Should I Put Away Her Clean Dishes?

Living with a roommate can be a delicate balance of shared responsibilities and personal habits, and that’s precisely the dilemma facing a young woman in this Reddit thread. At just 24 years old, she’s found herself in a somewhat familiar situation: her roommate, while generally chill, has developed a habit of leaving clean dishes to dry for an extended period, causing frustration and clutter in their shared kitchen.

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In her original post, she expresses her reluctance to intervene directly, fearing that doing so might disrupt their harmonious living arrangement. She points out that she already maintains the counters and kitchen sink, yet she still feels a little lost about how to address the growing stack of dishes.

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The crux of the matter lies in the challenge of communication: how can she bring up this issue without seeming confrontational or nagging? The thread has sparked a lively discussion, with commenters offering a variety of perspectives on the situation.

Some advocate for direct communication, suggesting that a simple conversation could lead to a mutually beneficial understanding. Others highlight the importance of compromise and recognizing that different households have different norms.

As these discussions unfold, they raise the broader question of how to navigate shared living spaces, respect individual habits, and foster healthy communication. What do you think?

How would you approach this situation?

Original Post

So I F(24) have a roomate F(22) who is pretty cool and chill. I met her through a friend and was needing someone to rent a room from the house i was living in.

It has been all good. I am not the one to clean some one else’s dishes.

I don’t mind to help out when need but I do already clean the counters and kitchen sink on a daily basis when possible. I started to notice my roomate would wash her dishes and let them sit to dry… and dry… and dry.

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They have started to stack up, I have felt conflicted on asking if she knows where everything goes and is that why it just sits there? It just throws me off and I don’t even have space to let my dishes dry when I wash my own stuff.

I don’t know how to approach the situation, I know I could just be the bigger person and put them away, but it would be another time of me just doing it and letting her see that it’s okay to do that. Maybe i’m overthinking but I don’t understand how she can’t see stacking clean dishes and letting them sit out defeats the purpose of a clean kitchen.

Update: Thanks everyone for letting me know how to approach the problem:)) Yes I understand me not saying anything is part of the problem, I just struggle with how i come across when confronting an issue. Mostly with how I should see it from the perspective that she may have been raised differently in her household.

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Just trying to work on my communication skills so I thank you all for the honesty, and the conversation went great and we came to an understanding! 🙌🏻🙌🏻