Then-sophomore Kate Yelvington hauls bags of recyclables from her Williams Hall floor to a garbage garage outside of the dorm.
When it comes to splitting up chores, it’s all about respect for roommates Stephanie Dawes and Suzanne Borkowski.
“If you see a sink full of dishes, you wash the dishes. If you’re not in the mood to wash the dishes, your roommate washes the dishes,” said Dawes, a zoology junior.
“We don’t have an official ‘you clean here, you pick up here’ schedule. It just kind of works back and forth on who’s busy, who’s not busy and where people are going.”
This is the pair’s third year living together and their first year living in Van Hoosen Hall — MSU’s all-female, on-campus apartments.
Borkowski, a history, philosophy and sociology of science junior, said they rely on each other to take responsibility for completing chores instead of scheduling daily chores.
“The trash probably goes out about once a week, but the recycling is another story all together. It’s less about keeping track, but recognizing that someone needs to do it and whoever has the time will take care of it,” Borkowski said.
“We’ve never had an issue of it not getting done because we both take responsibility for our living space and each other.”
For zoology senior Amy Rupp and her roommate, respect is important in maintaining their apartment in Cedar Village and preventing one person from doing all the housework.
“We’re just kind of respectful of each other. If we notice the trash is full, we’ll take it out. We just take turns,” Rupp said.
Although respecting each other is essential to successfully rotating chores, that respect comes from communicating with each other — which becomes easier the longer you live with the same person, Rupp said.
“When you’re living in a dorm, you actually know your roommate and it’s easier because you can communicate better about what bothers you,” she said.
“If something really bothers you, just talk about it.”
An apartment means new responsibilities and chores for students, but respect for each other begins while living in the dorms, Dawes said.
“Even when we lived in the dorms, we never really talked about (setting up chores),” Dawes said.
“We found that cleaning is a stress reliever, so whenever one of us gets stressed out someone will be turning up the music and washing dishes or cleaning the bathroom.”
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