Roommate cooks at night! Smells bother me!

[missmich]

My roommate is an all right gal. Friendly,pretty quiet and pays rent on time. She cleans well too! She's also hardly ever here and works a lot.

 

The only problem is that she cooks late at night and the smells make me sick! She's only been here a month and we've had a few talks about cooking at night. She agreed not to cook after 11pm and now will cook on weekends for the rest of the week,her idea not mine.

 

It's almost 11pm now and she's decided to make lasagna! I want to sleep soon and the smells of the meat (yeah I'm a vegetarian) and the onions and peppers cooking are making me ill. She's got the windows open and a fan going though so it does help...a little. Not sure she realized how long it takes to make lasagna.

 

Now since she gets home late at night on weekdays I don't mind if she cooks a few meals on the weekend for the rest of the week,I just prefer that she did it earlier. That way if the smell bothers me I can at least go out in the morning or afternoon while she cooks and the smell and noise won't bother me at night.

 

It's my place and she just rents the room from me. I'd like to make a new rule for "kitchen hours" so that I can sleep and not be bothered by the smell. Like say no cooking after 10pm unless it's something fast in the micro wave. I mean that's what I do since her room is next to the kitchen and I know cooking or doing dishes after she's in bed will bother her.

 

Anyway I can approach this?

[missmich]

Oh and now it's after midnight and she's wanting to relax her hair! She was off work all day and decides this is the time to do her hair? Our place is small and she knows that I'm wanting to sleep and that any noise from her going in and out of the bedroom/bathroom will be heard by me.

 

I don't think I'm being that unreasonable when I told her just now that it would bother me,along with the strong chemical smell! So she put it all away and will do it another time I guess.

 

Seriously though? Why does she think it's ok to do a lot of activity this late at night when she knows that I'll here whatever noise she makes late at night?

 

I don't mind at all if she gets home late or wakes early and takes a shower or makes food (something quick) but not this late when she knows I'm in bed!!!

 

Boy is she going to be pissed off when she finds out we are getting a 3rd roommate soon!

[Ruby Slippers]

It sounds to me like you're a pretty particular roommate. The smell of cooking and the sound of relaxing her hair/walking in and out of the bathroom and her room bothers you? Did you communicate your rather strict smell and noise requirements before she moved in? I mean, what is she supposed to do when you're at home at the same time -- sit in her room and do nothing?

[BUENG1]

Oh and now it's after midnight and she's wanting to relax her hair! She was off work all day and decides this is the time to do her hair? Our place is small and she knows that I'm wanting to sleep and that any noise from her going in and out of the bedroom/bathroom will be heard by me.

 

I don't think I'm being that unreasonable when I told her just now that it would bother me,along with the strong chemical smell! So she put it all away and will do it another time I guess.

 

Seriously though? Why does she think it's ok to do a lot of activity this late at night when she knows that I'll here whatever noise she makes late at night?

 

I don't mind at all if she gets home late or wakes early and takes a shower or makes food (something quick) but not this late when she knows I'm in bed!!!

 

Boy is she going to be pissed off when she finds out we are getting a 3rd roommate soon!

 

I think your being unreasonable. If minor things such as this really bother you, it might be a better idea to live by yourself.

[Star Gazer]

It sounds to me like you're a pretty particular roommate. The smell of cooking and the sound of relaxing her hair/walking in and out of the bathroom and her room bothers you? Did you communicate your rather strict smell and noise requirements before she moved in? I mean, what is she supposed to do when you're at home at the same time -- sit in her room and do nothing?

 

I think your being unreasonable. If minor things such as this really bother you, it might be a better idea to live by yourself.

 

I really have to agree with both of these posts.

 

Perhaps you should either live by yourself, or get a roommate who's also vegetarian who you know has the same sleeping hours you do.

[Citizen Erased]

I agree with the others, you're not her parent that can tell her when she should sleep. I can understand if she's loud but seriously, specific hours to cook food because of the meat smells? If you find it that unbearable find a vegetarian roommate. Do you get annoyed when she goes to the bathroom to pee or shower as well as setting her hair?

 

I can understand being frustrated by the small stuff, I get annoyed by very small things myself and no matter how irrational it is it is hard to stop. But it's unfair on her for you to expect these things of her, she lives there too. She pays for the pleasure of it. Sometimes these things don't work out and be a little more careful next time in your search for a roommate.

[missmich]

Before she even moved in,actually before she even came to see the place I told her that when I was sleeping normally around 10-11pm that if she cooked a big meal the noise would bother me. So she did know that before she moved in and I assumed she agreed to it since she did sign the agreement and moved in. So I don't know why she would start cooking such a big meal (fried turkey legs and lasagna) so close to 11pm when she had all day to cook. She was off that day.

 

The bathroom is tiny and has no window and it was to cold to open the kitchen window to let fresh air into the place so really,to use such harsh chemicals with no ventilation is not a good idea no matter what time it is. I don't know if anyone has ever smelled hair relaxer/perm solution but it is strong stuff and you really need to have a window or two open.

 

The morning after this happened she said sorry for the noise and that next time she wouldn't cook so late and that she should have known the noise of her coming and going from the bathroom to the bedroom would be to loud that late at night. I said it was fine and that next time to just start earlier.

 

So she relaxed her hair that morning. I got the fan ready for her and opened the kitchen window and sorta explained how the air would help get the smell out and not make us sick from the fumes and I totally thought she understood. BUT she closed the bathroom door with my cat inside with her while she did her hair!!!

 

Now normally I don't care! he loves the bath tub and sits in there often and drinks from it. She was relaxing her hair though in a small room with NO air flow at all! When I noticed the door was shut I asked if she could breathe ok in there and said maybe she should open the door...that's when I saw that my boy was in there. I had to explain again that the smell of the chemical would be there for a good part of the day and that's why I'd set the fan up for her so that it wouldn't bother me when I took my shower later.

 

Later on my cat had a nosebleed! I'm pretty sure it was b/c he'd been in the closed bathroom with the hair relaxer!

 

I do prefer to live alone and yes I am very particular about certain things. lol Since I have some debt I needed a roommate for a little while. I do always try and talk about the little things and how I like things before a roommate moves in. That way they can decide if this is is the right place for them.

 

I do also mention that I'm vegetarian,but they don't need to be. I only ask that they use a different cutting board then mine and that they open the window and maybe use the fan when cooking meat.

[Mino]

Hi Mismatch, I had to laugh when I read your post, I could have wrote it. I dont think you being unreasonable;) Actually I had the same problem years ago, I rented out a room, BUT they were not very considerate. Food stinks up a house, Dinner should be in the evening , normal dinner hours... I go to great lengths to always have my home smelling good. I clean, clean, clean, but having a roomate I learned that not all people clean, in fact some never do, ewwwww!!! Then there living space has a wierd funky oder... some people are really gross, leave plates with food stuck on it out for days. (YUCK) About the noise, I agree, walls are thin, have some freakin consideration for others, they are not the only ones living there.GeeZ, To the other posters that disagreed, put yourself in mismatches shoes, Your roomate starts blaring mustic right before YOU want to go to sleep. How po would you be???? Or you had to live with a funky smell, just becasue they are lazy and inconsiderate. I mean when you do live with a roomate, You have to be considerate, why cant we expect it from them? If they have wierd hours, I am sure its not asking much to be considerate after 10 pm. I had reached my limit one day, Told him its not working , I cant live with a slob, Smell was terrible, the nasty smell of fillth, , I ended up throwing out all the furniture, tearing out the carpet and repainting Just to get the "funk out of there. Cost me thousands, more then I ever collected on rent. Anyway, I think you may want to search for a better match, write your rules down and talk about them to the peron BEFORE they move in, Good Luck,

[missmich]

She is a clean girl though. Her personal hygene seems fine to me and there is no smell coming from her room and she does her dishes more then I do mine! lol She does clean the shared spaces just as well as I do too. That's hard to find sometimes.

 

I have really odd hours! I often can't sleep and will want to get out of bed and cook something or clean the kitchen or something that would make a lot of noise,but since I have a roommate I've changed some of my habits. If I;m hungry I'll make a sandwich or get some cereal instead of cooking if it's after 11pm. I also make sure to be covered when she's around so she doesn't feel uncomfortable Yeah I like to be naked/semi naked at home but am dressed and covered enough so no one feels uncomfortable.

[MindoverMatter]

Boy is she going to be pissed off when she finds out we are getting a 3rd roommate soon!

 

Huh? Is this related to her cooking hours?

 

You:

 

* are bothered by the smell of food and beauty products

 

* are bothered by the sound of someone walking into the bathroom

 

 

You are not suited to have a roommate. Maybe you're in the right, maybe you're in the wrong. But you will never find a roommate that will agree to be more considerate than she already is. She works late hours and agreed to prepare most of her meals on the weekends - which will take away a considerate amount of leisure time - she apologizes for using the bathroom late at night (which believe me, she shouldn't have - is she supposed to pee in a potty after 11 pm?), she is clean and most of the time she isn't there anway.

 

Find another way to make some money.

[missmich]

I've never said that she couldn't use the bathroom after a certain time at all. I've never ever said that she couldn't pee or shower only during certain times! I would never do that.

 

Going and back and forth 3-4 times in a row at 12:30am and running the water in the tub to rinse her hair and the opening and closing of her bedroom door and the bathroom doors would disturb me along with the smell of the chemicals. I don't think it's unreasonable to ask that she do that kind of thing in the daytime AND open the windows and have the fan on.

 

How do you people get that I don't want her to pee during certain hours from my posts? Really I'd never expect to have that as a rule especially since I couldn't even follow it myself!