Roommate Court

Work it out without making it worse.

Roommate problem? Tell Roommate Court what's happening and what each side says. It helps you separate the facts from the disagreement, figure out what might actually resolve it, and gives you words to start the conversation. Or use Chore Roulette to divide household chores and rotate the load over time.

See what Roommate Court gives you

Real output from an actual run on the dispute below — an excerpt of a longer result, nothing reworded.

The dispute

Dishes left in the sink for days at a time, sometimes a full week. My side: I work from home and the kitchen is right next to my desk. I end up staring at a sink full of dirty dishes for half my workday. I'm not asking for spotless — just for them not to sit overnight more than once. Her side: She works long hours at the hospital and says she's too tired to wash dishes when she gets home at 9pm. She'll do them on her days off. She thinks I'm being uptight because I'm home all day. Going on for months; raised more than once.

Real run, 2026-10-08 — one of the tool's own built-in examples.

You're talking past each other

You are asking for a timeline — no dish sits overnight more than once. She is describing a physical limit — she cannot wash dishes at 9pm after a hospital shift. These are two different problems being treated as one. She is not refusing to do dishes; you are not asking for perfection. The gap is whether 'days off' is a workable schedule when you are looking at the sink all day, every day.

Where it collides

Her reported 'days off' cycle may mean dishes sit for several days in a row — the exact situation that disrupts your workspace. Her solution may feel reasonable to her while still not solving your problem at all.

What to try

Name the specific standard clearly — one overnight maximum — rather than asking her to 'clean up more' or 'do dishes sooner'. Vague requests are easy to feel you are meeting. A concrete threshold gives both of you something unambiguous to agree to or negotiate around.
Separate the timeline problem from the late-night washing problem. Ask whether she could rinse and stack dishes before bed — not fully wash them — so the sink is not visually overwhelming during your workday. A quick rinse and stack is much lighter than a full wash and may address your actual concern without requiring her to do the thing she says she cannot do at 9pm.
Propose a day-of-week anchor instead of a hourly rule — for example, any dishes from Sunday through Tuesday get done by Wednesday, and so on — timed around her known days off. This meets her where she actually is while giving you a predictable limit on how long the sink fills up.

Start the conversation with

Frame it around what you actually need: that staring at a full sink during your workday is affecting your ability to focus, and you want to find something workable given her schedule. Skip the exact words and go straight to: you need to talk about what a realistic timeline actually is for her, and what would reduce the visual disruption for you during work hours.

Roommate Court only has your account of the conflict, and it says so. It looks for a workable arrangement, not a verdict on who is at fault.

In a Nutshell

When: The same roommate argument for the third time — or chores that need dividing.
You give: What's going on, your side, and — if you know it — what they'd say. Don't guess just to fill that in.
You get: Where the actual disagreement sits, practical options worth trying, and words to start the conversation with.
The edge: It only has your account, and says so — no fault percentages, no invented 'real conflict,' no fictional conversation where they agree.

Good to Know

Only fill in 'What would they say?' if you actually know — leaving it blank is honest input, guessing isn't
The proposal is something to bring to the conversation, not something already settled — say so if you use it
In Chore Roulette, save rounds consistently so the rotation history stays useful — history doesn't judge who worked harder, only who had what
Load labels (Lighter/Medium/Heavier) are optional and reflect your household's own sense of a chore's weight — nothing invents that for you
Use 'Something Doesn't Work?' with a specific reason ('I did the bathroom last time') rather than a general complaint — it's treated as new information, not a fairness dispute to win

Questions people ask

How do I get my roommate to do the dishes?

Agree on a specific standard rather than 'clean up more' — for example, nothing left in the sink more than one night — and fit it to both schedules. If late evenings are impossible for them, a quick rinse-and-stack or a set catch-up day can work.

How do I bring up a problem with a roommate without a fight?

Pick a calm time, describe it as a shared problem, ask how they see it before proposing anything, and suggest a simple system rather than a favor.

What if we've already talked about it and nothing changed?

The request was probably too general. Name the exact standard you need, check what is actually stopping them, and agree a system you can both see working, such as a rota or a set day.

Does Roommate Court decide who is right?

No. It shows where the two positions actually collide, what is still unknown, and what to try and say, so you can agree something that works for both of you.