How do i (23F) make my boyfriend (32FTM) respect our shared space?

I (23F) and my partner (32FTM)have been together for 9 months and living together for 5 months. I am a very clean person to the point could be considered a compulsion but as I’ve gotten older I’ve learned to live with some mess but my boyfriend is pushing things too far. We live in a 750 sqft apartment with 2 cats so any mess can seem huge but it’s turned into him taking the trash bag out of the trash can to sit it in front of the front door for it to leak all over our floors and the cats to get into he has left it for days before and just generally doesn’t pick up. Think his snack trash and soda can left all over the house, clothes sitting outside the closet door instead of inside the closet in the hamper, and not doing laundry or dishes unless prompted. We have had many fights about this and after our last fight i told him that was the last time i would argue with any grown person about picking up after themselves as we are taught in elementary school. Last night i went out of town with my dad for a comedy show we go to every year before leaving i started to clean the house when he told me not to worry he would take care of it since he felt bad that i had done so many of the household chores for so long… well fast forward to me getting home today and the apartment is somehow worse than when i left. I am just at a loss of what to do i love him so much but it’s hard to have to be his mother all the time. How do i get him to understand it’s important to me that he respects our home and space? We split bill 50/50 for context

Posted Oct 11, 2025, 7:38 PM UTC

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