Do We Really Need a Cleaning Roster?

A few crumbs left on the table after breakfast.

A small splash of oil on the kitchen counter.

An empty bottle of detergent somehow placed back on the shelf.

If someone notices and cleans it up, it only takes a few seconds.

But in a share house, sometimes that “someone who notices” never seems to appear.

So, do we really need a cleaning roster?

At Come on UP, community managers from Tokyo and Kansai get together once a month for a study session.

We talk about everything from organizing events and finding new residents to small incidents that happen in our houses.

It is a chance to bring together what is happening in each house and ask:

“How do you handle this at your place?”

May’s topic was cleaning.

It may not sound exciting, but when you think about shared living, it is a subject you cannot really avoid.

Everyone Has a Different Standard of “Clean”

In one house, residents decide the cleaning responsibilities during their monthly house meeting.

This month, you are responsible for the kitchen.

Next month, the bathroom.

If someone is away on a business trip, they swap weeks with another resident.

The schedule is posted on the refrigerator.

It may feel a little like school, but because everyone can clearly see who is responsible for what, even new residents know what to do.

In some houses, however, responsibilities are not divided so specifically.

Instead, the idea is:

“Clean up after yourself.”

“If you notice something, take a moment to tidy it up.”

Depending on the residents’ relationships and lifestyles, some houses operate without many detailed rules.

But when responsibilities are unclear, the burden can easily fall on the same people — usually the ones who notice the mess first or simply care more about cleaning.

And then there are houses where residents say:

“Having a cleaning roster is stressful.”

The residents get along well and have developed their own way of living together, so they feel they do not need too many detailed rules.

And in many ways, they are happy.

But when the community manager visits after a while, the kitchen may be… quite a bit messier than expected.

For the person who eventually has to clean it, that can be difficult.

But the residents themselves seem perfectly happy.

So is the house clean?

Is it dirty?

Maybe the better question is:

Clean enough for whom?

That might be a better place to start.

How Does Come on UP Handle Cleaning Today?

At Come on UP, there is currently no single cleaning rule that applies to every house.

The number of residents, their lifestyles, the layout of the building, and the relationships between residents are different in every house.

That is why each house develops its own system through conversations between residents and the community manager.

For example, some houses decide their monthly cleaning responsibilities during a house meeting.

Residents divide areas such as the kitchen, bathroom, toilet, and living room, then put those responsibilities into a cleaning chart and share it in the group chat.

In some houses, different areas are cleaned at different intervals.

Garbage duty rotates weekly.

The terrace is cleaned once a month.

The refrigerator is cleaned every two months.

If someone is traveling or away for work during their assigned week, they can swap with another resident.

There are also houses where responsibilities are not divided in such detail.

Instead, residents follow ideas such as:

“Clean up after yourself.”

“If you notice something, take a moment to tidy it up.”

However, with this kind of system, the same people can end up doing most of the cleaning, or mess can gradually build up without anyone realizing it.

That is why Come on UP values residents’ independence, while also encouraging each house to establish reasonable cleaning rules and responsibilities so that the burden does not fall on just one person.

When residents move in or out, or when people’s lifestyles change, a system that worked well before may stop working.

So rather than expecting everyone to follow the same rules forever, we believe it is important to occasionally ask:

“Does this system still work for the people living here now?”

Creating a cleaning chart or assigning duties is not the goal itself.

The goal is to find a way for everyone to live comfortably without one person carrying all the responsibility.

That is how we currently approach cleaning rules at Come on UP.

A Home Is Not a Showroom

Of course, that does not mean anything goes.

If food waste is left sitting around,

mold is spreading,

or the house is in a condition where we cannot comfortably show a room to a potential new resident,

then the management side needs to step in.

But what about a game console left on the table?

Or a few personal belongings sitting on a shelf?

Do we really need to remove every sign that someone actually lives there?

A home is not a showroom.

Someone drinks coffee there.

Someone falls asleep on the sofa.

Someone leaves a half-read book on the table.

Sometimes, a little bit of mess is simply part of what makes a house feel like home.

What matters more than having a perfectly photogenic space is creating a place people actually want to come home to.

As long as it is not so messy that the next person who moves in is shocked.

Finding that line is one of the difficult parts of managing a share house.

“After Everything I Did for Them…” Is Usually Exhausting

One phrase from this month’s study session stayed with us:

Community managers should not try too hard either.

Cleaning the house.

Restocking supplies.

Reminding residents when necessary.

Those are all things we can do as part of the job.

But once you start thinking,

“I cleaned this much, so everyone else should do the same,”

it quickly becomes exhausting.

Ask once.

If someone does it, say thank you.

If they forget, mention it casually the next time you see them.

If nothing changes, step in where necessary.

Not too close, not too distant.

Cleaning may sound like a practical issue, but in reality, it is also about how we manage relationships and expectations.

First, Make Sure the Vacuum Cleaner Actually Works

Before talking about residents taking more responsibility, sometimes the real problem is much simpler.

The vacuum cord does not extend properly.

The detergent bottle is empty.

Nobody knows where the cleaning cloths are.

The cleaning supplies are stored on another floor.

If cleaning is inconvenient, people are naturally less likely to do it.