Woman Considers Charging Sister a ‘Clean-Up Fee’ After She Trashes New Home, Leading to Roaches

A woman on Reddit is asking for advice after her sister’s messy habits turned a long-awaited fresh start into daily stress.

In her post, she explained that she recently moved into a new house with her mother after years of living in run-down apartments. She said she was excited to finally have a clean, calm place to live.

“For context: We—myself and my mother—recently moved into a new house,” she wrote. “I was super excited for this because we were coming from some pretty dingy/dirty apartments. No matter how much I cleaned nor how much bug repellent I sprayed, there were always bugs.”

The move felt like a relief. She said the infestations in their old apartments had left her anxious, even describing lingering sensations of bugs crawling on her.

But about two months later, her sister asked to stay on the property. The woman agreed only because the plan was for her sister to live in an RV outside the house.

That boundary didn’t last. According to the post, her sister ended up spending most of her time inside the home — and leaving chaos behind.

“She stays in the house all the time and never cleans up,” the woman wrote, listing what she deals with daily: dishes everywhere, half-eaten plates left out, food and wrappers in the living room, wet laundry sitting in the washer, toys and art supplies scattered around, stains on furniture, and used diapers left on the floor.

She said she and her mother tried to be patient, knowing her sister “has some things going on,” but it reached a breaking point. “If she can’t clean up after herself and her child she should leave,” she wrote. “We are not her free, live-in maids.”

Although she tries to clean every day, she feels stuck. She doesn’t want to enable her sister, but the mess keeps piling up.

So she’s considering a consequence: charging her sister a clean-up fee.

“I’m thinking about charging her a clean-up fee,” she wrote, explaining that her mother is unlikely to kick her sister out, but she needs the house to stay clean — and wants her sister to feel motivated to take responsibility.

The constant disorder has also triggered the woman’s anxiety, especially because she fears bugs returning. She said she has seen four roaches in the house in one week, which has made her feel on edge.

She added that her sister has also driven up utility bills by leaving things running all day, without contributing financially — making it harder to even afford an exterminator if the problem worsens.

Torn between her own wellbeing and her mother’s compassion, she asked Reddit users whether she’d be wrong to start charging her sister for the messes she cleans up.

Many commenters supported her but urged a firmer approach. One person said she should take away her sister’s key to the house. The woman replied that even that might not work because her mother would likely give her another one.

She ended her post feeling frustrated and overwhelmed, saying she wants to be understanding — but not at the cost of her own mental health.