Tell, don’t ask. If you ask a man to clean up the dirty dishes he’s left strewn all over the living room, the typical response will be, “Yeah, in a minute” and then thirteen commercial breaks have passed and your living room still looks like a kitchen. Instead of asking him, tell him. They’re like little kids this way. They respond much better to instruction.
Avoid cleaning up after him. Let him take responsibility for the messes. Even if it takes all your will-power not to chase after him and pick up, refuse to do it. Otherwise, he’ll keep depending on you to clean up his messes.
Leave messes of your own. Just to see how he likes it. Giving him a taste of his own medicine normally works like a charm.
Leave his messes in an obvious place where he cannot ignore him. This will always get their attention and they can no longer use the excuse, “I forgot.” If he’s notorious for leaving his laundry everywhere, leave it on his office desk so he has to clean it up. Or leave his dirty dishes in his underwear drawer. It may seem a bit extreme, but you’ll definitely get him to sit up and take notice.
