21-year-old woman throws away the stuff her roommate brought to the house without asking: ‘She started bringing home straight-up trash, for lack of better words. It felt like the apartment was the thrift store.’

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Olivia Arocena • Writer and Editor
Aug 11, 2026 8:00 AM EDT

When cohabitation is too hard

Having roommates must be one of the most challenging experiences one can have. I've had many roommate experiences, and whether the person is your best friend, a random stranger, a coworker, or whoever you can imagine, living together is tough. It doesn't matter if you are both organized or clean; maybe you fold laundry in a way that makes your roommate mad. You can't escape making the other person uncomfortable, somehow, with something you might deem normal.

Of course, real virtue lies in being fair, patient, and forgiving even when we're annoyed, but many things that happen in roommates' experiences are far from virtuous. That said, throwing away other people's things, even if we don't like them or consider them trash, is never ok. What struck me the most was that when this roomie described the objects the other woman brought home, she wasn't describing actual trash.

She wasn't throwing away plastic wraps, napkins, receipts, or dirt; she was throwing away wall art, knick-knacks, and vases. You are allowed not to like them, but you definitely shouldn't throw them away without her permission. I wonder what she would do if her roomie threw away her decoration elements.

I understand that extreme times require extreme measures; I've done ridiculous things myself in roommate situations, but I believe she has now unlocked the door to more chaos, and things are probably going to get worse. Do you think she has a chance to fix things, or is it already too late?

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  • women having a pillow fight
    via Vitaly Gariev

    The roommates before everything went wrong

    Representation

  • AITAH for throwing away my roommate’s stuff?

    I (F21) lease a bedroom in my condo to a coworker (F22). We are not close friends, but we functioned decently well in the same living spaces until last month. Ik that she values sustainability and enjoys
    via Suspicious-Wrap-4724
  • shopping at discount stores, thrift shops, etc. this was completely fine until I started noticing an excess amount of clutter starting to form around the apt. Things like random vases, knick knacks, she
    via Suspicious-Wrap-4724
  • even hung up wall art. I asked her about this, and she claimed that she was "saving these pieces from the landfill" when I brought up that I was uncomfortable with it. I let her continue until I felt like
    via Suspicious-Wrap-4724
  • it was just getting to be too much. She started bringing home straight up trash for lack of better words. It felt like the apartment was the thrift store. I started getting really annoyed and started
    via Suspicious-Wrap-4724
  • throwing away the older stuff, hoping she wouldn't notice. My roommate noticed and got really angry with me, saying that I was being "privileged" and "didn't see the beauty in everyday things". This
    via Suspicious-Wrap-4724
  • photo filled with vintage stuff
    via Lucia Sorrentino

    The clutter starting to pile up

    Representation

  • was the last straw and one day when she was out, I chucked everything she had brought home that was out in the living spaces (obv not her room, I never go in there, I can't even imagine how trashy it must have been). Now
    via Suspicious-Wrap-4724
  • she's really upset and threatening to file a complaint with our hr for coworker social misconduct or sm... AITAH?
    via Suspicious-Wrap-4724
  • Alycion Ya both crossed a line. Boxing it up and putting it in her room and telling her it needs to go to storage would be a better way of handling it.
    via Alycion
  • Chemical-Jeweler-475 Your roommate is a baby horder. It will only get worse. Time to get out - or get her out. Either works.
    via Chemical-Jeweler475
  • Active-Ad-4984 Yes you are. Yall need a new arrangement and u need ur own place
    via Active-Ad-4984
  • person picking up trash
    via Vitaly Gariev

    The roomie throwing everything in the trash

    Illustrative image

  • Any option would’ve been better: putting the objects in a box and leaving them in her room (petty, but better), or having a serious talk about the house’s aesthetic policies (rather ridiculous, but fair), anything. Honestly, if the other girl takes revenge, I wouldn’t be too surprised; I kinda would even take her side.

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