Cracking the Cleaning Whip

Today, I finally had it with my housemates careless attitude towards recycling. I had written a few weeks ago about how I was fine with cleaning up after people, but found careless recycling very annoying. Today, after I found earbuds and leftover food in the recycling again, I decided to brush aside my distaste for confrontation and tell my housemates. I toyed with the idea of leaving a note for them in the sitting room, but quickly dropped it. My previous landlord used to leave passive-aggressive notes for us all the time--sometimes multiple notes a week--so leaving a note, however polite, would make me feel like hij. I had almost abandoned the idea of telling them, but then realized I could send them an email copying in my landlady. I made it as polite as I could, and felt better after I sent it. People like me who are averse to confrontation have to be careful to speak up before they reach their tolerance limits, because outbursts seldom go well. The email was a good solution because it puts the landlady in the loop, which will increase the pressure to comply. And, I can go about the house pretending nothing happened, unworried that I might run into one of them while they are reading my note, leading to awkwardness all around.