My boyfriend of a year and a half and I have been living together since September last year. It didn't used to bother me at first, but the more time goes by, the more he annoys me with his habit of making a mess every time he does something. If he cooks, he doesn't even bother to throw his rubbish in the bin. If he spills something on the counter, that's how it stays. He leaves his stuff all over the place, treads mud from outside on rainy days and it just drives me mad. Every single time I clean the apartment, in just a few days it ends up looking even worse than before!

I tried asking him nicely. I tried more extreme tactics ("If it's on the floor, it either goes in the rubbish bin or the dirty laundry basket"). I even tried withholding sex, but since our sex is rare enough as it is... it didn't work.

I don't know what else to do... I'm sick and tired of cleaning up just to see him dump all over my work. He doesn't take kindly to being told what to do, so I'm left picking up the work and feeling miserable myself.

Anyone have a similar thing going? Any tips on how to get him to at least respect my work?