My husband never cleans up after himself. He's 52, I'm 50, and I feel like his mother. No matter what I say or how I say it he takes it as criticism.
I've come to believe this is another curse of being born a cis woman of my generation. We can't win. Either we clean up after them or we're the nagging witch for insisting they do it themselves.
So IS there a nicer way to say (y'know, just for example) "You used those pans to make breakfast three days ago. Could you take care of them, please??" Because my current method, letting them sit until he takes care of them, never really works. He just doesn't do it.