<p>“Dr. Riley…suggested that since she wasn’t bothered by the dirty clothes all over her floor, perhaps the whole family could start using her room as a laundry hamper. Her attitude changed after her parents and younger brother started tossing dirty laundry into her room, including a few soaked and smelly T-shirts and socks worn by her 275-pound father after working outdoors on his construction job.”</p>
<p>I’ve given up on my DD. Now devoting my thoughts on her room to the cleaning it is going to get the minute she leaves for college. Hopefully her future roommate will have better success.</p>
<p>Very timely, thank you for posting. I’m going in today for the sheet change, laundry and dish round up- Yee Haaa! Also planning my own version of Extreme Makeover once she is off to college. I tend to agree with this thought from the article:</p>
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<p>We have hordes of stuffed animals tightly packed in large trash bags in the attic, waiting to be evaluated for sentimental value at some point in the future.</p>
<p>I make ds2 clean his room three times a year – before each semester and at the beginning of summer. We just did the first cleaning of the year and removed no fewer than 20 half-empty water bottles. We don’t allow eating in the bedrooms, so that’s not a problem.</p>
<p>I’m not too picky because I was a mess as a kid. Once I got my own apt, my mother was amazed to come over for the first time and see how clean it was. I think it was a control thing. And pride of “ownership.” Have faith; your kids won’t always be so disgusting. :)</p>
<p>That’s a funny one! I’ll have to remember it.</p>
<p>Two things seem to work with my slobs. If their room isn’t terrible, I’ll think back to those pre-school days and say, “Can you pick up 10 things from the floor today?” Maybe if I went in and sang the “clean up” song, I’d get results(Clean up, Clean up, Everybody, Everywhere, Clean up, Clean up, Everybody do your share.) Remember that one? If the room is bad, I simply say, “No leaving the house until your room is clean.” That always works.</p>
<p>I’m a neat freak everywhere in the house, except the kids’ rooms. With the exception of food, they can keep their spaces messy. The only rule is that they have to straighten up enough every-other Monday so the cleaning ladies can work on Tuesday. </p>
<p>D is in for a rude awakening at college next year. Her room is 14 x 14 and she has 9 drawers in her 2 dressers. She still finds it necessary to store t-shirts (in neat piles) on her top bunk. (She’s a folder. Nothing hangs in the closet except dresses and jackets. Weirdo. :rolleyes:)</p>
<p>I came to the computer to take a break from cleaning the pig pen that is my 11 year old son’s room. I haven’t seen it in a few days (I truly try to ignore that hallway…lol) but D (9 years) needed a ball to take to school this morning and the ball box in the garage did not yield the result she wanted. I went to son’s room to ask him if he knew where D’s soccer ball was. His answer…oh…yeah…its over there under that navy sweatshirt. I literlly could not see the carpet. I told him to get out of bed and at least make sure I could see the floor before he left. He left, saying I could see the floor and I came up and everythnig that was on the floor was on his bed. I am cleaning the room and I have removed $20 from his bank with a note that says “$20.00 removed for room cleaning.” Let’s see how long this game lasts.</p>
<p>Charging kids has worked well for me. When my boys kept missing the bus, I started charging them $20 each to give them a ride to school. The drive is almost 30 minutes round trip, and I told them my professional billing rate is higher than that, lol. Miraculously, they managed to get up earlier after a couple of times!</p>
<p>(This sort of ties in with the cleaning lady thread):</p>
<p>My girls SAY that they are neat. They aren’t. One piles her dirty clothes on her sofa (they have very large rooms). The other piles her clean laundry on her sofa. </p>
<p>The housekeeper takes down the dirty clothes (on daughter one’s sofa) and puts the clean stuff back on sofas. Their bathrooms are cleaned for them. Their friends think that they have very clean rooms. (The duvet covers are in place to make it seem as if the room is made up.)</p>
<p>My mother was more practical: inbetween cleaning visits she just closed the door when they had guests.</p>
<p>Our S has always been the neater of our two kids. His apartments & dorm were VERY neat–he even used LINERS on his drawers and shelves when he moved into his dorm. D is much more last minute and only SLOWLY starting to get a tiny bit neater. </p>
<p>S has noticed that his allergies are greatly reduced when he is neat & vacuums and dusts, so he has purchased a Roomba & scheduled it to go off every M-F to keep down the dust in his apartments. D knows it as well but has yet to act on it, other than taking allergy meds. We have had several vacations where washing D’s dirty laundry was a major activity. :)</p>
<p>I was a messy kid. My Mom once told me I could clean my room or she would clean it for me. I didn’t take her seriously enough I guess. That lady threw away a ton of stuff while I was at school. I was probably in the 5th or 6th grade when she did that and I have never forgotten it. I can give a decent accounting of what all she threw away… LOL After that, when she said to clean your room – I cleaned like a crazy person. I tried the same thing with S but my ex-DH wouldn’t let me get rid of the stuff we picked up out of the floor and gave it all back to him 2-3 days later so the lesson didn’t stick.</p>
<p>S was a slob until college, and for some reason S cleaned up his own act.</p>
<p>Careful with the tossing the kid’s stuff while the kid is out. </p>
<p>For some kids…doing that will cause serious trust/security issues surrounding their stuff & other people. A few classmates I’ve known who had that happen to them around the same age end up being the types to never lend stuff out to even close family/friends, getting excessively bent out of shape if something they lent out has even the slightest hint of normal wear & tear/deviations, and/or are hoarders in the making. </p>
<p>Trust me…they don’t seem to be happy people and they’re not pleasant to be around.</p>
<p>D is a freshman. When she’s at home, the floor of her room is full of clothes, however she knows the clean vs dirty piles. She complains to me that her college roommate is messy, always clothes and papers on the floor. I just laugh at her. (She does keep her side of dorm reasonably clean). </p>
<p>the 14yo HS freshman boy is a just a slob. Clothes just fall on the floor where they are removed from his body. I think he is spoiled, as he’s had a nanny or housekeeper than has puts away his clothes since he was 15 months old. He’s also the one w allergies, so I’m constantly reminding him that no one wants to pick up his dirty tissues…yuck! We are having some repairs made in the shower in our master bath, so we have had the ‘pleasure’ of sharing a shower with him for the past week. (the shower’s actually OK, it the junk he leaves on the counter & the clothes on the floor that bug me)</p>
<p>My dad has threatened to do that a few times. I’d love to do it now because my mom has junk piled sky-high throughout our house. </p>
<p>My dad said he did it one time and it was a BIG mistake. Apparently he threw away a bunch of papers that were on the kitchen table. In that stack was an envelope with a large amount of cash…</p>
<p>We may be in a transitional phase. S1 is a slob. S2 is clean but messy. While here over break, he somehow invaded two rooms (he prefers the bed in the guest room). As we were getting ready to leave for the airport at 6 this morning, I met him on the stairs as he was heading up with a new trash bag. I stood open mouthed in amazement. Of course, he hung the half full trash bag on the door of the bathroom rather than bringing it down, but hey, it’s progress.</p>
<p>In my family, I am the slob. I always have been - not as in filth but clutter. My D is like an alien to me in that regard. She is the neat freak and must have been born that way because I was no role model for it. I have never had to ask her to clean up a thing. </p>
<p>However, the role reversal thing can be difficult too. I have to straighten up when she comes home or I’ll see that “look” and if I don’t watch her like a hawk, she will toss things out while I’m not looking. I had to email her already this morning asking her where she stashed a cooler that she didn’t think belonged where I had it.</p>
<p>"Careful with the tossing the kid’s stuff while the kid is out. </p>
<p>For some kids…doing that will cause serious trust/security issues surrounding their stuff & other people."</p>
<p>While my mother was at school one day, my grandmother gave away her dog without so much as a warning. My mother’s eyes well up with tears at the memory, 60 years later.</p>