Bless you! That is exactly what I did when my kids were teens. But, I had to clean their bathroom everyday, because it was also the guest bath.

When my Daughter left the bathroom it looked like it had been "slimed" with hair products.

You have to start early, like my Mom did with me. My room had to be spotless when I left for school in the morning. Including making the bed.

Good luck! It is a tough battle. Oh...by the way My Daughter's House is spotless. LOL!

Gayle

I tell all my kids to clean their own rooms. THEY clean it most of the time. I might get a few clothes off the floor or make their bed once in a while but they make their bed and give me their dirty clothes before school starts everyday. What they don't finish in the A.M. they finish later. They aren't suppost to have food in their rooms although oldest brings snack crackers or pop on his desk. As long as he doesn't leave them there I'll let it go. If someones room gets to messy, they can take all week to clean it BUT they don't get to play on the computer, wii or have friends over until their chore is done. Thats just the way it is around here.

My DD didn't go out on weekends if her room wasn't cleaned. It was never really as clean as I liked, but it was presentable. She is only home weekends and holidays now (she lives at college)and the room is often left messy - thankfully it is in an area I don't walk by often. I might help her clean a couple times a year, but I do not clean it for her.

My only teen is 14 y/o DS and his room is always cleaned up. Not spotless, there is always dust. But he puts things away and his room is always presentable. I don't know where he got that from, b/c I do not run a tight ship. He just likes it that way.

My mom and I got along pretty well through my teen years. The one thing I remember fighting w/her about, though, was my room. It was usually a disaster. She never cleaned it for me, though. She would threaten to clean it while I was out, but that would send me into hyper clean mode b/c I didn't like that idea. I remember a couple cleaning sprees that we did together that involved more than a couple garbage bags.

I think I will have to use Mom's methods when DD becomes a teenager. She is the child my mother wished on me. Even at their ages now, 5-14, I would not clean it without their help. Not for their privacy, but b/c it's *their* mess and my purpose on this planet is not to clean up after them. I will only be there to keep them.. uh.. motivated.

I should have added that she keeps it pretty presentable on the surface.. makes her bed in the a.m. She's the sort of girl that cleans the surface.. if asked to clean her room she will, it's just when you "open things" or look "under things" that you realize where she was putting it LOL.. She's a great kid, so no real complaints and I look the other way for the most part, I am just wired differently and my idea of clean is pulling things apart and putting it back together.... In her defense, she doesn't have a closet, only a wardrobe and has the smallest room so it all it out there to see... But I was just curious if any of you broke down and went in w/ garbage bags when they weren't looking :) I guess I just can't understand when your pencil breaks that you just shove it under the bed... or you only put one sock in the laundry and the other goes the bed LOL..

I don't have any teenagers so I Can't answer just wonder how she feels about your doing it?

My oldest son was and still is the biggest slob.When he was still at home I decided to completely clean his room while he was away.
It took me all day and a few garbage bags,but finally it looked great.
The day he returned,he went into his room and came back out asking what all that green stuff on the floor was.He hadn't seen his carpet in awhile!
Didn't last long though,it was as bad as ever in a few days.
After that I just kept his door closed.
Strangly enough,he married a girl who is exactly like him and thats how their entire house is.
They're happy as larks,so who cares!

No, I never cleaned their room. I shut the door. If they didn't have clean clothes, it was because they never made it to the hamper. I worked, usually 6 days a week, and they had to help me.
Leslie

Having 4 teens at the same time, they kind of knew, things had to be done..And then came the baby, who is 5 years younger than his sister...And you know those babies get away with everything...I used to say, I'd have to tie a rope around my waist and then on the door knob, to be able to find my way out, if I dare ventured into his room...We lived in a 11 room house and the oldest 4 had already married and moved, so he had the whole 2nd floor to himself and he took advantage of it...He'd come home from college, drop his stuff in 1 room and move into another..But his dorm or apartment at school was spotless....He's married and now we're in a 5 room house and I'm cleaning up after DH and 4 cats....

No slobs in my house.

I wouldn't tolerate a filthy, stinky room in my house.
Taught them well when they were young.

Teenage son even does his own laundry and irons his clothes.
When he goes off to college next year,
he'll already know how to take care of himself.

No once my kids got to high school age I left their rooms alone. For me it was a privacy issue.If they asked for my help I would give it but otherwise we had a knock-first policy. My DD has always been neat but my DS was a complete slob when it came to his room. He would never use a top sheet either,just a bottom sheet and a comforter or blanket. Now as an adult he has to have a top sheet. Things change.

The only rule I had was no food or dirty dishes left in the room.

mine keep theirs pretty clean...the college boy emptied his out to take to school so I put his Grandpa's bed and dresser in it for when he's home so it's now clean most of the time...the 16 year old keeps his pretty clean...I do the dusting and vacumning and he keeps it picked up....i've been known to vacumn up whatever was on the floor and here lately it's guitar picks..so he keeps it pretty well picked up to keep from having to buy more picks!

Bobby makes his bed and picks up his clothes every morning before school. He keeps his room clean because that is what is required in this house.

I have 18 and 19 year old girls. I don't clean their rooms but I do clean their bathroom once a week.

Our kids kept their rooms relatively clean because that was expected of them.

I stayed out of their rooms because I expected them to stay out of mine.

I feel your pain, girlfriend, I really do! I varied my tactics through the years. At times, I'd just shut the door and say, "If you choose to live in filth, that's up to you but don't junk up the REST of the house!" Other times I'd get a full load of it and go in with trash bags, vacuum cleaner, etc. It would result in a lot of hollering and throwing stuff and a few cuss words on my part...LOL They'd occasionally clean their rooms when they were told to, but, of course, it was never as good as I thought it should be. DS would make his bed and it would look like a covered wagon! LOL

None of our kids are neatfreaks, by any stretch, but they all DO know how to clean house when they have to! LOL

(Glad those days are over. Good luck!)

My DD had a real messy room until about age 10 and then one day she cleaned it top to bottom and for some reason this stuck. She has her room quite tidy but by no means spotless. I'm not sure how that happened. When I was her age, I couldn't keep my room clean for nothing. I still sometimes have a problem with clutter. Maybe she's just wired that way or quite possibly she'll outgrow it when she has kids of her own. So, I'd say if it drives you nuts to see it, either shut the door or clean it a few times a year like you did. You'll get a good laugh when she has kids of her own. I guess to me that would not be a battle I'd pick.

DD was the perfect child--bed made every morning without prodding, room cleaned every week. But when she was 15 she turned into Oscar Madison. I tried the "close the door" method, but when it got so I couldn't stand it and was tired of nag, nag nagging I turned into des_arc_ya_ya, especially the yelling part. Geesh! She's better now, I think. But when we visit she says she cleans for two days before--haha!

Yes..but more or less because I have to confiscate a few things. Like fireworks and lighters..
I often will hang up some clothes..but for the most he cleans his room when I get extra fussy..

The little boys live in a pig pen..I clean their room once a month!
Their idea of clean is shove things in corners, under beds and to stuff their drawers with unfolded clothes so they can't close the drawers.

I don't have kids but I can tell you what my sis did with her daughter (who is now away in college). She would ask (or TELL) her daughter repeatedly to clean it. When sis finally had enough, she went in and scooped everything into large trash bags. When daughter wanted to know, "Where's my stuff?" my sister would ask her what in particular she was looking for. If she could name it, she could have it. Otherwise, sis kept what was in the bag. :-)

Similarly, when daughter slammed her bedroom door one too many times, sis took it off the hinges. LOL!

My boys used to make me nuts living in squallor. We would have endless go rounds about it, I'd go in with garbage bags and toss stuff when they were gone, they'd get it back out of the trash when they came home from school.

I finally decided they were the ones living in it, life is too short and shut the doors. Why I didn't do that earlier and not be so stressed out is beyond me! I had enough on my plate with a house full of kids and a military husband gone on 6 month cruises to fight with them over their rooms.

Now they are all adults with their own homes. They are very tidy and clean, BUT one is very messy still. Not my home, and I don't have to look at it!

You'll miss their messes when they are gone...honest! Kathy

I used to clean it but not anymore. I just close the door. He has gotton better in the last 3 years but it still is a mess. I figure if this is the worst we have to deal with oh well. He is a great young man other than that. Pick you battles.

When my girls were teenagers their rooms were clean and neat. I wouldnt tolerate a pig pen if it was their room or not...its MY house!!!!!

They were expected to pick up and keep it neat...I would do the 'cleaning part' dusting, vacuuming, etc just like every other room in the house so I didnt mind that but as far as close the door and let them keep it the way they want???? NO Way!

Now they are married with little ones of their own they appreciate the fact I got on them and made them tow the line!

I haven't cleaned their rooms since they where 10. That was my cut off age. I figured I would get them use to a nice clean room and then pass the baton. It worked. They got use to it being clean, decided they like it clean, and so they keep it clean.
My DS is 24 and has lived in another state for almost 4 years now-all his friends and our friends and family who have visited him, say his house is spotless.
My house use to be spotless, not spotless anymore, but clean.
My DS is flying in at the end of this week-I have some major cleaning to do. I don't want him to think his mom has turned into a slob. LOL

I don't remember exactly what age my son was when I shut the door and said "you deal with it." If laundry wasn't in the laundry room, it didn't get done. If the room smelled because of leftover food, it was over the garage at the other end of the house and I didn't need to deal with it. Nuff said. He is now in his forties, and his family goes on a cleaning spree every so often, and cleans thoroughly. I don't live there, and he and his family are comfortable, so I have no problem. I am not so neat myself (though I'm trying to be better) so have no room to talk. My stepdaughter was raised the same way, and has the best, healthiest, relationship with her three adult sons. If I had cleaned the kids' rooms they would have been furious with me and we all would have had stress we didn't need.

I never cleaned my daughter's room. It would get cluttered sometimes but never really filthy. Periodically she would
go on a cleaning spree and make it spotless. Today she is a complete neat freak.