What really makes life easier?

[knackeredandbroken]

So I thought when they become teenagers they would be a little helpful, they're not, my house is full of hormones and my fridge is always empty!
My garden looks like a bad episode of nature attacks and my sanity is hanging by a thread.
Ladies and gents please share that one thing, tip, trick or hack that improved your life?

Change the wifi password each day and only give it to them after they've done their allotted chores. They turn purple, red and cry very loudly, but it works.

Treat them like adults/ give them a responsibility - give them a task to do in the house which is theirs each day to do. Eg empty the dishwasher, walk the dog etc

Agreed, it’s much easier when the division of labour is really clear. To make it fair write the the jobs you’d like them to share on bits of paper into a hat and get them to pick one/ two and that’s their job.

Maybe have a one-off family meeting first where you explain that you’re struggling with all the housework, and that as a team everyone needs to pull together to keep it clean and tidy and that you’ll all benefit.

Make them responsible for their own clothes washing so that you’re just doing your own. Give them a day a week to cook the evening meal (working around term time clubs etc).

They’ll get used to it and you won’t have to remind/ nag after a while. My DS is off to Uni this year and he can cook/ clean/ wash his clothes etc as he’s done it for years.

Put a positive ‘independence’ spin on it but don’t pay them pocket money for doing it. Housework is a part of life and nobody gets paid for it unless they’re a professional cleaner. The pay off is a clean and tidy house, which feels much nicer to live in.

Make sure they know how to clean a toilet properly and it’s their responsibility to clean it after themselves.

Flylady. 5 minute room rescues, 15 minute 'company ready' clear and cleans, 1 hour weekly 'home blessing' (you don't need to use that term.)
Everyone, even a teen, can cope with tidying up for 5 minutes and it is astonishing how much better a room looks after that short space of time. Do it daily and you soon don't need to ever do more.

If they get used to 5 minute tidy ups, in 15 mins a room can be tidied, hoovered and polished so if they have friends coming over, their pits of bedrooms or the chaos they have left the living room in can be turned around. It's like magic. It saved my sanity.

For the 1 hour 'home blessing', if the whole family puts aside 1 hour on Saturday morning, to change the beds, empty the bins, mop, clean the bathroom, hoover, air the house, mow the lawn etc, then usually you are all done in 45 mins - have a delicious brunch afterwards as a reward and the house looks lovely for relaxing in over the weekend.

Totally agree with PP - never pay DC for household jobs. If they ask, just say: no-one gets paid for maintaining their own home. The pay-off is living in a lovely, welcoming calm space. But if they want to earn money, I pay them to teach me tech stuff they know instinctively and I struggle with.