How disgusting is your teenagers bedroom?

[NoEffingWay]

Long story short, DS is almost 13. Today he lost his glasses so for the first time in ages I had to do a deep dive into his room. It was foul, clean clothes are delivered and it turns out he's not been putting them away, rather he has been shoving them under his bed..

Ironically enough, the glasses were found in his laundry bin wrapped in amongst some pants. It took over 2 hours to find them amongst the rubbish, empty cans, teaspoons, rubbish and general dirt.

Every week he is asked to clean it, and it seems he has mastered the 'hide it away so on inspection it looks cleaner'.

Words have been had! not envy, more vomit

So as not to drip feed, we were all supposed to go out this morning, DS can't really see without his glasses so that buggered up our plans. Pass me the wine!

I've just seen my son's room and there's like a months' worth of empty coke cans on his desk

Both my teen boys, one 17 and one 14 are absolutle clean freaks. Their rooms are the tidiest and cleanest bits of the house. I do lose a few plates up there but then when I go to locate them they are neatly stacked on their desks, its just the bringing downstairs that seems to allude them.

I try not to interfere too much, it's his space etc etc. I have a cleaner but don't subject them to a teenagers bedroom!

No way would my 15 year old get away with that, I inspect under the bed, and the wardrobe. I mean he tries it on but I check his room twice a week and make him sort it out. There's usually a plate/bowl/ glass or two! I have no doubt he would live in pure filth if I wasn't checking.

@Littletreefrog do you have any secrets or were they just made this way?!

DD(16) - fucking vile. Her vanity unit/dressing table is covered in fake eyelashes, random bits of make up. Floor is covered in clean and dirty clothes but I am on strike after trying (and failing) to get her to do something about it
DS (13) - fine, a bit messy in parts but just clothes not in the basket. He rarely spends time in his, admittedly.

19yo room like a pigsty. I don’t go in there and just yell WHERES ALL THE BLOODY FORKS when I need him to do a dish/glass/forks sweep.

16yo son hoovers daily. I don’t know who’s child I brought home but it wasn’t mine! He likes it tidy and clean and never a mug to be found going mouldy!

The last clean up
...6 black bin bags of rubbish.... 10 loads of washing

Definitely not anything I have done maybe its some kind of rebellion against the fact the rest of the house is under a permanent layer of cat and dog hair.

I try and talk about it general terms about how it's better to live in a clean space but it's clearly falling on deaf ears. My mum would bag all of my belonging in black bin bags if my room wasn't show home standard which really upset me so I have tried to not be difficult about it, but today's drama had shown me I probably need to be a bit less lenient about it all.

On top of all the grimness in DDs room, including mouldy crockery, I used to find several used sanitary towels down the side of her bed. I no longer look.

Beat that!

Looking forward to DD going to uni next month as I'll be able to fumigate the room. No doubt there are some new and interesting bacterial cultures in there.

We tackle it when she's out, but recently she's been in residence 24/7. No point trying to get her to do it as that never happens. Except when she's expecting friends round.

DS, on the other hand keeps.things relatively neat. He's 15 and was much worse when he was a couple of years younger.

There's hope yet OP.

Clean if occasionally a bit messy (worn clothes on the floor, makeup strewn all over the vanity etc).

She knows that the rule is it's her space and her privacy as long as it remains habitable by a normal human being. She loses the right to her own space if she starts breeding mould in coffee cups or cultivating a floordrobe. We had to enforce the rule for a few weeks when she was 13 and she soon realised just keeping her room clean was preferable. It's been more or less a non issue since then.

mine aren’t bad, because there is no way I will let them trash a room that I have worked hard to provide. Especially at age 12, if your room is a state there’s no way you’re gaming etc til it’s done.

@Schmeckel fortunately no crusty socks though he had taken to locking his room (the house came with lockable doors) which DH and I quite like for us 😂 but I try very hard to not think about why a not quite 13 year old boy is locking his bedroom

My 11 year olds is disgusting, stinky too. He's going through puberty early it seems and is a very stinky as well as hairy boy. I can't go in there it triggers my ocd too much so I shut the door and pretend it doesn't exist.

21 yo DDs bedroom depends on the day of the week she has DGS Wednesday through Sunday so on a saturday it's pretty gross with nappies and food because she insists on letting him eat on her bed. She's on the third floor though so again I pretend it doesn't exist.

My son is 17 and it’s taken a few years for him to learn the benefits of a clean room.

Once a week (the day after bin day 🙄) he empties the rubbish in his room.

Twice a week he does a load of laundry of his clothes so he has clean clothes to go out in.

Once a month he vacuums the floor and changes his bedding. Usually because he has someone coming round for a sleepover and he’s old enough to be embarrassed if they spot bedding with food and drink stains

He brings his cups and plates down every 2-3 days. He has learned that not having dirty plates etc is an easy way to prevent his room smelling bad.

I have a weekly grocery delivery so on the day before he comes to me with a list of stationery, snacks and toiletries that he needs.

He has ADHD so isn’t naturally routine led by over time has learned to embrace routine like going to sleep and waking up at a similar time every day in order to not forget important things and feel better. He wasn’t like this at 12 but natural consequences like not having access to his favourite hoodie when he wants to go out because it’s dirty has helped teach him.

We have a no food upstairs rule. Every single day they also have to clear out any rubbish, put dirty clothes in the basket and bring any glasses downstairs. It more or less keeps on top of it.

I'm far from a clean freak/show home type person but no way would I accept rooms filling up with our plates and cutlery, no matter how old they are.

I'm sorry but that is fucking disgusting. I'm not sure why you're so proud of this. You're doing your daughter a huge disservice by letting that sort of behaviour fly.

Mine are early 20s. But, once they were anout 14, their rooms were their spaces. They stripped and laundered their own beds weekly and vacuumed sporadically. They didn’t take food into their rooms, but would quite often appear in the kitchen with about 15 empty water glasses.

We never ventured into their rooms unless invited. As long as windows were opened, and bedding was changed, we let them wallow in whatever mess they liked - which wasn’t bad anyway. They had a ‘Jack and Jill’ bathroom but the cleaner saw to that and they wouldn’t dream of leaving it in a state (I can’t say the same for friends of theirs that stayed and happily left skidders in the loo) 🤢.

My daughter is 19 and is a whirlwind of mess. My sons are tidy ish as they have much less stuff.

My daughters room, every inch of floor and surface is covered in jewellery, perfumes, cream, curlers, lanyards and entry cards, money, clothes, pins, hair bands, brushes. It is like a bomb went off. I go in and pick up cups and empty the waste bin, I am not allowed to air it by opening a window ‘because spiders’. She keeps lights on and does not even pull her blind up. From this pigsty came 3 A star A levels, and currently a medical degree and a vinted business on the side. Constantly cackling to people online and when I go in they all look at me and say ‘hi’.

When I tell her to tidy she says she is busy, if U flip, she does it and then I find it all shoved in the wardrobe.

Barhroom the same bottles and bottles, wet towels on floor, fake tan, hair dye marks, don’t flush.

I've never had this. I tell them all glasses and cups go down immediately. I make them change the bed and down the side I see a couple of chocolate wrappers, I make them pick them out. So it never gets that bad.

I pick everything up from around the room the morning before the cleaner comes and dump it on his bed. Under pain of death (or phone contract being cancelled) does he not sort it out before he beds down for the night.

Every so often I empty his wardrobe and drawers too and chuck any rubbish and redistribute any clothes that are no longer suitable.

Not on my watch mate.