I'm going to implement check-out procedures in my house.

[Crowler]

Every room in the house that my children settle into is left a complete mess. TVs on, lights on, shoes and socks on the floor, candy wrappers on the floor, junk everywhere.

I'm not being funny here; would I be insane to make them request my permission to exit a room once they've entered????

They're absolute heathens.

I blame the parents !

I can relate to this Are you able to detain the heathens in a single room and thereby minimise the mayhem.

This happens in my house too and i dont know how!

I can have a spotless house then the dcs come in from school and all of a sudden i look round and the place look like the tip was relocated to my living room!

How do they do that?

excellent idea.
I told dd2 today that every time she leaves her shoes on the floor next to the (empty) shoe rack, instead of putting them on the rack, it will cost her 5p (she is 6 and gets 60p per week)

She was a bit shocked.
And when they came in today I said no TV until your room is tidy, and dd1 will be on no TV tomorrow as well, as hers is still not up to my standard (But it's tidy mummy - how about the clothes on the floor, the pile of pieces of games by the wardrobe door, the pile of teddies by the door, the drift of bits under your desk.......)

Yes. The shoes, the coats, argh.

And the cards. I've just managed to wean them off match attacks, then no sooner have I cleared those out than my husband has them collecting new type of card called Magic. They are everywhere.

I think I need to lock them into each room, not in a mean/fire hazard way but to get them in the habit of thinking they can't exit without me knowing.

My kids are a nightmare for this too

They shed belongings. DD2 especially, she leaves a trail of debris in her wake

I've started fining 5p from their pocket money for every sweet wrapper/sock/shoe/empty glass/Wii controller I find abandoned

I have told my older 2 that every wet bath towel I find on their floor means £1 off their pocket money (currently £10 and £13 per month so it won't take long to loose it!). Just so fed up of wet towels. Then We'll move onto the other stuff - like clothes, clean and dirty, abandoned shoes and bags, hair bands, rubber bands off braces (they are everywhere!!), cups and glasses (had a glass of water virtually solidify in dds room recently - an interesting scientific phenonomen!) etc etc......

Oh god, Sugarplum, those brace bands... they get everywhere, and the bloody cat is obsessed with eating them.

I have totally nipped wet towels in the bud with color coding, there's nowhere to hide. I inspect the bathroom post-shower.

My kids have competitive grandparents, they have way too much cash. I need to clamp down on that. I think financial incentives are the way to go.

DD1 had a packet of those little Maoam sweets one day. Lost herself a pound in the space of 5 minutes

Sweet wrappers on the floor means less money to spend on her addiction to lip balms

we have a 'crud box' - anything found stray in our living area goes in there and once a week the deal is they clear it out or it goes to the charity shop. Thus far it works quite well, they know that the first place they should look for something is in there and it gets all the crud out of the way without me having to chase children/return stuff to its rightful place.

We also have colour-coded towels/water bottles/storage boxes... so criminals are easily identified

TV is the leverage in our house. They (DD5 & DS3) only get a 30 mins of screen time between dinner and bed on a school day mean mummy! They WILL tidy their rooms and clear their toys from family areas before the TV goes on and 99% of the time, it works.

DS has a timetable. Chores (emptying dishwasher on the weekends, dusting and tiding), homework/reading/spellings and things he needs to get ready for the next day. Only after these things are done is he allowed to watch tv or play online games. It's been very effective so far and i know that all of his gubbins will be removed from the living areas by the end of the day at least!

Oh I am liking the crud box
(may take it all to the charity shop without letting them empty it!)

We have a Basket of Doom in the sitting room, but it's really just for DH and I as the kids are only 3.7 and 2 and are actually unusually tidy so far.

DH could drive me insane on his own though. Boots placed neatly on the floor directly in front of the shoe press, little piles of crap everywhere, clean and dirty clothes mixed willy-nilly on the floor. If only he got pocket money...

I need a totally separate procedure for my husband. I don't even know how to speak to him about his various piles of shit without getting insanely angry.

I have carved out a place for (literally) every single belonging of his in our house, and I've labeled them. My husband has a drawer right by the door for all his shit that's supposed to go to work with him in the morning, and he insists on leaving it in a giant pile on the countertop instead. He says my putting it in a drawer makes him forget it; I say why not just get in the habit of checking your drawer before you leave for work?

The basket of doom is a very good idea. I'm going to start that immediately. What a good idea. Thanks.

"Check your Man Drawer". LOL.

drawers for dh HAH
His desk/study consists of pile. Any drawers remain stubbonly empty.

Small victory. Dd2 came in, took shoes off and left them on the door mat, got about 6 feet away and suddenly came running back- 'don't look mummy' and put them on the shoe rack!

One extreme summer, I got to the stage of writing their names on their one pop wrappers and sticks, so when I found them littered in that garden, I knew whuch awful specimen it was.

Grr.