To keep clothes in a box

[Daboomboom]

Apparently clothes are too hard to hang up for my 14yr old. Fine. Swop the wardrobe for drawers. 3 months later, its too hard to fold/roll the clothes into the drawers. She actually seems to believe this and isnt using excuses.

We have a chest which currently holds board games. I've suggested just giving her the chest so that she can throw the clothes in there instead of on the floor. She is happy with that. I'm not convinced she wont just decide it's too hard to open the lid but it's worth a shot.

Husband however thinks it's ridiculous and is trying to insist she just uses the drawers.

On the one hand, I dont care if she wants her clothes all over her floor. On the other, she gets them mixed up with dirty clothes (yes she has her own laundry basket in her room), cant find things and last week something got broken because it was under the clothes. No, it's not my issue but she's 14 so it becomes everyone's ussue. She was also bitten by a spider that was hiding in her clothes last year.

YABU - shes 14 and its not hard to put in drawers

YANBU - who cares how the clothes are stored as long as they are away somehow.

I’m actually interested to read this, would you feel okay to share?

She doesnt have excessive clothes at all and she has lots of drawers. But a lot of her clothes are bulky eg hoodies, cargo trousers.

She does this weird roll thing with her tshirts which creases them but she likes storing them that way so whatever. She's happy to put those into her drawers but then I think gets overwhelmed by everything so doesnt do any of it.

Im not going to get into fights with her over her clothes. As someone else said, pick your battles.

We have enough tensions with her without me inspecting her room each night. If Im going to start nagging her or kicking up a fuss about something there are many other things that are of higher importance.

Basically, small house with no tumble drier in a wet part of the country. Washing has to be planned so that it can dry in time before it gets damp. If washing isnt done in time, then we end up with clothes hanging from door frames to dry etc and/or needing rewashing because it smells. It isnt as rigid as it sounds and Ive done everything I can to mitigate it but it just means things cant be left to the last minute or allowed to pile up.

I was called a bad mother, obsessive, a control freak and various other accusations. It was just one of those posts where everyone piles on which seem to be happening more and more. 🙄 That post wasnt even about laundry or clothing.

Anyway, this post isnt about laundry. It is literally about whether people think a chest would be worth sorting out or a waste of time.

Ahh. Bang goes my award winning idea of hanging things that will go on a clothes hanger in a doorway then! We do this, it’s really effective for drying.

things cant be left to the last minute or allowed to pile up.

Yes, very good lesson for children to learn though?

If bulky things like hoodies are a problem, maybe a big hoodie / trousers open box? They are a pain to put away, one hoodie takes up practically a whole drawer. And they don’t really crumple that much. I do think a chest is always a bit awkward to open and close though.

At that age my 2 were doing their own laundry and tidying of rooms.
Leaving clothes on the floor was always a no no as it encourages bugs and spiders to hide in it.

Pandering to children does them no good in the long run, it doesn't prepare them for life away from home.

Re the chest, you can only try. If it works good if not nothing lost.

Get some cheap pop up baskets she can organise clean dirty in between eg argos

Home Essentials 53 Litre Pop Up Laundry Hamper 4£

I can't believe people are falling over themselves to find an "easier" way for a teen to store clothes. It's putting clothes on hangers/in drawers FFS. Not rocket science. There is no way I would pander to this shit.

Self confessed floordrobe owner here 👋

I keep all my sports kit in two underbed storage boxes on wheels. Leggings and shorts in one, tops in another. T shirts get folded as they come off the washing line but then get bunged in the box and I'm not too bothered if everything gets jumbled up.

Would that work for you OP?

Its called A Floordrobe. All teenagers have one until they have to buy their own clothes

can’t remember at what age , but we had a laundry basket in the bathroom and everyone just threw suff in.
it was a bit of a game , pants in , socks in - bath time.
other clothes - in the draw, or on a hanger - into the wardrobe - story time.
Story time always got stuff put away.
Suff never piled up - and it was no tidy - no story.
They always got a bedtime story - and I’ll always got a tidy bedroom.
win - win.

Totally agree.
Basic stuff.
Its teaching them independence

Mine are 11 and 13 and the 13 year old has SEN. They've been doing their own laundry for at least a year.
The first few times we didn't make them hang it up and the first time DC1 did his it took four hours. Next time about half an hour and now he just brings it down and puts it in.
Chores get done before screen time, it's highly motivating.

ETA on the drying front, you need a Lakeland heated airer. My DD can attempt to turn it on, while my DS can't, so we do that step (or check DD has done it right) but as they only do their own, we tell them which day they can do it on (usually one weekend day each and we stagger ours through the week- I do appreciate the drying space issue though). DS occasionally tries to do his wash midweek because he wants a specific item of clothing clean but we just send the basket back upstairs. DD has been known to sneak one hoodie in on its own but we're wise to that now (and besides, one hoodie isn't going to break the drying system).

I'm sorry but this is basic standards. Her room isn't getting cleaned so she is basically living in a shit tip and not learning from you how to live.

I have teens and they're as lazy as they come but I insist on clean clothes being put away and wardrobes being tidy. My 15 year old watches clean girl videos and aspires to that aesthetic so her stuff is usually tidy. She also does a "Sunday night reset" which is something else she's picked up from TikTok. Would yours be interested in that?

I wouldn't tolerate this from my teens.