Share with Cif your top tips for getting family members to clean up after themselves - you could win a £250 voucher NOW CLOSED

[AnnMumsnet]

We know that sometimes getting the family to clean up after themselves can be a difficult task, so Cif would like to hear about your top tips.

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So, what are your top tips for getting your family to clean up after themselves? Do you give your DCs pocket money for doing their chores? Or maybe you try to make cleaning fun by starting a 'who can clean the fastest' contest?

Whatever your top tips are, Cif would love to hear about them.

Everyone who adds a comment will be entered into a prize draw where one lucky MNer will win a £250 voucher for the store of their choice.

Please note comments on this thread might be used by Cif on their website or on their social media channels: please only add a comment if you're happy for your comment to be used.

Thanks and good luck,
MNHQ

I despair about getting my lot to do their chores. They are 23, 20 with a 21 year old boyfriend living with us too and 14. We have tried nagging, reasoning with them, creating a rota asking them to nominate specific jobs to be responsible for, having set times when everybody does the housework asking them to do certain jobs but letting them decide when and still we don't seem to be getting anywhere. We found taking away my 14 year olds computer worked to get her to tidy her room but we can hardly use the same tactics for the older ones. My husband goes out to work all day and because I have fibromyalgia which causes me pain, fatigue and mobility problems I cannot do a lot of housework so the poor man has got to cook the dinner and start on the housework when he gets home. He gets very stressed and upset and justifiably so when he finds that the kids have done nothing to help all day when they have been home and have just sat on their computers all the time. So I am reading all the comments with great interest hoping for some new ideas and a miracle!.

We have started a star chart 10 stars = £1 pocket money. Tasks are written up for them to put a star next to. I am starting to worry this might get too expensive as they are hitting £1 a day at the moment and there are three of them ... maybe it would be cheaper to get a cleaner.

When it comes to putting clean washing away, put DH's pile pointedly on his side of the bed so he can't get into bed until something has happened to the washing..

It can be challenging but we try to make clearing up a joint effort....it is now the dcs "job" to jointly clear the table, stack th dishwasher and wipe down after every meal. They are 9,6&4 so we're hoping that we can set some early good habits...plus, there's a bit of peer pressure that they put on each other to make sure everyone pulls their weight!

DDs are only little so they 'help' tidying up. It works if there is plenty of space for them to tidy things into - big boxes to put their toys in etc. I do my best to get DD2 not to help as she is rather too enthusiastic and puts everything that could possibly be construed as rubbish in the bin, picks up the minutest bits of fluff off the carpets to give to me etc etc...

The DC are both only little but will generally help if asked. I think small things help, like having storage so everyone knows where things go. For instance, DS knows that his shoes belong on the shoe rack.

My DCs are very little. Some things we do when I can be bothered to be fun are:

I spy tidy up
I give them a white vinegar spray and kindly allow them to help me with the bathroom, glass or dusting
If something toyish needs hoovering up like moonsand or bits of paper from cutting and sticking, I let them do it with a dustbuster.

I have a 5 and 8yr old dc, they are messiest when eating dinner, lots of food either slides off forks or gets wobbled off plates... they know what mess they make they have to quickly clear up after
they like to get the dustpan and brush or the cloth and sort it out

they also have sweeping races and I always encourage toys away and things in their right places so they can easily find them the next day

and yet my house is still a total shed I need to do more training with dh

My 10yo has a tendency to cover the table with his coin collection, while I'm cooking dinner. He often twists about having to put them away again. I remind him that he doesn't want me or his dad to put them away because we will put them away away. 9 times out of 10, that works. The other time, they end up all bagged up and put out of reach for a day or so.

As for DH, his one thing is leaving his clothes lying around the livingroom. Unless it's a sweater, it gets put in the wash. Tough luck if he needed it.

I tell my 4 year old that his new teacher likes tidy children and does he want me to tell her he is messy - works a treat!

We never give pocket money as payment for doing chores. Pocket money is part of providing for our dc, just like nice clothes (as well as school uniform) and cakes (as well as bread). Chores are part of living together as a family. Nobody pays me for doing them!

We spell out exactly what we want done, and thank the dc for doing it. When a dc does something without being asked, we show them that we have noticed.

I do occasionally get mad and say something like "OK, clear only your own dishes, and tomorrow I'll make supper only for myself!"

Mine are aged 3 and 1 so we make tidying up into a game, usually a race. They lose interest after about 2 seconds though so I end up doing it anyway

When my children were younger they tidied up really well at nursery but never at home so I started using the same "tidy up music" that nursery used and they tidied no problem. Unfortunately this no longer works now that they are older so their room remains a mess until I start removing any toys lying around at the end of the day to be given back only when the room is tidy.
They are great with small chores like setting the table and dusting and sweeping because they find it fun.

Mine is very simple - if it doesn't get tidied it goes in the bin. Cruel but effective.

We call the feather duster the 'tickle stick'. DD(6) loves to go round tickling the cobwebs.

I also make a point of telling her that something nice will happen after she's done a chore, eg I've just told her that after she's tidied her bedroom we'll have a go at the Queen Elsa (Frozen) hairstyle she's been nagging me about.

Make it easy - make sure all the materials are there so they can just wipe down the surfaaces etc and it becomes a habit

Every night about 20mins before bedtime, we all have to tidy, DS tidies his toys up, I wash up and OH irons and sticks washer on. It's like our daily routine, if DS does this he's gets 2 bedtime stories instead of 1 which he loves :)

I make it into a game with my three year old. Changing beds involves music on and lots of dancing. She likes to help me Hoover and I ask her to tidy up after herself.

I’m not exactly obsessive about tidiness because with 2 DS's under 10 it would be mission impossible to have a show home perfect house but I do have some rules that help to keep the house in a reasonable state.

DH
If clothes are left on the bedroom/bathroom floor then they are fair game for the washing machine scoop up; I’m not psychic so, if they are to be worn again then they should be put on a hanger.

Paperwork left on the dining table is asking to be drawn on - if it is important, put it on the desk or file it away.

DS1
Re. Lego, clay models, paper craft fiddly bits: After playing with them they should be put away in their respective storage drawers. The hoover is not particularly fussy what it picks up and I’m not diving into the dust cylinder every time to rescue stuff.

DS2
He isn’t able to tidy up yet but thankfully is naturally quite particular about keeping his toys in some sort of order.

When DS2 does occasionally fill a room with thousands of toys then DS1 gets a little bit of pocket for helping to tidy up; he didn’t create the mess so it’s classed as a chore and quite rightly justifies reward.

Me
I do 20-minute bursts a couple of times a day so that each room is covered every week. Cleaning the bathroom tiles straight after a shower makes it easier to do quickly. Baby wipes (weirdly!) are great for a quick clean of the kitchen or bathroom floor. A quick feather dust of ceiling corners and shelves keeps dust at bay in between weekly polishing sessions. I also keep antibac spray in each bathroom for a quick paper clean of the loos/taps/floor etc so it always looks shiny and presentable. I also use a good old fashioned broom to keep the tiled/wooden floors swept; it takes seconds and is less hassle that getting out the hoover every time.

‘Consequences’ and ‘little and often’ are my cleaning mantras and it seems to be working so far…

It's always a challenge getting the teens to join in with anything of a domestic nature. We often stick our iPods on and dance all over the house while picking up scattered belongings and getting the jobs done and dusted. Here's hoping no one's watching!

I have a reward chart as an incentive my sons are 4 and 6. They are expected to keep their bedroom tidy, put their dirty laundry in their basket. Put things back where they belong. This is an ongoing task. Every day they surprise me with their support. My 4yo is keen to use the vacuum cleaner, put the shopping away. 6yo helps cleaning the bathroom, he puts all the plates and cups in the sink. Its all little steps to get them to be independent one day. I do bang on to them to do their little chores. No bribes but the reward chart to always up to dated.

1. Switch off the Internet Router and hand out a list of jobs to do before it gets switched back on again
2. Write out jobs on separate slips of paper and put them in a job bag or jar. Everyone takes a job out once a week - keeps it unpredicatable and relatively fair!

All my kids have their daily jobs to do which are age specific - one job each eg sweeping the kitchen floor and accept that they have to do them. They have to tidy and clean their bedrooms for pocket money each week and there is a list of tasks on their bedroom walls so they know what is expected. I love cheap weeks. They have to do their own washing when they are 13 and I rarely have to nag. Peer pressure works a treat with teenagers. Makes me sound like a dragon but there are four boys and one girl and like others I AM NOT THEIR SLAVE. Just feeding the tribe plus mates takes a lot of time.

We use a jar of marbles for incentives for all actions and behaviour - one marble is given for being helpful (including tidying and cleaning up).

if i knew the answer to that!!! Mine always leave their socks lying around and it drives me mad. We did have some fun with cloths tied to feet to clean the floor the other day and the kids LOVED joining in with that. They get money for helping with chores. Making jobs fun is also useful or getting them to do things that are tricky for you to do, like going around the skirting boards with ear buds to clean all the nooks and crannies.