Has anyone persuaded teenagers/young adults to become even a little house proud?

[blueVW]

Our 18 yo and 21 yo dc, both students, will be at home for the summer while dh and I work our backsides off in very busy jobs to pay for the luxuries they enjoy!

They're lovely girls but very messy. I can cope with their bedrooms being tips, and have preferred them to study to get good results than stress over their messiness - but things need to change once exams are over and they are lolling around the house.

If anyone has succeeded, please tell me how!

My first strategy is to talk to them and set ground rules - eg no cups/plates/coats/shoes etc left out by the time we come home and by next morning.

If that doesn't work, all the above mentioned things scooped into a bin bag and put in the garage.

They are both looking for summer jobs btw, and dc2 has a Saturday job.

I should add, we are not looking for show home standards, but less like a student house and definitely not (the dreaded words) them treating it like a hotel, which is the way things are atm.

I think the only way to succeed is to have them move out. It's easy to take your home for granted when it's not yours. When you are paying the rent it is a different story - if you want to have guest around, throw a dinner party, invite a boy back - your space needs to be clean.

Only a few more years, I promise!

Don't really know how we managed this but mine do the shopping, ironing, some tidying and cooking for us when they are home. Their attitude is that we're supporting them so it's the least they can do. I know I'm very lucky. Their bedrooms are still pits though!

I presume you made a rod for your own back whilst they were growing up? Failing to insist they do jobs around the house, preferring them to be doing school work or riding their horse instead of chores?

Oh hang on. That's me.

Exit - spot on!

They have played the 'I have to study' card brilliantly too (and have done very well academically to boot), but it'll drive me bonkers over the summer if they are hanging around with their friends and the house is a tip when we get home.

The thing that winds me up is their failure to notice if things are untidy. When pointed out they will make an effort to have a bit of a tidy round, but they don't seem to see a mess at all.

Mind you. DH is the same. I am laid up at the moment and we are slowly disappearing under newspapers. But I would rather he walked the dog.

I worry how DD will get on when she leaves home and has to fend for herself. Although I was much the same as I had an easy ride at home too.

They'll be fine Exit!

My two are 19 and are actually functioning humans, despite me spending their childhood nurturing the rubbish piles in their room in favour of 'studying'.

It is really unlikely you'll have raised a hoarder or a 'how clean is your house?' candidate! Everyone manages when they have to.

Nothing works - until they have a baby of their own. Then they have to keep the floor clean so that the infant doesn't put everything in their mouth, and they have friends round and want to impress them. My daughter's house is very different now!

Once when I was away on holiday with my parents we had burglars, and the police said that one room had been ransacked worse than the others. My mother laughed hysterically, it almost cheered her up!