One reason I HATE when the kids clean their rooms!!

[always quiet]

Suddenly, the hamper is running over!!!!!!!!!! I am sorting the laundry this morning and there is nothing worse than finding CLEAN, STILL FOLDED clothes in there!!! I had the girls really clean thier room on Saturday...under the bed and everything! Guess they thought it easier just to toss the clothes back in the hamper than put the clothes in the drawers where they belong.

 

[Harley Chick]

Suddenly, the hamper is running over

So is the kitchen sink!!! No wonder I never have any dishes for dinner.

 

[emmagata]

And we wonder why some species eat their young.

 

[DoeWDW]

My 2 kids have done their own laundry since they were around 12 years old, for just the reason you describe - I got tired of washing clean clothes!

 

[Shannon G]

Guess they thought it easier just to toss the clothes back in the hamper than put the clothes in the drawers where they belong.

How about telling them "if you're going to put clean clothes in the hamper, then I'm going to put dirty clothes in your dresser." Maybe they'll catch on when they have no clean clothes to wear. (of course I don't know how old your girls are - if they're too young, this probably won't work.)

 

[always quiet]

The girls are 12 and 9. I have threatened them with "If I have to do one of your chore (putting their laundry away), then you have to do one of mine!" Haven't followed through on the threat YET!

I think I wouldn't mind if they kids did their own clothes but in a way, that is such a waste of water and electric. I would have 6 additional loads a week (2 loads a week, at least, per child). It's just as easy for me to throw everyone's clothes in the wash together.

I think next time they "forget", which will probably be today , I'll have one do the dishes and the other clean the bathroom!!

 

[Tiggeroo]

There doesn't seem to be an easy solution to this problem. My 16yo sons still do this. Then I say that's it you do your own laundry. It then piles up, they wash everything together and wash things in hot water or dry them that shouldn't be. So then i'm buying new clothes. It's as if they are perfecting the male trait of, if I do it bad enough you'll do it for me.

 

[Disney Doll]

Teach them how to do laundry. Don't buy their clothes anymore. If they screw up their laundry and ruin their clothes, they will have to spend their own money to replace them.

As far as the clean clothes in the hamper, I'd be putting dirty clothes in the darwers.

I'll tell you, when I think of some of the rules I was raised with,compared to kids today, my mother seems like a drill sargeant, but at the time, I didn't think she was bad at all!

She's probably be reported to DCF today!!!LOL!!!!

 

[mickeyboat]

Sounds a lot like when DH cleans out his truck!

Denae

 

[missypie]

My DH is a SAHD. I can always tell when he's given a "clean your room now" order, because then I find hampers full of clean clothes, especially things like skirts that are harder to hang up.

 

[tonyswife]

When I was growing up, laundry was my chore. That meant everyone's laundry, including ironing my dad's work shirts. The reason it was my job is because I "dirtied" more clothes than anyone else in the house, pre-teen and teen girls are notorious for this.

One of my brother's job was cleaning the bathrooms because he "missed" quite a bit.

I would give up laundry responsibilities to your girls. They can do ALL the laundry. It's not a punishment or slave labor, it's part of being a member of the household. Simply insist that they do it correctly, sort, wash, fold neatly and put away. If there is a particular clothing iten that you are afraid they will ruin by accident, hold it out and wash it yourself, or give explicit instructions when it needs to be washed.

 

[Shannon G]

It then piles up, they wash everything together and wash things in hot water or dry them that shouldn't be. So then i'm buying new clothes. It's as if they are perfecting the male trait of, if I do it bad enough you'll do it for me.

So don't buy them new stuff to replace what they ruin. At 16, they are old enough to know how to do it correctly - anything else is just lazyness (in other words, typical teenagers). If they ruin their clothes, they have less to wear, or they have to spend their own money to replace it.

As a teenager, I had to do laundry. Not all of it, but not just my own either. Like another poster said, it's part of being a member of a household. If I had repeatedly ruined things because I couldn't be bothered to do it correctly, there would have been some sort of consequence - and it certainly would not have been Mom or Dad going out to buy me new clothes.

 

[always quiet]

When I do laundry, I always hang it outside to dry. Seeing how the kids are out the door at 7:10 am, it does makes things a tad difficult. Also, my dad lives here with us and his room is right next to the laundry room. I don't start the wash til he is up, usually after 8 am. So, for the forseeable future, the wash is my chore.

With that said, the kids each have daily chores that they do (without allowances I will add)....daily trash, then dragging the cans to the curb on trash days, setting or clearing the table, making beds....things like that.