How to Encourage Teens to Clean Their Rooms

Quit nagging and get better results through encouragement and motivation. Follow these easy steps below:

Things You'll Need

• Cleaning Cloths
• CD Stack Organizers
• Feather Dusters
• Laundry Baskets
• Plastic Storage Drawers
• Storage Organizers
• Vacuum Cleaners
• Vacuum cleaners

Instructions

1. Provide plenty of shelves and drawers so that your teen has a place for everything.

2. Teach your teen how to vacuum, sweep, fold clothes, dust and wipe down walls. Let him or her know that these skills need to be exercised in the bedroom.

3. Help tackle a big job once. Maintenance is easier with a clean start.

4. Work out a "clean plan," creating an actual map of where things go. Put trophies, stuffed animals, Barbie collections, CDs, shoes, pens and pencils and the laundry basket on the map. Tape the map on the inside of a closet door.

5. Work out a reward plan. For a month of cleaning, add a little extra allowance or buy the sneakers or CD your teen has been wanting.

6. Encourage teens to throw out the unused, unwanted and unloved.

Tips & Warnings

• Neat and tidy is often copied from big sisters and brothers and moms and dads.

• New bedclothes, curtains and painted walls can make a teen proud of a room and more likely to keep it picked up.

• Fun storage items such as CD stacks, color-coded plastic bins and hampers can help organize.

• No matter how bad the room gets, sometimes you have to bite your tongue to respect your teenager's privacy and sense of who he or she is.

• Dirty laundry, wet towels or old food can end up being a health hazard. Keep an eye on things.