Keeping the kids' bedroom tidy - will I ever win the battle?

My two boys share a double bedroom and little Miss is unfortunately stuck in the tiny box room. We have made the most of the space for them with bunks for the boys and a mid-sleeper for Heidi. What I wasn't prepared for when I provided the kids with their own space was just how messy they would be!

I'm not a tidy person but I'm not overly messy either. The kids however are a different kettle of fish. I will often find myself spending a couple of hours in their room sorting out their toys and clearing out their cupboards - where does everything come from??? Give it a few days and their rooms will be back to how they were before I started and it does make me wonder why I bother.

I wish Heidi's bedroom was ALWAYS this tidy

When I was growing up my bedroom was always immaculate. I just don't understand how my mum achieved this, especially as I'm not an overly tidy person.

New Term, New Rules

I think my children are old enough now to take responsibility for their own bedrooms and I have decided to set some new rules for the new term.

Harry and Heidi's jobs:-

Every day the children must make their own bed & open their curtains (20p per day)
Every Sunday night they must clear all rubbish from their rooms into recycling/rubbish bag (50p per week)
Every Wednesday night they must put all of their toys back into their homes (50p per week)

Harry and Heidi could potentially earn £2.40 per week doing this which I am hoping will help to motivate them. They have decided they are going to use this money to save for Shopkins (Heidi ) and a new computer game (Harry) which are both things they really want to get their hands on.

Using Jangle to help

Jangle is a completely FREE app that helps you teach your kids money skills whilst making your life a little easier too. There is absolutely no cost involved and it has been designed by Sarah Willingham (Dragons Den), pfeg and Experian. You can find out more and download Jangle from the App store here. You can have multiple users and there are pre-loaded activities for kids to take part in OR you can create your own activity as we did.

Creating our own activity with Jangle

I like how you can negotiate with the kids to choose how much they will be paid (in this case 50p for tidying their room), you can select who will pay once the task has been completed (so you can get the grandparents involved) and you can see what your child is saving for (in this case Heidi is saving for some Shopkins).

When the activity has been completed you need to just click 'done' (once you've checked of course).

......and your child will be rewarded with a virtual 50p added to their pot. This is particularly handy for those days you don't have any cash on you (which is pretty much every day for me) as you don't physically hand over any cash until your child's target has been met.

By completing the chore of tidying her room, Heidi has already hit 3% of her target. This visual really encourages H & H to keep going as they are desperate to reach 100% and earn their reward. I will probably add a few ad-hoc activities/chores during the holidays too which will give them a bit of a boost.

I know rewarding children with money for doing chores isn't everyone's cup of tea or parenting style but to be honest, I am at the stage now where I will try ANYTHING. I'm sure we've all been there. I would love to hear your tips for encouraging the kids to tidy their room and if you download Jangle yourself, let me know how you get on.

This is a collaborative post, all thoughts are our own.