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Thursday

Helping a Tween Keep Their Bathroom Clean!

Have a tween or teenager that absolutely cannot keep their bathroom clean?
I do...
I mean, I did

***(This post contains affiliate links to help you locate products. No products were given to me. All opinions are 100% mine. Thank you.)

Easy way to keep your teen's bathroom clean.

I can now say that my soon-to-be teenager CAN keep her bathroom clean!  Want to see how?

Help your teen keep their bathroom clean with a free printable @michellepaigeblogs.com


Bathroom Checklist + cleaning wipes + $ = a clean bathroom

Thankfully my tween is motivated by money and checking things off a list.
Money is tied into a completed checklist.


Let me back up a bit...
We were having lots of problems with my daughter keeping her bathroom clean.  She just wasn't doing it.
Clothes, hair products, tissues, toothpaste-- was just part of the mess we all had to look at.
Her bathroom is in plain view for everyone to see when they come upstairs.  Such an eyesore.



Playmates and friends sometimes use this bathroom....
My son and his friends sometimes use this bathroom. 
I needed this bathroom clean!


After lots of nagging that didn't work...
After lots of heavy sighing that wasn't heard...
After much frustration and me pulling my hair out...
I finally made a checklist and told her I'd pay her for a full checked chart.




Help your teen keep their bathroom clean with a free printable @michellepaigeblogs.com


She loved it!  I couldn't believe it!
She really enjoyed checking off the chart and bringing it to me at the end of the week for payment.

I loved having a clean upstairs bathroom.
Yet, I wondered if she could keep it up...
Every week, I'd sit down and make a new chart and every day she'd check the boxes as she cleaned her bathroom.

One week I forgot to make a new chart...
so she stopped cleaning her bathroom.


Hmmm...
I'm still trying to process if I created a child who will only clean for a checklist and $ attached?
I couldn't dwell too much on this thought...I needed a clean bathroom.



  I immediately got to work and made a chart on the computer that I could put in a glass frame with a dry erase marker to make the marks.  Now I won't have to keep making new charts!

Help your teen keep their bathroom clean with a free printable @michellepaigeblogs.com


Here's our chart and what works for us.

I walked my tween through each of these steps and modeled how it was to be done. I also gave her a timeframe of when the cleaning had to happen by.  In our house, the bathroom must be clean before she leaves for school.



Every day my tween is required to do these steps:
1. Pick up her clothes off the floor.
2.  Keep the bathroom counter completely clean.
(Nothing is to be on the counter- no clothes, make-up, toothpaste, hair stuff, etc.)
3.  Using a baby wipe (or a cleaning wipe), the counters and sink must be wiped down.
(We tried using rags and cleaning products daily, but that didn't work. These Amazon Elements Baby Wipes, 720 Count are extremely affordable. The wipes take minimal effort and can be thrown away after being used.)
4.  Using a new baby wipe (or cleaning wipe), the toilet must be wiped down in this order:
seat, under seat (rim) and then behind the lid.
5.  On Saturday, (usually our family cleaning day), my tween is required to help me fully clean her bathroom.  This is when we use cleaning products and not only clean the toilet and counter, but also scrub the bathtub, floor and mirror.


Help your teen keep their bathroom clean with a free printable @michellepaigeblogs.com


After each step is completed, a check mark is made in the corresponding box.
At the end of the week, a full checked chart (or only missing less than 5 checks) = $1.00.

You may want to adjust the checks and the payment according to what drives your child.

My tween is always looking for more money- and $1.00 is meaningful right now.
Later on, I may pay more and possibly require more?  We'll see?  I'm still thinking this through.

(Update 2016: My 15 year old now wants $5. a week...)




If you'd like to use our charts, feel free.
Help your teen keep their bathroom clean with a free printable @michellepaigeblogs.com

Click here to print out the striped Bathroom Check.
Free printable bathroom clean checklist @michellepaigeblogs.com



Click here to print out the Gray Bathroom Check.Free printable bathroom clean checklist @michellepaigeblogs.com


Click here to print out the Blue Bathroom Check.Free printable bathroom clean checklist @michellepaigeblogs.com



Print out, trim and fit inside a 5 by 7 inch frame.
If you want to type up your own steps, just cut off my steps at the bottom and tape on yours.

Keep your tween's bathroom clean.


VELCRO Brand - Sticky Back Coins, work great on a dry-erase pen and to the top of the frame.


Help your teen keep their bathroom clean with a free printable @michellepaigeblogs.com


Display on the counter in bathroom,
and see if your tween can keep their bathroom clean!
You may be surprised?
Now if I could only come up with a checklist for her backpack and her room and...






Linking up to:  TheFrugalGirls, InspireMePlease, 52Mantels, SerenityNow, CraftOManiac,
FundayMonday, MadeByYouMonday, SundayShowcase,
InspireUsThursday, PinItParty,


11 comments :

  1. I LOVE this! I will definitely be instituting this idea with my boys and their bathroom.

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  2. oh my goodness! This is genius! I am so printing this out today and instituting this system! Thank you for sharing. found you via Serenity Now!-aimee

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  3. This is going to solve a huge problem for us, thank you for sharing your brilliant idea!

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  4. what a great idea super cute
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  5. Tween or teenager that absolutely cannot keep their bathroom clean, how about myself?! LOL I was an organized person in my other life I swear. I need this but then again I also need someone to bribe me w/ $ too!

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  6. This is a wonderful idea. Thank you for sharing the idea and the printable chart. I'd say if she'll do all this for $1, you've got yourself a winning system!!

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  7. I think I need to use one of these myself. Lol. GREAT idea! :)

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  8. As soon as I saw this I knew that this was the chart I needed. We all share a bathroom, but it's her room that is ridiculous. We just moved in our house and already it looks like she's been here all her life. How they accumulate so much stuff, I will never know. So, I'm modifying this for her room and then making a general one for the around the house responsibilities she seems to "forget". Framing it makes it less child-like and she will love being able to write on it! Thanks!

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  9. Love IT!! Thank you!

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  10. I love this thank u

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