Co-Ed Cleaning: Tips for Helping Your College Student Live Like an Adult

Now that you’ve sent your kids off to college you have to hope that you’ve supplied them with the skills to live like the young adults they’ve become. Remember how neat and tidy little Billy kept his bedroom at home? Uh, yeah, he’s probably going to maintain his dorm room the same as he did his room at home. As in, not at all. With your kids starting out on their own, this is a good time to instill good housekeeping habits in them. Here are some tips to get them started on the right path.

Show them these laundry tips and tricks. From pre-sorting to pre-treating stains, the tips in 5 Ways to Make Laundry Day Easier will take some of the sting out of laundry day.

Invite them to bring their laundry home with them. It may sound like bribery, but if the kids know that they can bring their laundry home to wash and dry it for free, they’re much more likely to make the trek more often.

Supply them with the tools to get the job done. When you’re picking up dorm room supplies, don’t forget the cleaning essentials. Check out Amy Clark’s What I Keep in My Cleaning Caddy for suggestions.

Make it a clean sweep. The Kenmore Bagless Compact Canister Vacuum packs a lot of punch into a small package. It’s perfect for vacuuming under beds and desks and won’t take up a lot of space.

Go DIY. College kids never seem to have enough money. And when they get a little cash, they’re not likely to want to spend it on cleaning supplies. From DIY reusable floor pads to DIY laundry detergent, give your kids that can-do attitude for cheap and easy housekeeping.

Image credit: Flickr user Prayitno licensed via Creative Commons