What is it about empty toilet paper rolls? No one seems to know what to do with them. When there’s paper on them, it’s fine. Everyone understands how they work.
But when they are empty? My kids and partner seem to think they turn into cardboard bombs that clearly CANNOT be touched, thrown away or swapped for a new roll.
I don’t get it. Is it really so much to ask to take the empty roll, put it in the bin and put a new one on the roll? Apparently so. And this mum’s hilarious post proves it.
Pick up the roll, get $20
South Australian mum Bec Kurzman shared her clever idea on how to get her kids to pick the empty rolls off the floor with the Mums Who Clean Facebook page. It’s super simple. She taped a $20 note to the back of the paper. Whoever actually removes the roll from the floor finds the note and gets to keep the money.
Genius, right? As Bec tells Mum Central, the idea behind the easy cleaning hack was to teach the kids that “tidying up (and on your own accord) doesn’t just benefit Mum.”
But here’s the kicker.
She documented the roll for six days and, hilariously, NO ONE picked it up. In fact, by the end of the week, another empty toilet paper roll was added to the pile.
Bec writes, “Clearly this game hasn’t worked here yet…maybe one day.”
Rubbish reward
Bec also tried the trick with another piece of rubbish left on the floor. This time she attached a $5 note to the back of it with a “Finders Keepers” to it. And, once again, the paper remained untouched the entire week.
What is it with kids and tidying up? Bec admits her son was devastated when she told him about the money (after she had already removed it and put the rolls in the bin). But, hey, maybe next time it’ll work!
If you’re looking for a way to get your kids to pick rubbish off the floor, then this little trick just might do it. And, if not, at least it’s a fun social experiment to do on the kids. And isn’t that what parenting is all about?
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If you save a few you can decorate them with remnants of Christmas wrapping paper or pictures from old cards to make them look like bon-bons to use as Christmas Decorations. When I was a kid we put some on our Christmas Tree one year.