How to get your messy kids to pick up the bath towels in their room.

How to get your messy kids to stop leaving soggy bath towels in a pile in their room.

NAG LESS| Have you ever experienced Disappearing Towel Phenomenon? This occurrence is not to be confused with Disappearing Object Phenomenon, a documented paranormal event where random objects mysteriously disappear and then inexplicably turn up later. In the case of Disappearing Towel Phenomenon, the objects are neither random nor their whereabouts unknown. Parents of teenagers know precisely where to look for their vanished bath towels: in multiple, soggy piles on the floor in their offspring’s bedrooms.

Combating this waste is a nightmare, not to mention uneconomical. How many towels must a parent wash and fold every week and how much water and electricity must be squandered in the process? The answer is, not many, or much, if you adopt the Frugalbits solution.

You will need to replace your large cache of bath towels with just two—one for body, one for hair—per family member (pack away your extras for company). To eliminate potential thievery, assign each person towels in a specific color with their name monogrammed on them. If you don’t have enough doubles in different colors, buy extras on sale like I did at my local department store where I paid under $7 each. As for monogramming, expect to spend from $10 to $20 per name per towel depending upon the size of the lettering. That may seem like a lot, but when you amortize the total amount over a year or two, factor in soap, water, wear on equipment and personal effort expended, it isn’t that much for a system that works.—Carolann Rule