Kids and husband fail mum's 'garbage' test

Getting your family members to pick up after themselves isn't an easy task - just ask this mum who came up with a genius hack to motivate her kids, and husband, to up their cleanliness game.

Miranda Crimbring felt like it was time to “prove a point” to her kids about how she could do with a little help around the house – but there was a twist.

The mum-of-two hid a $5 note underneath a piece of rubbish in the bathroom. Whoever was first to pick up the trash would get to keep the money.

Brilliant, right? If only it had worked.

For hours, she waited to see if anyone noticed the trash, but the mum had no luck.

"We've just surpassed the 48 hour mark of the, 'who will pick up the random piece of trash that they KNOW isn’t supposed to be there' challenge," she said in a Facebook post.

"Between the kids AND the husband, and MULTIPLE trips in and out of the bathroom, this little piece of heaven may just be in it for the long haul!"

In an update to the post – which has had been shared over 269K times –  Crimbring declared that her daughter eventually discovered the money, despite not intending to clean it up.

"The paper has been PICKED UP!! My daughter threw her dirty clothes on top of it before getting in the tub… when she went to grab them afterwards, it flipped money side up and kind of slid across the floor. She gasped and then shrieked in surprise saying 'Oh my gosh, this was under there... five dollars!'"

The only downside? Crimbring's daughter took the money, but didn't put the rubbish it was attached to in the bin.

Although her plan backfired, commenters have called the move "genius" and "brilliant".

"What a great lesson you have taught us all," one person commented.

Another added: "I’m just going to put a 5 under the trash can. See how often someone is willing to take it out before it becomes an avalanche."

Crimbing noted that she's going to have a chat with her family about their cleaning up problem, and hopes for the best.