Recently, I shared my zone cleaning method for our house. We break it up into five zones, focusing on one each weekday.
Guess what?
The same concept can be applied to individual rooms, especially kids’ rooms.
Sending a child to clean their entire room can be overwhelming…they just don’t know where to begin. Breaking their bedroom into “zones” makes it seem more manageable, allowing them to focus on a smaller area at a time.
The zones will vary for each unique room, but here’s how I’ve broken ours down, just to give you an idea:
Girls’ room
- bed and nightstand area for each one
- chest of drawers area for each one
- windows (one wall of their room is almost entirely floor to ceiling windows, which collect not just dust and cobwebs but paper, small toys, etc.)
- closet
- hallway (our hall is in a “T” shape with a short section leading into each bedroom. They tend to think these are their personal “foyers” and continually dump and pile shoes, backpacks, toys, etc. in them)
Boys’ Room
- bed for each one (bunk beds)
- desk and bunk ladder area
- chest of drawers area for each one
- closet
- hallway
They clean the rooms one zone at a time, with the older sibling directing their younger sibling. The zones can all be gone through in one day to clean the entire room, starting in one zone and working through each zone until the room is done, or one zone a day can be focused on to thoroughly clean out and organize that particular area, just as we focus on one area of the house each day.
We do a little bit of both…focusing on one area in detail each day while still giving each zone a quick pick-up, and doing all zones on Saturday, including dusting and vacuuming, for a thorough room cleaning. I’ve even used this same idea to break other rooms in the house down into more manageable chunks for cleaning and organizing.
We’ve been doing it this way for years. It works very well for our family! I encourage you to give it a try.
Linked with Thank Goodness It’s Monday, Hip Homeschool Hop, Titus 2 Tuesdays, Teach Me Tuesdays, Works for Me Wednesday, Raising Homemakers, Frugally Sustainable, Thrive at Home, Hearts For Home, Simple Lives Thursday.
Wow! I have done this before! I just didn't know it had a name! I love zone cleaning! I'm here from iFellowship today. I hope you have a wonderful Wednesday!
I use the zone method for my house as well… Never really thought to apply it to individual rooms. What a good idea! Thanks for linking up with Thrive @ Home!
I must admit…I got the idea from a friend years ago, when our kids were very small. It works well! 🙂