Had to throw the “kinda” in there because there are some days when surely it seems as if the Tazmanian Devil graced us with his presence bringing a hostess gift of clutter and destruction wrapped in foolishness.
Somewhere along this pursuit of living a peaceful and purposeful life I discovered as messy as my tendencies are, I thrive in a well organized space. It declutters my mind and gives me a calm that I hadn’t known before I became intentional about keeping our living space tidy.
I am messy by nature. Keeping our house clean comes with schedules and when we get off schedule things get out of hand and we end up having to take a full day to get everything back in order. This past Sunday was catch up day, I was thrilled that it had been nearly 3 months before there had to be a resident intervention with all hands on deck to get this place back in order.
The Zone Cleaning Method does a great job of keeping our house in order. I have integrated my cleaning schedule into the mix and when I stay on top of things and when I say I, I do mean policing other people to do their chores, my mind is in a state of organized euphoria. When executed properly our house stays tidy in a way that we never have to do more than pick up things here and there and rarely have to clean on the weekend by design.
Zone cleaning specifically means giving certain areas of your house a day of its own to tidy. You can easily incorporate zone cleaning into your home with these simple tips
Start with a clean home: To be effective when implementing this you have to start with a fully clean house otherwise you’ll be working in circles and won’t see the benefit.
Pick one or two areas to clean a day: The kitchen seems to be in high demand so you will have to clean that daily but only deep clean it on it’s assigned day. For the assigned spaces, vacuum, wipe down mirrors and appliances, mop, do whatever it takes to get the space clean. At least once a month incorporate dusting, and the baseboards into the rotation for a deep clean.
Give yourself 30 minutes per area: Once you get in the hang of it and are diligent about putting things where they belong on a daily basis, it shouldn’t take you more than 30 minutes to tidy the space once a week. Set a timer, put your phone down, find you some music and get to work.
Do laundry twice a week: I used to do laundry once a week and it was too much. I find two days makes the loads smaller and more manageable. I wash on Wednesdays and Sundays. If I miss folding on Sunday, I reserve it for Wednesday and then the next Sunday until we are digging out of the basket. This only happens sometimes.
Pick Things Up Daily: Somebody left their shoes in the living room? Call them to come and pick them up. Toothpaste residue was left on the counter? Yell for the culprit. I promise they will get tired of hearing your voice and start to do these small tasks that if left untamed are the gateway to clutter and disarray. This rule goes for you too. Teamwork makes the tidy dream work.
Stick to the Script: I know there will be days where you will fall into the door, and feel lucky that you didn’t unleash your wrath on someone, however you really have to make a conscious effort to do your zones daily and be diligent about doubling up on the next day if the bed truly needed you at 6p on a Tuesday and your kids ate cereal for dinner. Things happen.
This is seriously a high level overview, you obviously know your space better than I do but these tips will hopefully get you thinking about how you can reclaim your time in the cleaning department and not live in clutter. Disorganized spaces are so mind draining, no matter how small or big your space there are options out there to start you on the journey to living a decluttered life, even if it means starting with the junk drawer in the kitchen…..just keep going.
What are some of your cleaning tips?
