How to Deep Clean Your Entryway & Dining Room – Flylady Zone 1 Cleaning

Today we're going to dive deep into the FlyLady Zone 1 Cleaning method! This zone covers the areas guests see first when they come to our homes – the porch, entryway, dining room, and other areas right off of the front door. If you stick to this method month after month, you'll no longer be embarrassed if a friend or neighbor pops by your house!

Flylady Zone Cleaning Overview

For a complete overview of the FlyLady's zone cleaning method, check out this post. There I explain the five zones and how they work to help you keep your home clean in just 15 minutes a day!

Also, I recommend learning from the creator of the method, Marla Cilley, in her book, Sink Reflections. The zones are also explained very well there.

How it Works

Set your timer for 10-15 minutes and choose one item on the list to tackle. Do this once a day. I don't get around to checking off the whole list each month, and that's okay! I pick the dirtiest areas or the areas I didn't clean from the month before. Please do not get caught up in having to clean everything on the list each month – you'll get burnt out and frustrated because you'll feel like you're doing it all wrong. Just get to what you can and leave the rest!

I keep these cleaning lists in my Flylady Home Control Journal, or Home Management Binder, as I like to call it. I have a whole post on how to make one of those here!

FlyLady Zone 1 Cleaning

Entryway/Front Porch/Dining Room

I customized this list for our home because we do not have a dining room. We converted it into an office because we use our kitchen breakfast room to eat and entertain in.

So, my Zone 1 is the Entryway, Front Porch, Side Porch, Office and Kids' Playroom. Both of those rooms are right off of the front door. So that's why I said, customize these zones to fit YOUR house and lifestyle.

Here is my detailed zone 1 cleaning list. I took what Cilley has in her book, and took ideas from Diane in Denmark's Zone 1 list. Feel free to copy and paste this into a Word document and use my free binder page backgrounds (sign up for my email list below to get those!).

CLEAN

Porches, Entryway, Office, Playroom

Set timer for 15 minutes once a day or more.

• Scan the rooms, put things away
• Sort papers in office 
• Shred papers
• Wipe down office desks
• Wipe down or dust surfaces in office 
• Dust playroom
• Dust stair sides
• Tidy pillows and décor
• Detailed vacuum in playroom
• Detailed vacuum in office
• Vacuum entryway
• Wipe down baseboards
• Sweep front porch
• Mop back porch
• Mop entryway
• Sweep away cobwebs
• Hang new wreath on front door, rotate seasonal items
• Wipe down front entryway
• Wipe down front door

DECLUTTER

Set a timer for 10-15 and focus on one area, otherwise you might make a huge mess that you'll have to clean up later! And then you'll not want to declutter again for a few weeks or longer. The idea here is that we consistently declutter so that our houses stay organized.

• Toys
• Office supplies 
• Papers
• Screened-in porch

OUT OF STOCK ITEMS

In each zone list, I keep a place where I can write down things in that zone that are out of stock. Then when I make my grocery list each week, I can add these items to the list, or order them on Amazon.

PROJECTS

Here I write down anything that needs to be fixed in that zone, and then communicate it with my hubby if I can't fix it myself. Add items needed for that project to your grocery list to get to on the next errand day!

Natural Cleaning Recipes for Flylady Zone 1 Cleaning

If you're wanting natural cleaners to clean zone 1, I've got you covered! Here are some of my recipes:

• Hardwood and Tile Floor Cleaner Recipe
• All Purpose Cleaner Recipe (for wiping down the different surfaces)
• Glass Cleaner Recipe

My Favorite Cleaning Supplies for Zone 1

• Microfiber dusting cloth (I don't use a dusting cleaner)
• Microfiber dusting wand
• Flylady Feather duster
• Glass cleaning cloth (don't need glass cleaner if you have this cloth!)
• Bissell CrossWave to vacuum AND mop hardwoods and tile (I use this every week!)

More FlyLady Blog Posts

If you liked this post and would like to learn more about the FlyLady system, check out these other posts on my blog!

• My Top 10 Natural Cleaning Recipes to help you go natural in your home
• How to Make Your Own FlyLady Home Control Journal (and an overview of the system)
• Flylady Zone Cleaning Overview
• See ALL of my Flylady Cleaning/Decluttering/Organizing Videos here!