How to Deep Clean Your Living Areas & Kids’ Rooms – Flylady Zone 5 Cleaning
Today we’re going to dive deep into the FlyLady Zone 5 Cleaning method! This zone covers the living room and kids' rooms! We are going to learn how to consistently keep it clean and decluttered so we can be proud to have guests over and enjoy using it ourselves each and everyday. You’ll get a detailed cleaning list as well. Let’s get started!
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
For 4-5 days out of month, you focus on one zone of your home for deep cleaning. You'll set your timer for 10-15 minutes each of those days 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 5 Cleaning
The Living Room(s) and Kids' Bedrooms
Here is my detailed zone 5 cleaning list. I took what Cilley has in her book, and took ideas from Diane in Denmark’s Zone 2 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
Set timer for 15 minutes once a day or more.
- Scan the room, put things away
- Dust ceiling/corners
- Tidy couch pillows and blankets
- Dust living room upstairs / downstairs
- Detailed living room vacuum, move chairs upstairs / downstairs
- Vacuum upstairs stairs
- Vacuum basement stairs
- Dust or wipe baseboards
- Switch out pillows and or seasonal decor if needed
KIDS CLEAN (WEEKLY CLEAN)
Here's what my kids clean each week, or every other week, depending on how busy we are. This is how they earn their allowance ($5 a week). This is more or less their weekly home power cleaning hour (learn more about that here)
- Weekends, one hour
- Gabriel – clean bathroom, pick up toys, dust, vacuum
- Grayson – clean bathtub, pick up toys, dust, vacuum
- Griffin – clean bathroom countertop and mirror, pick up toys, dust, vacuum
- Me or their dad clean their toilet as they take a bath, every other day or so (Because yes, it gets that dirty! But it literally only takes a few minutes to clean if you stay on top of it).
KIDS ROOMS (DEEP CLEAN)
- Scan the room, put things away
- Dust ceiling/corners
- Dust dresser and other furniture
- Remove sheets and wash
- Air out mattress, sprinkle baking soda deodorizer recipe on them if necessary, vacuum up an hour or more later
- Detailed room vacuum
- Dust or wipe baseboards
- Switch out clothes for the next season if needed
DECLUTTER
Stick to just one drawer, or one shelf, or one part of one cabinet so you can declutter quickly and not get overwhelmed!
- Media cabinet
- Books
- DVDs
- Living room blankets
- Bed linens
- Kids clothes
- Shoes
- Toys
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 5 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)
- Baking Soda Deodorizer for any carpet or couch spills or smells
- Glass Cleaner Recipe
My Favorite Cleaning Supplies for Zone 5
- 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!)
- ScotchBrite Heavy Duty Sponges
- Shark Rocket Vacuum (lightweight, powerful, easy to use. Even the kids are able to use it!)
More Cleaning & Decluttering Posts You Might Like!
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)
- How to Meal Plan Like a Boss to Save Money and Reduce Stress
- Weekly Home Power Cleaning Hour (Weekly Home Blessing)
- All of my Flylady Cleaning, Decluttering and Organizing Posts