survival cleaning + {the clean zone} free printable

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Okay, I might be getting a little crazy with the printables.

You know this because I made a cleaning printable.

This does not imply that I do or will have an amazingly clean house all week long. ;)

I'm calling it zone defense cleaning, because I'm still not on the offense just yet. I'm not ahead of the game- I'm trying to combat their mess attacks. I'm just trying to maintain my position. Okay, that might be a terrible war analogy- history was one of the two B's I got in college. {and goodness, was I proud of that B- that class was rough!}

Anyway, I hope that makes sense. :) I've heard of cleaning zones lots of times before, but that term for me implies great organization. This is sheer survival. :) This is just hitting the basics. And that's good enough for now. :)

For the past few months, I've been trying to assign the children bigger jobs than their regular little chores, like picking up an entire room every day before bedtime. Elijah {9} gets the family closet/pantry/catch-all room, Noah {7} does the bathroom and the dining room, and Isabella {5} and Avalie {3} clean up the living room.

Ah, the nights I go to bed with a picked up house feel so good. :)

So anyway, I decided to break our rooms into zones with a list of what needs to be done in each room {just on the surface}. The living room, zone 1, needs toys picked up, trash thrown away, books nicely stacked, and blankets and pillows put back on the couch. The closet room, zone 5, needs clothes put away, drawers tucked in, trash put away, and coats and bags organized. This helps me tell them what to do, and hopefully allows me to rotate their room assignments eventually. {It's so hard to change when they finally know what they are supposed to do, though!}.

Having older children can be fun. :) They still make a bunch of messes like they did when they were little, but now they're big enough to clean them up! Because of this, Play-doh has finally re-entered our household. We weren't on good terms for several years there. ;)

Here's {the clean zone} printable I'm using in my notebook:

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And you can download and print it here!

Now go out there and survive those attacks! 1, 2, 3, WIN! :D

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q: Are you in survival cleaning mode too?

It seems like it hits in waves at our house- summer cleaning is so much easier, because they spend hours outside instead of inside making messes. And there's less laundry in the summer! Shorts are awesome.

q: Have you ever used zones in your house? Did they work for you?

I think this is the first time we've ever done it this way. But I've had 4 kids and my memory is shot. I love it like it was the first time, either way! hahaha!

q: Are you good at History? How did you remember all those dates?? Or are you more of a math/science person? 

I don't know what it was, but I couldn't remember the names of wars and generals to save my life. Give me something with steps, I'd give it an acronym and write it down as soon as you handed me the test so I wouldn't forget it by the end. But names and dates? Too much. :)