Zone Cleaning Printable Checklists

I recently heard of zone cleaning after being introduced to the Fly Lady method on Tik Tok. I was skeptical at first- but since I had yet to find a cleaning schedule that worked for me, I decided to give it a try. I am happy (and proud!) to say that I have stuck with it for the past 2.5 months!! And while my house isn’t perfect, every month it is looking better and better. The consistency is paying off and I can now see why this method has been so popular for decades!

What is zone cleaning?

Zone cleaning is essentially dividing your home into sections (“zones”) and cleaning one zone each week, for 15 minutes a day. So one week I will spend the entire week focusing on the kitchen, the next week the bathrooms, and so on.

That is a very simplified explanation, but if you’d like to learn more, I recommend reading the Fly Lady book, and even more so, watching videos on Dianne in Denmark’s channel as well as The Secret Slob‘s. They both do a fantastic job breaking down a method that can be otherwise confusing!

How to use the zone cleaning printable checklists:

1. First, divide your home into five “zones”. The zones I use are: 1. all bedrooms 2. all bathrooms + laundry room 3. kitchen 4. living room 5. office + playroom. You can make the zones whatever you want- do what makes the most sense for your family. You can read more about the “traditional” Fly Lady zones here.

2. Print off all of the pages (scroll to bottom for the free download!) that you will be cleaning throughout the month. I decided to color code my checklists by zone, but you definitely don’t have to! I also printed mine front and back to save paper.

3. Add two sticky notes to each page and fill in any room names or additional tasks that come to mind! If you can’t think of anything off the top of your head, feel free to add as you clean that particular zone during the month! The “problems & solutions” sticky note is (like it sounds) a place to keep track of any problems that you encounter in that space that need to be fixed! Maybe it’s an organizational problem or a leaky faucet that needs repaired- I like to try and solve at least one problem each quarter if possible! The “house to haven” sticky note is a place to record any projects that you want to complete to make that room more “homey”. Examples include: framing pictures, adding a house plant, getting new throw pillows, etc. You can read more about my Operation House to Haven here.

4. Now you’re ready! Pick a zone to get started in and aim to spend 15 minutes in that zone each day working your way through the list! Remember, you stay in each zone for one week. Don’t worry if you don’t get through the whole list (you probably won’t!) Next month you can start where you left off. There are three boxes next to each task so you can use the same checklist for three months. Label each column with the month so you know when each task was last completed.

5. That’s it! Each week, start a new zone. When a new month begins you will start over again. Repeat for three months and then print off new checklists if it’s working for you- which I bet it will be 😉

I hope that made sense! The Fly Lady method can be confusing and I’m certainly not an expert at it, but feel free to leave any questions below (or message me on Instagram) and I’ll do my best to help! I hope these are helpful for you!

Click here to download your free zone cleaning printable checklists!