FlyLady has what she calls “zones”.  She divides her home into five zones for monthly cleaning purposes.  Feel free to check out her zone list.  I found that I had to alter her zones a bit and come up with a list that made sense to me personally.  It looks something like this:

Zone 1: Front Porch, Foyer & Formal Living/Dining Room

Zone 2: Kitchen, Laundry & Small Hallway

Zone 3: Kids’ Bathroom, Kids’ Bedrooms & Kids’ Closets

Zone 4: Master Bedroom, Master Bathroom, Master Closets

Zone 5: Family Room, Linen Closet, Large Hallway & Back Porch

You can come up with your own zones as well.  It’s best to wait until your routines and daily chores are habit before adding in zone work.  Trust me, you don’t want to get overwhelmed.  Follow FlyLady’s advice to take it one step at a time (beginning with routines).  Build up gradually.  If you’re like me, patience is difficult but very important.  I had built up to zones and then fell behind.  Currently I’m working on establishing my routines and chores again.  It’s a process.

After you establish what your five zones are (or use FlyLady’s if that works fine for you), follow her tips for getting started with zone work.  Once I busted through de-cluttering I made a list of everything I’d like to cycle through each zone each month and then divided it up into days.  I’ll post my zone lists when I get a chance.  For now, have fun following FlyLady’s tips.