Clearing out & Cleaning up

Fridays around here are lovingly called deep clean Fridays. We wake up early and get to work to make the house shiny clean by sundown. The kids stick with their regular zones, they just have a much more in depth list to check off. We also do outside chores on Fridays as well. Here is an example of the difference between a regular zone day and Deep clean Friday.

Example: Devon/Living Room

Regular Day:

• Pick up all things that don't belong (toys, trash, cups, shoes etc. ) and the "I didn't put it there" line doesn't work...everything is cleaned up by the zone keeper...even if they did not contribute to the mess. Its fair though because this is the rule for all zones, so everyone is picking up everyones mess.
• vacuum at least once a day.

Deep clean Friday:

• Dust all furniture (entertainment center, coffee tables, end tables and stove) tops sides and bottoms.
• Dust walls, doors, windows (we have really tall ceilings and a very dusty house with lots of woodworking detail, and if its not dusted it piles up)
• Wash walls and door trims as needed (all fingerprints)
• Clean out from under all couches, tables and anything with an "underneath"
• Windex windows and doors
• Dust drapes
• Clear shelves and organize as needed.
• Wipe down fan, light fixtures and picture frames.
• Vacuum and clean wood floors.

So as you can see through the week each zone is kept up with general "pick up" and then Fridays it gets a good deep cleaning. This is also a great time to purge any areas, as we are doing today. We finish up before supper and enjoy the rest of the evening as well as Shabbot (Saturday) Once the children are trained in each area and know what to do its a breeze. We don't switch zones very often either, the older ones graduate out of a zone as a younger one moves up. They must train the replacee to my liking before graduating.

So there you have it an example of "Deep Clean Friday" Now I'm off to continue!