"Zone Cleaning" Is The Viral Hack You Need To Stay Organized

Do you have a tendency to lose focus while cleaning? Even if you start in the living room, it’s only a matter of time before a pile in the kitchen catches your eye and you start sifting through it. Before that’s done, you remember you’ve always wanted to organize under your bathroom sink, but blink and you find yourself vacuuming the bedroom instead.

While this busy approach feels productive, it rarely results in anything actually getting cleaned, and it can also quickly burn you out. To stay focused and get more done, many people use the “zone cleaning” technique as a way to effectively tidy each area of their home. The idea is to label every part of your house, pick a spot, and then clean just that area — and only that area — until it’s sparkling.

On TikTok, creator @brittneal1106 has talked about this cleaning hack and how helpful it is for anyone who desperately wants to make a dent in their dust. “I’ve found that this more focused approach helps me keep my house just as clean, and is less overwhelming,” she said in a clip.

Creator @katarinastrode said zone cleaning is what helped her actually develop a routine that works, instead of just cleaning at random and never making any progress. She allots 30 minutes every day to cleaning one room. In her comments, someone said, “This is incredibly helpful!” Others shouted out FlyLady, who originated zone cleaning in the ‘90s. Here’s what to know.

What To Know About Zone Cleaning

Creator @brittneal1106 said there are three components to zone cleaning: dividing your house into zones, creating a detailed list of what needs to get done in each zone, and then spending a set amount of time working through the list.

Typically, you’d focus on one zone per week by devoting 15 minutes a day to work down the list and check off each task, but you can also dive into the space and devote an hour or two until it’s complete. It’s all about doing what works best for you, your time, and your energy levels.

How To Get Started

To get started, write down each room or “zone” in your home, hand-draw an overhead view of your space, or use a template on a program like Canva to label each area. Think Zone 1: Bathroom, Zone 2: Bedroom, Zone 3: Living Room, Zone 4: Kitchen, and Zone 5: Office. Bonus points if you print it out.

The idea is to pick a zone and clean it methodically until it’s spotless. While tackling your living room, you’d put away clutter, dust the ceiling fan, wipe down surfaces, and fold blankets. When sprucing up your bedroom, you’d wash sheets, dust your dresser, pick clothes up off the floor, vacuum, and then make your bed.

To make it fun, you can clean a zone at random — think choosing a zone number out of a hat — or create more structure by assigning each zone to a day of the week. The latter is perfect if you’re a true Virgo, aka the astrological earth signs who like to keep their space pristine, or just want to pretend to be one for the day.

Zone cleaning can be used for a quick tidy, but it’s also a go-to method for anyone who wants to deep clean. In that case, you’d scrub floorboards, dust your blinds, wash curtains, and do all of those pesky tasks you always seem to put off. Once you thoroughly take on each zone, you’re free to kick back and enjoy your space knowing it’s truly clean.