Before You Begin

Almost ready? Here are some questions to ask yourself before you start cleaning, just for fun. Make sure you write down the answers.

How long do you think it will take to pick everything up off the floor? _________

How long do you think it will take to put away all the books and papers? _________

How long do you think it will take to put all of the clothes/linens in one pile? _________

How long do you think it will take to put all of the toys away? _________

What’s the total amount of time you expect to be cleaning your room before it’s clean? _________

How many trash bags will you fill? _________

How much money will you find? _________

How many things will you find that don’t belong to you? _________

Getting Started

The cleaning process is divided into two main parts.

  1. Collecting - gathering everything up and putting it in one enormous pile.

    The ideal place for this pile is your bed. Your bed is ideal for two reasons. First, it’s usually the biggest visible surface in your room and second, you’re going to have to clear it off before you go to sleep, increasing the likelihood that you’ll go to sleep in a clean room.

    Notes:

    Fragile things and things that might spill do not go into this pile.

     

    Your bed means not your little brother’s or your big sister’s bed – YOURS!!!
     
  2. Distributing - slowly taking the things out of the pile and putting them away.

Games You Can Play While You Clean

  1. Time: How many things can I pick up off the floor in one minute? Write down the number of items and start again. Did you do better?
  2. Color: Pick up only items that are red, then only items that are blue, and so on, until you’ve picked up everything.
  3. Type: Pick up only clothes, only legos, only books, only blocks.
  4. Number of items: If you’ve only got a limited amount of patience & you don’t plan to finish, decide that you’re picking up exactly 100 items (or more – 100 is usually my minimum).
  5. Points: Assign point values to the things you pick up. Write down the system you plan to use.

Here’s an example of a system you might use:

Shirts and pants

4 points each

Shoes

2 points each
 

Socks and underwear

1 point each

Legos

1 point per handful.

Stuffed animals

2 points each

The number of points you get today is your baseline. In the future, if you’re room isn’t as messy, you’ll get less points. The less points you get the better.

To print a list like the one above, click here. Click print from your browser menu to print the list. Click back to get back to this page.

Rewards:

Even if you've got to stay in your room until you finish, it doesn't mean you can't reward yourself... Here are ideas for rewards you can give yourself.

1. Reaching 100 points - Get to read 1 chapter in your favorite book.

2. Picking up all of the red things - 2 minute break.

3. After 15 minutes of cleaning - One game of solitaire.

4. Splitting the clothes into laundry/closet piles - Listen to your favorite song.

The best reward is at the end, when your whole room is clean, but it's great to have things to look forward to along the way.

Get the Heavy Duty Cleaning Checklist. Click print from your browser menu to print the checklist. (Click back to return to this page.)

Get a Daily Checklist. Click print from your browser menu to print the checklist. (Click back to return to this page.)

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