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.
- 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!!!
|
| |
- Distributing
- slowly taking the things out of the pile and putting
them away.
Games You Can Play
While You Clean
- 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?
- Color: Pick
up only items that are red, then only items that are
blue, and so on, until you’ve picked up everything.
- Type: Pick
up only clothes, only legos, only books, only blocks.
- 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).
- 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.)
To go back to the Menu,
click here.
To go back to Hadas
Arik's home page, click here.
