If you know me, you know I love a clean living space. In fact, just last night I went on a cleaning rampage around my apartment (it must be spring). The funny thing is, I didn’t come to love cleaning until I got to college and had my own space. Before that, I never made my bed and I always had clothes on my floor. You will learn very quickly that the tiny space of your college dorm or apartment gets messy very easily and you are the only one responsible for cleaning it. That’s why I thought it would be beneficial if I shared some of my best college cleaning tips so that you can have a clean dorm all year.
How To Clean Your Dorm/Apartment
Make Your Bed Daily
Simply making your bed can make your room look so much cleaner. The bed is the focal point of a room, especially in small spaces. Start your day off right by accomplishing a task as soon as you wake up. It will make you feel good and motivate you to complete more throughout the day.
Use A Laundry Hamper
I know how easy it is to toss dirty clothes on the floor as you climb into bed for your post-class nap. But it’s just as easy to toss said clothes into a hamper and keep the room looking clean. Plus, this saves you time on laundry day when everything is already together.
Wash Dishes
In a small dorm room, there is no extra space for dirty dishes. You’ll want to wash any dishes you have as soon as possible to avoid bugs or mold. Also, you won’t want to be washing your face and brushing your teeth with dirty dishes in the way.
Organize Your Desk
Even if you don’t use it, keeps your desk space clean. It helps your room look much cleaner and won’t stress you out. Clear your desk of trash and stack all of your textbooks on a shelf or in the corner.
Take Your Trash Out
Assign a specific day to be your trash day. Once a week plan to take your trash out to avoid overflow. Left over food or containers can stink up a room quickly and you don’t want that sitting in your living space for extended periods of time.
Dust
Dusting sounds like such an old person thing to do, but it’s necessary. You probably don’t realize how quickly dust builds up. Run a paper towel or clorox wipe along all surfaces for the quickest dusting job. Plus this will help if you suffer from allergies like me 🙂
Vacuum and Sweep
As a girl, you know the struggle of shedding. To avoid having enough hair on the ground to form a wig, you need to vacuum and sweep. Whether you have tile or carpet in your dorm or apartment, it is important to clean once in a while. Take it a step further and mop any tile floors you have.
College Cleaning Tips To Keep Your Space Clean
Now that you know what to clean in your dorm or apartment, I wanted to give you some tips to maintain it. Below are some of my best college cleaning tips to help you always have a clean living space.
Create A Schedule
If you have a roommate, split up the tasks and trade off when you do them. This will make things fair and keep you from getting annoyed of doing the same things. Plus if you have a schedule, there will never be any question if you already cleaned something or not.
Hide Air Fresheners
My favorite college cleaning secret to making a room feel freshly cleaned (even if it’s not) is to hide air fresheners. My favorite are plugins and wax melters, but any kind are great. Keep a spray close by so you can freshen up the space before guests come in.
Tidy Up Every Night
One of my favorite college cleaning tips is to tidy up before bed every night. Pick up any trash that you left throughout the day and straighten up. By doing a little bit each day, you never feel like you have too much cleaning to do at one time.
Have A Place For Everything
If everything has its own home, then you’ll never have things lying around. Organization is imperative to keeping your space clean. Plus it makes it easier when you are looking for something as you are walking out the door.
My Favorite Cleaning Supplies
I have compiled a list of some of my favorite college cleaning supplies that I use all the time in my apartment. There are some things you should always be stocked up on to help keep your college dorm clean.
- Clorox Wipes – you can use these on literally everything!
- Clean Shower: Daily Shower Cleaner (under $2 at Walmart and smells AMAZING!)
- Lysol All Purpose Cleaner
- Air Freshener Plugins
- Stiffer Mop – easy to clean with and store
- Clorox Toilet Cleaner
- Compact Vacuum – perfect for storing in a dorm room
If you have any other college cleaning tips or favorite products, let me know in the comments! I love shopping for cleaning products and I’m always looking for the best ones (#adulting). Happy cleaning everyone!!
