You’d think keeping a small space clean would be easy, right? Not so much. In college we’re generally preoccupied by a million things from social life to homework, so we don’t always give cleaning the time it really deserves.
Have no fear–with this simple guide to cleaning your dorm room, you’ll be on your way to an incredibly organized, fabulously tidy and clean dorm in no time! So, here’s to cleaning your dorm and keeping it that way…
Daily Cleaning Tasks
There are a bunch of small things you can do on a daily basis to avoid a pile-up of mess.
Make your bed.
Do you realize how much cleaner your dorm room will look just by making your bed? Your bed takes up the majority of your space and, if it’s made nicely, it will make your room like a million times cleaner. Fact. Even if you don’t have the time to intricately make your bed, toss your comforter over messy sheets, tuck it in and neaten up your pillows. Taking the easy way out will still make your room look cleaner than if you did nothing at all.
Clear off surfaces.
This means moving gum wrappers, food wrappers, yesterday’s notes, your hair ties, etc off of the top of your dresser and desk. Put away all of those tiny things you don’t think about leaving out–it builds up quickly and can be avoid with a two minute sweep of all of the surfaces in your room. A bonus cleaning hack you can use is wiping off your shoes with a cleaning wipe.
Note: 10 Pairs of Shoes Every College Girl Needs.
Weekly Cleaning Tasks
These things can be done on a weekly (or bi-weekly) basis to keep your dorm feeling extra clean!
Vacuum your rug, sweep your floors.
This is especially crucial if you have a rug. Crumbs, hair and dust gather on your floor and it’s pretty gross. Vacuuming and/or sweeping on a weekly basis will help you avoid build up of grossness on your floor.
Bonus: To keep your floors and carpet cleaner, try to take off your shoes while walking around your room.
Organize your papers.
I don’t know about you, but by the end of the week my desk has a pile of papers on it regardless of how busy my week was. There are assignments, tests, post-it notes, to do lists…you name it and it’s on my desk in paper form. At the end of each week I put everything away or toss it out in order to avoid my desk becoming absolutely blanketed in paper.
Take out the trash.
This is especially important if you’ve got food in your garbage. Sometimes this must be done more than once a week–it all depends on how much trash you manage to have during the week. The trash rooms or dumpsters usually aren’t far from the dorms–tough it up and take out that trash!
Bonus: Spray your trash can with air freshener in order to keep your room smelling fresh.
Do laundry.
Having a pile of dirty laundry or a laundry bag overflowing with bras and T-shirts is a surefire way to make your room look like a cluttered mess. Doing laundry on a weekly basis ensures that you’ll always have clothes to wear and that your laundry won’t become a daunting pile of smelly clothes.
Disinfect commonly touched surfaces.
Clorox and Lysol wipes are my heroes for this–it’s so easy! Grab a wipe and rub down the most commonly touched surfaces in your room to kill germs and keep everything clean. Some commonly touched surfaces would be the TV remote, light switch, door knob and drawers.
Get rid of the clutter pile before it grows.
I’m pretty sure every person in the world has a clutter pile or drawer. It’s the place in your room (or house) where all sorts of junk manages to pile up during the week. For me, this is right beside my afore mentioned pile of papers. Everything I was too lazy to put away in the correct place during the week ends up in this pile. Get rid of this pile before it takes over more space! Seriously.
There’s a small part of my dorm room! So tidy, so ~clean~.
Monthly Cleaning Tasks
These are tasks than should be done on a monthly basis or whenever you see fit!
Clean mirrors and windows.
Bust out the Windex and scrub down the mirrors and windows in your room. You won’t even believe how much dirt and dust can gather on these in just one month.
Clean out the mini-fridge.
Toss anything that’s expired or you know will not be eaten. Take out the contents and scrub down the fridge with a Clorox wipe–clean up those spills that have probably been in the fridge for weeks.
Go through your food.
Toss anything that’s expired or stale and be sure to re-organize everything. Most people have bins or totes under their beds with their snacks and this can easily become a mess when you’re looking for something specific. Don’t let anything get molded or nasty and if it is, toss it!
Wash your sheets and bedding.
While I’m sure sheets and bedding should be washed more than once a month, I’m trying to be realistic here. Are we really going to strip our beds, wash everything and re-make our beds every week? Probably not. Take some time each month to wash your sheets, comforter and other blankets! Sleeping on freshly cleaned sheets is an amazing feeling.
Free Printable
Hang this dorm cleaning printable up on the back of your door and maybe even divide up tasks with your roommate! Click on the image to download the PDF version!
What are some of your dorm cleaning tips?
dorm cleaning
