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How to Easily Keep Your Dorm Room Clean
It doesn’t take long for average size dorm rooms to become dirty because of how small they are. And with students focusing on the daily college grind, cleaning their living spaces can often get neglected for weeks or evening months at a time.
Leaving your dorm in a messy and cluttered state will eventually take a toll on your overall health and even impact the relationship you have with your roommate. It can be challenging to tidy up around your dorm when you’re already stretched thin with academics, work, and other commitments.
However, the importance of keeping your dorm room clean can’t go understated. A clean living environment can help you sleep better, improve your mental health, and be more productive by functioning as a suitable work space.
Instead of letting your dorm turn into an unsanitary disaster, use the tips in this guide to develop smart cleaning habits so you can keep your dorm looking good throughout each semester.
Dorm Room Cleaning Tips
Keep Things Organized
Make sure to have plenty of storage for all your different items so everything can be well organized and easily accessible. In such a small living space, it’s best to use dorm-specific storage items, such as hanging closet organizers, under bed storage bins, and shelving units, so you can maximize every square inch of your room.
Many students who have a well organized dorm tend to have better time management skills because they spend less time looking for things they need and being overwhelmed by clutter and more time focusing on getting tasks done. Check out the blog post below if you need more tips on how to keep your dorm organized.
Set a Schedule
The best method for keeping your dorm clean is by setting a cleaning schedule that breaks up all your chores into daily, weekly, and monthly sections. Sticking to a schedule that spreads out the cleaning process will make things more manageable and less overwhelming compared to doing everything at once.
This way, your dorm never gets too dirty, and it gets you in the habit of tidying up more often so you always have a clean living environment. For daily tasks, focus on making your bed, removing clutter, and putting away clothes.
Tasks such as vacuuming, dusting, and wiping down surfaces can be done once a week or once a month depending on your preference.
Divid Responsibilities
If you live with a roommate, then cleaning your dorm should be a two-person effort. When you’re making the cleaning schedule, talk to your roommate about diving up the cleaning tasks so you’re not stuck with doing everything yourself.
Better yet, communicate on day one about your cleaning expectations and how the both of you can work together to prevent the shared living space from becoming a dirty, cluttered mess.
Splitting the responsibilities between each other will make it much easier to keep the dorm room looking good. And if guys want to get chores done even faster, try doing a group cleaning session.
Also, try being flexible with the schedule — if your roommate hates doing a particular task or gets busy studying for an exam, be willing to compromise. With any luck, your roommate will be mature enough to respect your needs and contribute to the cleanliness of the dorm.
Minimize Clutter
No matter how well organized your dorm is, clutter can still build up overtime. Make sure to fully utilize your storage space so all your items are neatly tucked away and not laying out all over the place.
Additionally, set a time in your cleaning schedule to work on decluttering your dorm so it stays looking tidy throughout the year. Once your dorm is free of clutter, you won’t have to deal with a messy living space that causes you unwanted stress.
Buy Cleaning Supplies
It’s essential to stock up on cleaning supplies and other tools so you can clean your dorm more efficiently. They’re also useful to have close by in case you spill something or there’s a mess you need to clean up. Here’s a list of everything you’ll want to consider purchasing if you live in a traditional dorm either by yourself or with a roommate.
- All-purpose cleaning spray
- Disinfectant wipes
- Paper towels
- Vacuum
- Dust pan
- Trash can
- Laundry basket
- Detergent
- Microfiber duster
- Microfiber mop
Use an Air Purifier
If you want your dorm to be as clean as possible, then using an air purifier is the best way to do so. There’s nothing like a machine that literally cleans the air you breathe, which is exactly what air purifiers do — they use an internal fan and filtration system to capture allergens, toxins, and other air pollutants.
After an air purifier pulls in the unwanted particles, it then circulates clean, fresh air back into the room it’s being used in. This process gets repeated several times an hour to maintain the air quality and overall cleanliness.
Most air purifiers nowadays can filter out at least 97% of airborne particles and have a quiet performance, so you should have no problem sleeping while it filters the air in your dorm.
Related: Best Air Purifiers for College Dorms
The Cleaning Process
This guide mainly focuses on the cleaning of traditional size dorm rooms, so for students who live in an apartment off campus or a college suite, remember to regularly clean your bathroom and kitchen since those areas are prone to becoming dirty quite fast, especially if you have roommates. A future blog post on how to clean larger college living spaces and will be coming soon.
1. Make Your Bed
Your bed takes up a big portion of your dorm, so when you tidy up your pillows and blankets, you can make your dorm look better in just a few minutes. Making your bed is something you can do daily, and I recommend washing all your sheets once a week so the oils and sweat from your skin doesn’t build up and cause you to breakout.
2. Dust
Dust can accumulate very fast, so dusting around your dorm is probably something you’ll want to do weekly. An air purifier can help remove most of the airborne particles, but it doesn’t account for the dust that’s laying on all your surfaces.
That’s why a microfiber duster is essential to have when cleaning. Most dusters should be able to trap and hold the dust as you clean off each surface in your dorm.
3. Wipe Everything Down
Once you’re done dusting, you’ll want use an all-purpose cleaner to wipe down each surface — desktop, appliances, furniture, walls, and shelving. Then, use disinfectant wipes or a spray to clean things like your trash can, door handle, and light switches. It’s also a good idea to disinfect your appliances — microwave, coffee maker, fridge, etc.
4. Take Trash Out
Taking the trash out is pretty self-explanatory just to maintain basic cleanliness in your dorm. You also never want to let trash build up to a point where it starts to smell.
Try making it a priority to take out the trash at least once a week, maybe more depending on how much stuff you throw away everyday. If you want to make your life a little bit easier, look into trash cans with an automatic lid and can seal the bag shut for you when it’s full.
5. Do Laundry
Along with washing your bedding, doing laundry is something you should do once a week to avoid your hamper overflowing and lugging a giant bag of clothes to the laundry room on campus.
It doesn’t take long for dirty laundry, especially sweaty gym clothes, to stink up your dorm either. Don’t forget to wash your towels and wash cloths too. They can carry lots of germs and bacteria on them.
6. Clean the Floor
The dirtiest part of your dorm is always going to be the floor. That’s why it’s important to vacuum and/or mop weekly — or at least every other week depending on how clean you want your dorm and how much foot traffic you’re getting.
It’s worth investing in a powerful, compact vacuum if your floor is carpet or you have a dorm rug. For tile floors, you’ll want to use a mop, preferably one with disposable pads that you can throw out after a few uses.
7. Clean Out Fridge
Having a smelly dorm is pretty common amongst college students because a lot of them leave sweaty clothes laying around, don’t take out their trash often, and neglect to regularly clean out their mini fridge. Don’t be one of those students.
Throw out old food that’s been sitting in your fridge before it goes bad and stinks up your entire room. Clean and sanitize the inside of your fridge to remove bacteria. Most mini fridges aren’t meant to be filled with a bunch of food in the first place, so keep the food in yours to a minimum.
8. Declutter
Clutter can build up easily in small living spaces like your dorm. Take some time once or twice a month to go through your desk, backpack, and other storage areas to remove any clutter that has built up.
If you have papers and important files laying everywhere, sort through them, throw out ones you don’t need, and store the rest away. Organize your supplies, electronics and other college essentials. Think about investing in a desk hutch and drawer organizer to prevent clutter from accumulating around your desk.
