Dorm Room Cleaning Tips For Your College Student
Open windows for at least 1 hour a day.
A little air flow will keep the room feeling and smelling fresh. The CDC also suggests, that by opening your windows and ensuring a space is properly ventilated, you might help mitigate the spread of COVID-19. If it is not possible to open your windows, try running the AC regularly to promote air circulation.
Disinfect surfaces.
Using a safe disinfectant, like Boulder Clean’s Disinfectant Cleaner can help reduce the spread of germs, viruses and bacteria like those that cause COVID-19. Regularly disinfecting high touch surfaces like countertops, cabinets, doorknobs and handles, can reduce your risk of getting sick and it will also help your room feel cleaner.
Keep up with laundry to avoid a tornado of clothes on the floor of your dorm room.
By staying on top of your laundry, you’ll feel more organized and less stressed. It can also be beneficial to keeping you healthy. Regularly washing your face mask can help reduce the spread of COVID-19 and it can cut down on the number or germs you’re exposed to. While there is not enough evidence to definitively say COVID-19 lives on your clothes or shoes for an extended period of time, it is recommended you take precautions and wash your clothing as soon as possible if you think you’ve been exposed to COVID-19.
Give every item a home.
By ensuring every item in your room has a designated home, you’ll find that it’s easier to keep things clean and organized. You’ll also reduce the risk of losing or misplacing important things, like your keys or textbook!
Create a chore chart or cleaning schedule.
Having roommates is great, but with such close quarters the room can easily turn into a pigsty if not everyone is pitching in and doing their part to keep the space clean and organized. Try creating a chore chart or cleaning schedule that everyone agrees on. Give each roommate a few designated areas or tasks every week, like wiping the counters, dusting the shelves or vacuuming the room. Bonus: Pick a designated cleaning day for everyone and plan on rewarding yourselves with an ice cream cone or cup of coffee afterwards. It’ll give you something to work towards (besides a clean room) and it’ll make cleaning a little more fun.
Clean up spills and messes as you see them.
Is the trash overflowing? Are your wet towels on the floor? Have a sink of dirty dishes? Between schoolwork and your social life, you might be tempted to put these messes off, telling yourself you’ll wash the dishes tomorrow or cross your fingers that your roommate will see the trash and take it out. Don’t let this become a habit. If and when you see a mess, clean it up immediately, remind your roommates to do the same. This will ultimately keep your room tidy, and when you finally have some free time, you won’t have to spend it cleaning!
Only keep necessities on your desk so that you have plenty of room to study hard!
Desks can quickly turn from a designated study space into a cluttered catch-all. Try limiting the items on your desk to things you need to do your schoolwork; pens and pencils, a notebook and one or two textbooks depending on what you’re studying. We recommend having a shelf or designated area for your textbooks and notebooks you don’t need immediately on hand to study.
Buy only the things that you know you will use… especially food!
You might be tempted to buy cool gadgets, fun gizmos and extra supplies for your room, but before you make a big purchase, ask yourself the tough questions and be honest with your answers! Do you really need it, or do you just want it? How often will you realistically use it? More importantly where will you keep it? By only purchasing the things you know you need and will use, you’re able to save money and cut down unnecessary clutter in your room. This goes for food as well —only buy the foods you know you’ll cook and eat, otherwise you’ll just end up wasting food and precious mini-fridge space!
Keep a closet filled with high quality cleaning supplies that are easy to use and readily accessible.
We recommend investing in high quality products, like Boulder Clean, that will get the job done and are made with ingredients that are safe (especially when used in small areas). Keep all of your disinfectant sprays, glass and floor cleaners, dish soaps and laundry detergents together in a cleaning cabinet that is easily accessible. This will help for quick clean-ups and by keeping all of your cleaning supplies in the same place you’re able to stay organized and keep an eye out for any products that might be running low.