Happy Spring! You know what I always associate with spring? That’s right… spring cleaning. And for college kids, that means dorm cleaning. Living in a tiny dorm can be sort of stressful, especially when it comes to cleaning. There’s not a lot of space, and you probably don’t have all the supplies you usually have at home. However, you absolutely cannot overlook cleaning your dorm room. It all builds up! To keep my room fresh and clean, I do a few different things, and I’ve divided them up by how often I do them! Plus, keep reading for your own PDF copy of a dorm printable so your chore chart is never far away! The printable is SO cute because I used art from angiemakes.com, so you’ll literally want to print it out just for decoration.
Daily Dorm Cleaning
Tidy up. This is simple. Just put away all the things you got out for that day. Straighten up your desk. Little things like this literally take just minutes, and will save you time in the long run! This bit of time every day minimizes stress in the long run.
Clean dishes. Food waste grows mold, so dishes definitely have to be cleaned every day. They get stinky and sticky and icky. Gotta rinse and wash whatever you use that day. I use dish soap and a sponge in the dorm kitchen, and then just leave things to air dry in my drying rack.
Weekly Dorm Cleaning
Sweep. At my college, I can check out a broom at the front desk, but my roommate also has a Swiffer. With two girls living there, hair gets everywhere, so sweeping once a week is simply a must! I recommend getting your own broom and dust pan.
Wash your laundry. From a fashion standpoint, I have to wash my clothes once a week to get my favorite jeans back to wear again. From a cleanliness standpoint, it’s pretty important to not leave dirty clothes sitting around forever. Plus, my room is small and they pile up, so I plan to wash my clothes every Friday!
Check your fridge. Food goes bad quick! I can’t tell you how often my food goes bad and I don’t even know because it’s pushed to the back! So, once a week, to totally clean your room, you have to check out your fridge! Maybe there’s nothing to throw out, but you should definitely check!
Wipe down surfaces. Bacteria, food, spills… all are sticking to your desk, fridge, door handles, light switches. Call me paranoid, but germs spread so quickly in confined spaces like dorms! A good Clorox wipe over everything keeps you and everyone else clean, and it lets you feel like the whole place is clean!
Take out trash. This one is pretty obvious, huh? The more often you take out your trash, the better!
Monthly Dorm Cleaning
Wash sheets. Honestly, you should probably wash your sheets every week but that definitely does not happen for me. My bed is lofted, so getting the sheets on and off that bed are literally a nightmare. I try to wash my pillowcases more frequently, but I don’t mess with taking my sheets off.
Clean windows. Wipe them down with Windex. Things collect over time, but they’re not really getting unsanitary, so once a month normally suffices.
Bonus Tips
Don’t do all the chores at once. Break it up so you’re not overwhelmed. Maybe do the laundry on Friday, the sweeping on Thursday, etc. Don’t put it off and overwhelm yourself!
Don’t do cleaning on the weekend. Leave your weekends for fun stuff! Do a bit every day during the week while you’re up and production. You’re not going to want to do cleaning during the weekend when you could be sleeping or relaxing!
Keep your room smelling fresh with a Febreeze car clip. This literally works so well. Put the clip over your vent or air conditioner and just bathe in the fresh scent.
Use a checklist to keep it all organized. And to help you out, I made a super cute reminder sheet that you can hang on your wall! Feel free to download it and use it!
What’s your least favorite thing to clean?
