Spring cleaning around the house means opening those windows wide, breaking out the vacuum, and doing a healthy dose of dusting. But what about if you’re living in a dorm at college? Is spring cleaning still necessary there? Yes! In truth, you can get by with never cleaning your dorm room … but you’ve seen what that looks like. Since dorm rooms are small, take a holistic approach to spring cleaning; think beyond merely your living space, as there’s plenty more to be kept clean!
1. Dust-Free Dorms
Since dorm rooms aren’t large, they attract and hold in a lot of dust, enough to make you sneeze if you pop your head under your bed. We don’t have to explain how to dust, but to keep items dust-free, store them under your bed in zippered storage containers. When dust accumulates, it won’t coat any blankets, extra clothes or other items kept sealed.
2. Laundry Time
No one likes doing laundry in college. When you finally get around to washing your sheets and bedding, and not just clothes, well, let’s just say if it’s second semester and you still haven’t washed them, now’s the time! Most comforters for college are machine washable, but if you have a down comforter, it is most likely not machine washable. If you’re unsure, just check out the tag for washing instructions. Non-down comforters are filled with polyester, typically (even if their exteriors are cotton), and are generally machine washable.
3. Spring’s Scents
Now that you’ve worked on your room, what else is in need of cleaning? How about the water you drink? The communal bathroom tap doesn’t provide the best-tasting water, and buying bottles of water can get expensive. So if you haven’t started using a filtered water pitcher yet, make a healthy change this spring. Drinking filtered water is a huge money-saver, as it beats buying water or less healthy sodas, anyway.
4. Keep Yourself Clean
Hopefully you didn’t forget to shower while hibernating during this long winter, and since spring has sprung, it’s the perfect time to reinvigorate. A shower in the morning will help wake you up, and you can bring a new boost to your daily routine by adding a fresh, springtime scent to your shower with a new soap or body wash.
5. Weighty Workload
If you’ve been putting off organizing your school stuff, don’t delay. All those papers and folders from first semester are only clutter now. So clean out your binders and rid your drawers of last semester’s syllabi and homework assignments. You don’t have much storage space in your dorm room to begin with, so any no-longer-needed textbooks and school supplies should be cleared to make way for the new. And if you’re still carrying around a notebook or some papers in your backpack from last semester, shed the extra weight! Now that the weather’s nicer, don’t let a heavy backpack lug you down on your springtime walk to class.
Written by Keith Gillogly, for DormCo.com. Connect with DormCo on their Facebook page, Pinterest and Tumblr.
> Looking for more tips and tricks for your dorm? Check out these great articles:
• 4 ways to keep organized for college life
• Give your dorm room a makeover
