18 Must-Use Dorm Room Cleaning Tips That Will Make Cleaning Less Miserable
These dorm room cleaning tips will help you get the perfect dorm cleaning routine to keep your space tidy all the time!
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Cleaning a dorm room feels like something I just never want to do. I have the worst allergies and need to keep my room clean to avoid dust, and yet I still feel like it’s always dirty.
These dorm room cleaning tips have been the best way I’ve been able to actually keep my dorm clean all the time.
This post is all about dorm room cleaning tips!
To keep your dorm room as clean as possible throughout the semester, you are going to want to create two cleaning routines for yourself. The first is a deep clean, and the second is a small, weekly clean.
Dorm room cleaning supplies
Regardless of which cleaning routine you are using, you’re going to need some basic cleaning supplies. This post goes through absolutely every cleaning supply you will need to survive in the dorms: 11 Cleaning Supplies For College To Whip Your Space Into Shape!
Here’s everything you’ll need:
- vacuum
- Clorox wipes
- paper towels
- scented trash bags
- air freshener
- duster
- magic eraser
These cleaning supplies will cover just a dorm room. If you also have a bathroom, living room, or kitchen you are responsible for cleaning, you will definitely need some other products as well.
Dorm room weekly cleaning
These are the bare bones, basic cleaning steps you should do every week in your dorm room. This is nothing crazy and definitely manageable to do each week as a college student.
I like adding this routine to my weekend reset. That way, I go into each week with a cleaned and refreshed space.
Step 1: do your laundry
If you do your cleaning on the weekend, sometimes it’s a little tough to find open laundry machines, but try to start your laundry at the beginning of your cleaning routine.
This makes things so much easier because by the time you’re done cleaning, you’re laundry will be ready to switch or almost done.
When you are getting your laundry together, make sure to look around your room and grab anything that didn’t end up in your laundry hamper.
Step 2: make your bed
If you aren’t washing your sheets this week, once your laundry is in, make your bed. This will already start off your cleaning routine strong and make your room look a lot more put together.
I would recommend washing your sheets every 2-4 weeks. Trust me, as a college student, I get that washing your sheets is a production and a half and just annoying. I definitely was on the further end of the 2-4 week scale. But, try to wash them at least once a month so they are clean.
The feeling of having clean clothes, clean sheets, and a clean room is seriously amazing and so worth the effort of washing everything.
Step 3: wash dishes and water bottles
Go around your room and gather all the dishes you can find. Now’s the time to wash absolutely everything that needs washing.
Don’t forget about your water bottles. As college students, these things never get washed enough (oops). So, washing it at least once a week will definitely help keep you on a routine.
When everything is washed, dry them all and put them away! You definitely don’t want to wash it all and then just leave it out to make more mess.
Step 4: put away clutter
This is the catch-all stage for everything left around the room that isn’t in the right place.
- Gather all the trash and put it all in a trash bag
- Put away any clothes that have been left out around the room
- Make sure all your shoes are away
- Put away any other random items
After you finish this stage, your dorm room should look almost perfectly clean. At this point, there really shouldn’t be anything left out that isn’t supposed to be there.
Step 5: take out the trash
Now that the room is looking a lot cleaner, time to take out the trash. I cannot tell you how many times I’ve done a weekly clean, tied up a trash bag, and then left it in the corner of my room for another week until I got around to taking it to the trash room.
Once you close up the bag, take it out right away so you aren’t making the same mistakes that I always do. Trust me, you will thank yourself later.
Step 6: Vacuum
You’re almost done cleaning, I promise!
The last thing you want to do really quickly is vacuum the floor. This will literally take you less than five minutes, and it will make such a big difference. This is the final touch to your perfectly cleaned room.
And you’re clean!
Your laundry is most likely almost done, so you can fold that and reward yourself with a sweat treat for cleaning so well.
Dorm room deep cleaning
For the most part, that weekly cleaning routine will be all you need for your dorm room throughout the semester. However, there are some cases when you are going to want to deep clean your room.
The routine is pretty similar but has a couple of added steps.
When to deep clean?
You don’t need to deep clean all the time. The weekly system should be perfect 9 times out of 10. However, you will definitely want to do more of a deep clean during certain times of the year.
- Move-in day: Give your room a deeper clean before moving in so you know the space is clean.
- Before big breaks: Nothing is worse than getting back from break and realizing you left your room a mess
- After big breaks: If you clean before, you won’t have a crazy amount to do after a break. However, dusting is always super important after big breaks when you haven’t been in your room for a while.
steps 1-4 from your weekly clean
Your deep clean will start the exact same way as your weekly clean. Get your laundry started, make your bed (if you’re not washing your sheets), wash your dishes/water bottles, and put away any other clutter.
dust everything
This might be the most important step in your dorm room deep cleaning routine. Dorm rooms get so damn dusty all the time. It is genuinely insane how quickly dust will accumulate.
Go around the entire room and dust absolutely everything. Here are some common places that have the most dust:
- lamps
- fake plants
- picture frames
- window blinds
- decorations
- top of desk hutch or bookshelf
Go through and dust whatever surfaces you can.
wipe down all the surfaces
Once all these steps are completed, you’ll want to use those Clorox wipes or a multi-purpose spray to wipe down all your surfaces. This includes your dresser, night table, desk, and any other open spaces you have in your dorm.
Try to pick up anything on these surfaces and wipe underneath. This will help collect all that dust you just found all over the place.
steps 5-6 from your weekly clean
Once your entire room is dusted and wiped down, you are going to finish your deep clean with the last two steps of the weekly clean. Take out the trash, including the individual duster and wipes you used, and vacuum the floor.
And you’re officially deep-cleaned! This routine is not too much more than your regular weekly routine, but it will definitely help to keep your room nice and clean.
This post was all about dorm room cleaning tips!
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