How to Clean Your Dorm Room in Less Than 15 Minutes

So you are away at college with no parents around to tell you what to do anymore, and I am sure the last thing on your mind is cleaning your dorm room. I don't blame you. Who wants to worry about cleaning while you are out living the college life? I am sure nobody does, however, dorm rooms don't have the reputation of being the cleanest living quarters on the planet, so letting them get out of hand can not only become a health hazard for you, but also for your roommate as well. Cleaning your room isn't hard at all, and it can be accomplished in less than 15 minutes if you put your mind to it. I am going to show you how to do so, so you can have your room looking just as good as it did when you first moved in.

The first step to keeping your room clean is keeping everything organized. This will not only eliminate clutter, but it will prevent you from having to dig through all of your belongings to find something you need. Organization begins on move in day, since you can get yourself situated and fill up your room at the same time. Be sure to designate a hamper or bin just for dirty laundry, rather than throwing it all on the floor or in your closet. It will make things easier when it comes time to actually do your laundry, since you can just pick up your hamper and head off, rather than having to look under your bed for that missing pair of shorts. Also do the same for your trash, since having garbage or old food lying around your room is an invitation for bugs to come, and that isn't something you want.

Now that you are all organized, the actual cleaning process is quite easy. The first step is to tackle the floor. If you have a rug in your room, I recommend investing in a very small carpet sweeper, since it will really come in handy. You can keep it charging in the corner of your room, so it is out of your way and always ready to go when you need it. Just give it a quick pass over your rug and you will be surprised by the amount of dirt it will actually pick up. Constantly walking in and out of your room with your shoes on tracks in more than you could ever imagine, and if you have a dark colored rug, it is really going to show. Now if you have a tile floor, I recommend picking up a Swiffer mop, since they are inexpensive and come with both wet and dry cloths. The wet ones are the best for cleaning tile, since it will not only pick up the dirt, but it will also give your floor a nice glossy sheen. The dry ones are great for removing dust, and they will serve more uses than simply cleaning your floor, as I will explain shortly. Just as you would do with the carpet sweeper, run the Swiffer over your floor, and discard the used cloth in your trash can. Easy right?

So now that your floor is done, let's move onto the furniture and electronics. Dust is going to collect on things such as your desk, television, computer, and fridge, since electronic items seem to be dust magnets. Without regular cleaning, the dust is going to take over your room, and you will actually be breathing in some of those dust particles without even knowing it. Now here is where those Swiffer dry cloths come in handy. With your hand, just simply run them over the tops of your furniture and electronics, and kiss that dust goodbye. All it takes is a few minutes, and if you stay on top of it, you will find that it goes quicker each and every time you do it. When you are done, just dispose of the cloth as you did when you cleaned your floor. If you wanted to, you could use the same cloth for both the floor and furniture, depending on how much dust it actually picked up. After dusting, all you have left to do is take out the trash, and replace the old garbage bag with a new one. That's it, you're done!

Keep in mind, these steps will go very smoothly if you have the concept of organization down pat. If you don't keep everything organized and just throw your stuff all over your room, cleaning will become a nightmare. If you keep your clothes in your closet and not on your floor, it will make vacuuming easier because you will bypass the step of having to pick them all up and hang them. The same can be said for not letting your trashcan overflow with garbage. Don't let thousands of flies buzzing around the can be the indicator that it needs to be thrown out. By keeping your room neat and organized all the time, cleaning will be a breeze and it really will take you less than 15 minutes to do.