Every home needs a good dusting off after the dark and the cold of winter, especially a student apartment. There was Thanksgiving Break, winter finals, Winter Break, and then the chaos of a new semester. The chaos of the start of your last semester, if you’re graduating. Then there’s the aftermath of the winter shut down most of us go through – blankets everywhere, dishes piled up, dust in the corners, and a total lack of organization.
So let’s take a Saturday and get into some spring cleaning. Reward yourself with a night out on Court Street later, if you need motivation. But for now, start thinking about how you’re going to get your apartment back on track. You’re killing two birds with one stone, really – if your lease ends in May, as many do, you’re prepping for move out early; when it finally does come, your student rental will already be most of the way there, as far as cleaning.
Here are some tips to help you unclutter your off-campus OU home, and your mind in the process. Tidy home, tidy mind, as they say.
But nobody knows who “they” is…
Anyway, go grab some trash bags, paper towels and cleaning supplies; it’s gonna be a day.
1. Go through your clothes. Haven’t worn something in a year or more? Get rid of it. Donate it to UpCycle thrift store while you’re at it!
2. Go through all your school stuff. Notebooks, folders and papers from classes that are over can go. Have a rental with a yard and a fire pit? Burn that stuff! Otherwise, just recycle it. That’s less fun, though.
3. Choose a room to start with, like the kitchen or the bathroom. Take everything out of the cabinets and off the floor, then get to cleaning. Floorboards, trim, walls, counters, inside and outside of cabinets. It’s easy and efficient to do the actual cleaning part when the room is empty.
4. As you do this process room by room, take a look at all the things you’re removing. Don’t recognize an item or haven’t used it in forever? Throw it in the bag of clothes you’re getting rid of. The more clutter you can get rid of, the less you’ll have to put back after you clean, and the less you’ll have to pack when you’re apartment lease is up.
5. Wash everything fabric in the house. The clothes that were on the floor, bedding, throw blankets. Vaccuum the couch and under the cushions, and maybe febreeze everything a little bit if you’re finding your apartment’s still feeling a little musty.
6. At this point, things probably look much worse than they did before, but this part, while it’ll take the longest, will be the most satisfying. It’s time to put things back! Go buy some extra bins and baskets to keep things better organized, and separate items by type and use. That way, when you put things up, they look nice, neat and tucked away, and it’s easy for you to find anything you need from here on out.
7. Breathe in that fresh, spacious vibe of a newly-deep-cleaned apartment, crack open a beer, kick back on the couch, and binge your favorite comfort show.
Have we given you some cleaning inspo yet? Go ahead; get started! Or just make some ramen noodles and watch Marie Kondo on Netflix. No one’s going to check.