‘Tis the season for spring cleaning and finishing strong this semester! Warmer weather and sunshine are here and it’s the perfect time to clean out your closet and say goodbye to that pile of stuff you thought you would use (and never did).
Here are some spring cleaning tips to help freshen up your space and prepare for moving out at the end of the semester.
Clean your space in sections
Whether you live in a dorm, apartment or house, cleaning can be quite a task. Breaking your space up into sections allows you to devote time to each area while also preventing you from becoming overwhelmed.
It can also help to start with your messier and more time-consuming areas to finish those first and work your way down to simpler tasks. It’s important to prevent burnout when you’re diving into spring cleaning and prioritizing messes makes it a lot easier.
When in doubt, toss or donate it
I know we all have those items that we bring to school “just in case.” Whether it’s a stack of sweatshirts, books you’ll never read or a collection of coffee mugs you’ll never use, it’s pointless to keep those items around if you’re not regularly using them.
One rule that’s helped me minimize my many collections is, if you haven’t used it within the past two months, take it home, donate it or throw it out. We have limited living space and there’s no need to keep useless items around just because you might use them once in a semester.
Sometimes you even need to take a page out of professional organizer Marie Kondo and “discard everything that doesn’t spark joy” to help minimize your clutter.
“Through the process of selecting only those things that inspire joy, you can identify precisely what you love – and what you need,” according to Kondo’s six rules of tidying.
Make a cleaning schedule
This tip is more suited for Type A personalities, but making a schedule and planning out your cleaning ahead of time can help hold you accountable. Something I’ve adopted into my weekly routine is resetting my space on Sundays so I’m ready to start the week on the right foot and have a clean space to wake up to on Monday.
This tip can be as simple as making a list of the spaces you want to clean and dedicating a certain day of the week to each space, or it can be more rigorous depending on your schedule and motivation. Either way, planning and holding yourself accountable is key in making the most of spring cleaning in preparation for the rest of the year.
Buy new organizers
Going to Target and buying fancy organizers for your skincare products or closet can add up very quickly, so being strategic with your shopping is extremely important. It always motivates me when I have a container or cute basket to put my possessions in because it designates a space for those items, while also making the space look more organized. If you’re on a budget, Walmart and Dollar Tree have great options for pantry and closet organization and can help bring your space together.
While I realize constant cleaning and organizing isn’t for everyone, spring cleaning is great for anyone who needs to freshen up their space or finally have an excuse to rip their room apart and put it back together. A clean space leads to a clear mind and it’s a lot easier to focus on school and other aspects of our lives when we don’t have to worry about coming home to a gigantic mess.