Student life can be hectic. Maintaining an apartment may seem impossible, yet we have easy solutions for keeping it clean and organized. From general tips for cleaning, organization, and maintenance advice, to specific solutions tailored specifically for different areas in an apartment, here are a few effective strategies you can use to keep your place looking its best.
Why Is Cleaning Difficult?
Take a good, hard look around your home. Are there any areas that are particularly disorganized or dirty? Often, student apartments become disorganized due to limited storage space and an inability to stay motivated. It's important that you understand why keeping the apartment clean may be so challenging for you.
Schedules Can Be Overwhelming
Student life can be filled with commitments such as classes, work, and social events, often leaving little time or energy left for cleaning and organizing your apartment. By understanding why it may be challenging to keep it clean in your apartment complex, solutions for streamlining cleaning processes may become clear.
Lack of Motivation
Sometimes a simple lack of motivation is all it takes for student apartments to become disorganized. To stay on top of it and keep your space tidy, set a weekly cleaning schedule—even 15 minutes each day can make a significant impact.
Tips for Apartment Cleaning and Organization
Start small. Incorporate basic cleaning tasks such as vacuuming and mopping the floors regularly, dusting shelves, discarding items that no longer belong, emptying your bins regularly to reduce any unpleasant odors, and keeping cleaning supplies accessible such as under the kitchen sink or in your hallway closet to manage everyday messes.
Develop a Cleaning Routine
Establish a weekly cleaning routine that works for you. Create specific days or times when you will do general cleaning such as vacuuming, dusting, and wiping surfaces down. This will make keeping your apartment in tip-top condition much simpler.
Start With a Deep Clean
It is best to begin your maintenance efforts with a deep clean. This involves moving furniture, decluttering every surface in the room, and giving everything an intensive deep-clean treatment. After this step is completed, maintaining general maintenance should become much simpler throughout the week.
Organization your Belongings
A home full of clutter makes staying on top of cleaning and organization difficult, making it challenging to stay on track with cleanliness. Take some time to weed through your belongings and determine whether they should stay, be donated, or be discarded. This will free up space in your apartment and make staying organized easier.
Storage Areas/Organizations Solutions
No matter how small your apartment, there are always solutions available to maximize storage and organization. Consider stackable drawers in closets to maximize space; getting creative by hanging plants from shelving units, using over-the-door organizers for shoes and accessories, installing wall hooks/shelves/rack systems outside bathroom doors or other areas, or creating storage space under furniture such as bed frames.
Maintenance Tips
It is vital that any problems in your apartment that require maintenance be taken care of quickly, such as plumbing issues, electrical issues, and pest control issues. This will help reduce further damage and avoid future messes and damages. Fixing these issues as soon as they appear will prevent more extensive damages in the future.
Declutter Regularly
Student apartments often become overflowed with clutter, from schoolbooks and clothes, food packaging, and random items that take up precious floor space. To prevent clutter build-up, take some time each week to sort through items and organize them in designated areas or donate any that no longer serve their purpose.
Organize Kitchen
Kitchens can quickly become disorganized. To keep it under control, designate specific areas for all of your cooking utensils, appliances, and food items. Also ensure there is ample shelving and storage containers so all items remain organized and accessible. Lastly, remember to wipe down surfaces regularly to prevent bad odors or messy clutter.
Establish a Laundry System
Laundry can be one of the most time-consuming tasks in any household—especially student apartments. To make this task faster and simpler, designate an area for all your laundry supplies (detergent, fabric softener) while using hampers or baskets to organize clothes into white, dark, and colored piles. For added electricity savings, be sure to utilize either an outdoor line drying rack or outdoor drying rack.
Minimizing Digital Clutter
It can be hard to keep up with all of the digital clutter that accumulates over time; emails, photos, word documents, etc. Make sure any unnecessary files or photos are deleted while organizing folders into specific areas for easier organization. Set reminders so you can back-up regularly.
Clean Bathroom Regularly
Maintaining a hygienic bathroom environment should come as second nature, but it's nonetheless crucial that it stays that way. Make an investment in some high quality cleaning supplies, and disinfect surfaces such as sinks and toilets every few days. Also remember to clean the shower/tub weekly.
Keep Up With Dusting
Dusting is often tedious, yet essential to keeping an apartment organized and free from dust build-up. Regular dusting with a microfiber cloth or fabric duster will help ensure dust particles don't settle back down on furniture, shelves, or other areas around your apartment. For optimal results, use a microfiber or fabric duster, as these are designed to capture dirt particles effectively.
Know When to Reach Out to Your Apartment Manager
If you have any issues or questions with your apartment, such as maintenance concerns, it's best to reach out to your apartment manager immediately. Doing this will ensure any issues are taken care of efficiently. Some common examples being leaky faucets, mold and mildew growth, pest infestation, and structural damage. Remember also to thank them for their assistance as this will go a long way toward cultivating good relations between yourself and them.
Living in a student apartment can be both exciting and daunting, requiring constant vigilance in order to maintain an organized living space. By being diligent with these tasks, your apartment will soon become something you're proud to call your own.
Get in touch with Sunrise Village for one of the friendliest campus-living residences in the area. Our team can help find the right apartment at affordable prices to provide you with care-free living in modern living spaces.