Cleaning your room can sometimes feel like an overwhelming task — piles of clothes, the clutter of trinkets and books you’ll “eventually read,” a nightstand that accidentally turned into yet another junk drawer — but it doesn’t have to be a struggle if you break the job down into sections and tackle it piece by piece, instead of thinking of it as a gigantic, single task. Here’s how to clean your room and why it’s definitely worth your time.
Making a Better Place to Sleep
We have plenty of distractions that keep us from getting decent sleep in the modern world. Can’t muster up the energy to clean your bedroom just for the heck of it? Consider how it might positively affect your sleep, and how much a decent night of sleep can improve your day-to-day life. If you’re going to clean your room for any reason, it might as well be that your life will improve, right?
1. Declutter Your Room, Declutter Your Mind
When you declutter your room, you effectively declutter your active brain, which is constantly balancing your to-do lists, hopes & dreams, work stresses, life stresses… the list is endless. When you try to go to bed in a cluttered room, you’re faced with a physical reminder that your things are chaotic or unorganized.
2. Get Your Sheets Together
We know, everybody hates to do their bedding laundry — it’s a pain in the butt to take the comforter cover off and nobody likes the struggle of stretching a tight bottom sheet over the mattress — but it’s important! When you sleep, your body is regenerating, which means you’re shedding old skin, body oils, and saliva, not to mention any dirt that’s on your body or fluids from… well, using your bed. Clean your sheets and you’ll feel more refreshed when you wake up.
3. Air Quality Control
The air quality in your bedroom matters. If you’re not breathing comfortably while you sleep, you’re susceptible to increased snoring, a sore throat, and other breathing-related issues. Dust mites, allergens, pet dander, mold, pollen… it’s all around you, but it doesn’t have to be!
4. A Better Start to the Day
When you wake up in a clean, decluttered room, you wake up in an environment that promotes relaxation instead of stress — it’s that simple. If the first thing you see in the morning is a pleasant environment, you can ride that feeling the whole dang day!
How to Clean Your Room
Now that we know why we want a clean room, let’s take a look at this imposing mess of stuff and tackle it one part at a time! Compartmentalize each task — you can even write ‘em down and check off each box as you go. It’ll feel great and you’ll be incentivized by your own progress.
1. Put on Music or a Podcast
Anything to energize you! If you’re going to dive into this job, why do it in silence? Pump up the Lizzo to get your body moving or settle into your favorite podcast so you can get caught up on world events or movie recaps to keep you company. Learning how to clean your room doesn’t have to be punishment!
2. Bedding First
First things first — if you have dirty sheets on your bed (ie. If you haven’t washed the sheets in the past 2-4 weeks) take everything off the bed and get it in the laundry machine. Take all the pillows and your comforter out of your room while you clean, they’ll just be unwanted clutter until the laundry’s done. You can also put your pillows in your dryer on a no-heat setting to let them fluff up for a while while the dryer filters all the dust and dandruff.
3. Laundry Organization
Now that you’ve got that first load running, it’s time to organize the laundry. Get a laundry basket (or even just a paper bag) and fill it with everything that could use a wash. If something is clean, put it away — hang up your button-ups and neatly fold all the stuff that’ll go into a drawer. It’s already looking much better, huh?
4. A Home for Everything
Are you familiar with the phrase mise en place? It’s a French kitchen term that suggests that everything not only should have a designated place, but that you should always return things to that place. When you tidy up, don’t get distracted by perfection, just get everything to where it should be — books on the bookshelf, pens in a pen cup — and you can always KonMari the heck outta your things later. Not sure where something goes? Make an “out of place” box for now and sort through it when you have time.
5. Trash & Junk
Do you have a trash can in your room full of old tissues and candy wrappers? Or things that take up space that should live in another room? Dirty plates or bowls? Get all that stuff out of here!
6. Dust the Dander
Now it’s time for the real type of cleaning — start from the highest surface and work your way down so you don’t just get everything dirty again as you clean. Get a microfiber (or lightly damp paper towel) and defeat that dust! The top of a high shelf, window blinds, ceiling fan blades, all the way down to the bed frame. Use a non-abrasive cleaner for your furniture after you dust to give everything a sheen.
7. Vacuum & Mop
When all the surfaces above it are clean, it’s time to take it to the mat — vacuum and, if you have hardwoods, mop. You’d be surprised by how much dust/dirt accumulates on moulding and in the corners of the room. Don’t forget to get the dust bunnies under the bed! You’re almost there… there’s one extra (optional) step that you’ll thank yourself for later.
8. Buy Yourself a Plant
Houseplants are more than just a splash of color, they can reduce indoor air pollutants and help you feel less stressed — and we like the sound of that! One easy-to-care-for plant can go a long way. Start with the humble but beautiful pothos plant, they’re practically unkillable.
A Cleaner, Brighter Future
So that’s it! It’s easy to clean your room once you break it down into a handful of smaller, more manageable tasks. Sometimes it’ll feel like a chore, sometimes it’ll be a breeze, but no matter what, learning how to clean your room will help you to feel more relaxed in your bedroom, improve your sleep quality, and maybe, just maybe, inspire you to freshen up the rest of the house. Who knows, it could be fun!
