Want to clean your bedroom fast? Follow these time-saving steps.
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By Marla Christiansen, Real Simple
Your bedroom is supposed to be a peaceful haven dedicated to relaxing at the end of the day. But, in most cases, our rooms are quickly reduced to a storage area where piles of clothing and a hodgepodge of household items have overstayed their welcome. If you haven’t cleaned your room in a while, you may not know where to begin. Learning how to clean your room quickly will help you break this daunting chore down into more manageable tasks and keep you prepared for any last-minute guests. Here’s how to clean your room in 30 minutes flat.
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Your bedroom is supposed to be a peaceful haven dedicated to relaxing at the end of the day. But, in most cases, our rooms are quickly reduced to a storage area where piles of clothing and a hodgepodge of household items have overstayed their welcome. If you haven’t cleaned your room in a while, you may not know where to begin. Learning how to clean your room quickly will help you break this daunting chore down into more manageable tasks and keep you prepared for any last-minute guests. Here’s how to clean your room in 30 minutes flat.
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3 Minutes: Assemble Your Cleaning Supplies
Take a moment to grab everything you’ll need to get the job done. A few key items you should gather are a basket, a bag or box, a hamper, a trash can, two cloths, and a vacuum cleaner or broom. Having everything at hand will keep you on track and prevent you from losing precious cleaning time as you scavenge for supplies.
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5 Minutes: Collect Your Clothes
Probably the biggest offender in a messy room are the clothes stacked high on chairs and strewn across the floor. Begin by grabbing all dirty clothes and placing them in the hamper. Skip sorting clothes or unrolling socks—you can take care of that when it's laundry time.
Next, pick up any clean clothing. If there isn’t a significant amount, consider quickly folding or hanging the remaining items. Otherwise, make a stack of like items (shirts, pants, sweaters, and so on) and lay them flat upon one another. Fold each pile of items as you would normally, but into a bundle. Place these bundles of clothing neatly into a basket to be properly folded and put away when you have more time.
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Next, pick up any clean clothing. If there isn’t a significant amount, consider quickly folding or hanging the remaining items. Otherwise, make a stack of like items (shirts, pants, sweaters, and so on) and lay them flat upon one another. Fold each pile of items as you would normally, but into a bundle. Place these bundles of clothing neatly into a basket to be properly folded and put away when you have more time.
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3 Minutes: Toss the Trash
While you should probably sort through your stack of old magazines and birthday cards at some point, now’s not the time. We’re looking for obvious garbage, stuff that can be dumped into the trash without hesitation. This includes anything perishable, like food, packaging, wrappers, or crumbled tissues. Toss all of this into the trash can, then empty the can. Also make sure to run any lingering dishes or cups you find straight to the kitchen sink.
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5 Minutes: Make the Bed
Your bed is probably the biggest thing in your room, so making it will immediately deliver an impression of tidiness. Pull up the sheets, straighten the bedspread, and fold any blankets. This one simple task will instantly make the room look much more inviting.
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1 Minute: Stash Anything Personal
Our bedroom is our personal oasis, which also means that it’s overflowing with personal items. If you're quickly cleaning your room before guests arrive, do a sweep of your room to make sure you haven’t left behind anything you wouldn’t want a guest to find.
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5 Minutes: Edit Your Surfaces
If it's been a while since the last time you cleaned, you probably have collected a smattering of items that don’t belong in your room. Do a quick scan of the surfaces, including the top of the dresser and bedside tables. If it will only take a minute to restore everything to its proper place, do it now. Otherwise, tuck everything into a box and place it out of sight, to be sorted later on. Paring down the surfaces will not only make your room look neater, but it will also make your next task much easier.
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3 Minutes: Dust the Surfaces
Armed with two cloths, one damp with water and the other dry, begin wiping everything down. The wet cloth will keep dust from flying into the air only to land on some other unsuspecting surface. Use the dry cloth to wipe away moisture and pick up any little trails of dust left behind.
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5 Minutes: Sweep or Vacuum the Floor
Depending upon if you have wood floors or carpeting, quickly sweep or vacuum the entire floor, paying attention to the areas that are most visible, rather than trying to reach every nook and cranny under the bed. Put away your cleaning supplies, and voila—you cleaned your bedroom in 30 minutes.
Remember the basket of clean clothes you set aside? And the container of “stuff” tucked into your closet? Make sure to attend to these items when you have some spare time. Putting everything back where it belongs will keep things from piling up and spilling over. Plus, it will give you a serious advantage the next time you speed-clean your room.
Remember the basket of clean clothes you set aside? And the container of “stuff” tucked into your closet? Make sure to attend to these items when you have some spare time. Putting everything back where it belongs will keep things from piling up and spilling over. Plus, it will give you a serious advantage the next time you speed-clean your room.
