Here’s a thing with small spaces. They are often messy. No matter how hard you try or how often you clean up, you always end up in a messy room. Does this sound familiar? The reality for most students is that they don’t even have enough time on the weekend to do a proper washup.
But living in a dirty room can be stressful and counter-productive. When you’re dodging the task of cleaning up your room, it’s a slippery slope. Before you know it, you might find yourself scrambling to buy a term paper online. Why? Well, because when your space is a mess, keeping up with your schedule can feel like trying to catch a runaway train.
And if you share a room with someone, it can either be even dirtier because you’re both messy, or it can ruin your relationship if your roomie is a perfectionist and neat freak. So what can you do?
In this article, we will go over the reasons your room is the way it is and give you 3 tips on fixing it.
Why Is It Messy?
To understand how to approach the problem, first, you need to figure out the reasons for it to occur.
- Are you a creative person, and your brain just isn’t wired that way?
- Or are you a hoarder and think that you’ll need every item you find in a store or on the streets even?
- Do you simply not have enough time to clean?
- Maybe you don’t have a convenient system for storing your things, so they just end up on the floor.
- Do you just hate cleaning?
- Are you struggling with your mental health?
Some of these problems are easier to solve than others. For example, if you don’t have the time to clean but actually enjoy the process, address someone to write my paper for me and use all the time you saved on struggling with essay writing to clean.
Now, let’s go over the other reasons & how to deal with them.
You’re a Hoarder
Hoarding is an issue many people struggle with. Some people who have been raised in poverty with minimal amounts of stuff have trouble letting go of things. You’ve not a kid anymore, and you can afford all the toys that you want. But do you really need them?
You’re Too Creative
Some studies have proven that a messy desk can help stimulate ideas and flow of thought, while an empty one will only lead to blank page syndrome. If you recognize yourself in this statement, you might be a creative person.
You Hate Cleaning
This is common for people who have been forced to clean up a lot as children. When they grow up, they allow themselves to ignore that voice and finally live in as much of a mess as they desire. But that isn’t too healthy, is it?
Are You Depressed?
People who struggle with depression can’t get themselves to complete basic tasks like cleaning or brushing their teeth. If you feel that way, it’s detrimental that you address a mental health professional.
What Can You Do?
Whether you hate cleaning or don’t find it necessary, you need to keep some sort of order at least to have a decent relationship with your roommate and some space to complete your next school assignment. Once you can afford to live alone, you can make the biggest mess ever. But most students have to live in dorms or split the rent with other people. So how do you get yourself to clean?
15 Minutes a Day
Dedicating 15 minutes a day to cleaning up can make a big difference in the way your room looks. If you tend to make a huge mess during the day and never put things where they belong, start with cleaning them up every morning. If you are not as messy, just do small tasks daily, for example:
- Monday: dust the surfaces
- Tuesday: change bedsheets
- Wednesday: mop the floor
- Thursday: clean the kitchen (yes, the freezer too)
- Friday: clean the bathroom
- Saturday: laundry day
- Sunday: organize everything that is out of order.
This might look like an elaborate scheme all combined, but if you do it every day, it won’t be that much work. And after following that system a few weeks in a row, you might find that you dread cleaning less. We would recommend dealing with that in the morning or when you have the most energy. Play some music and see how fast you can get this task out of the way.
Purge Your Stuff
If whatever you do, your room ends up messy, you might just have too many things. Everyone is familiar with the Marie Kondo method. But it simply doesn’t work for some people. If you love all your stuff, all of it is likely to spark joy.
The best way is to start with removing duplicates. If you have two pairs of jeans in the same color or fit, consider keeping just one. Do the same with all your stuff. You don’t need a billion tupperware containers if your fridge is small. Out-of-season clothes don’t need to stay in your dorm – take all the extra stuff to your parents’ house or donate it.
You really need to be ruthless when you assess your things. If you haven’t used it during the past year, it needs to go. That top you bought but never wore? You never will, spot holding on to it.
Get a Proper Storage System
Your stuff might end up out of order because the order is inconvenient. If you find your papers scattered across the desk all the time, it might be because you don’t have a proper organization system for them. Try different orders for keeping your class materials:
- By topic
- By subject
- In alphabetical order
- In the same order as your classes
Use the space under your bed, or get bed-raisers if you don’t have any. Get expandable or insertable shelves for your cabinets and wardrobe to maximize the space. Hanging shelves can give you lots of space for shoes while keeping your floor clean. A bathroom shelf or caddy will keep all your products in one place instead of scattered across the floor. A rolling shelf in your fridge will help you utilize the space to the maximum.
Look up solutions for your apartment to maximize the efficiency of your space. There’s no such thing as not enough room, there’s room that’s improperly used.