By Beth Allard
Columnist
Ever watched the show “Buried Alive”?
For some sick reason, we flock around the television to observe the lives of hoarders, and the professionals that come in to help dig them out of their clutter-filled grave. I don’t know about you, but after watching that sort of hysteria for an hour, I’m ready to purge my room!
Three trash bags and a can of Pledge later, I feel a little less hoarder-like. And yet, somehow the laundry and wrappers and paper and books and mysterious-thing-in-the-bathroom-that-no-one-wants-to-touch keep coming back with a vengeance. Let’s face it: dirty, cluttered dorm rooms are not fun. When you have to crawl over piles of stuff to get to your desk, or spend an hour trying to find your bed at night, it kills the atmosphere.
If you’re one of those awesome (and slightly irritating) clean people, congratulations for having solved the mystery of housekeeping! I admire you greatly. If you’re like me, and can’t even spell orginzation organization, I’ve gathered a few tips for keeping your dorm room a healthy, restful, fun place to be this semester. Yes, you’ve heard all of these before; but we all can use a little refresher course once and awhile!
Admit you have a problem: Hello, I’m Beth, and I lied on my housing form. I’m not a neat person. Your turn!
Toss, recycle, donate: You won’t believe how much space you’ll have in your room once you take a trash bag to it. Put on some motivating music, and start pitching. Don’t look back. Items that don’t need thrown away, but you never use can go to Goodwill. Or your favorite Le Fer Living columnist.
Make your bed: This is a simple step that will really help. Not only will it look better, but then you have a nice, clean surface to lay stuff on as you organize.
Finding the floor: According to the room check-in sheet, you should have a floor in your dorm room. If you haven’t seen yours in awhile, it’s probably hiding under the laundry and the pizza box. Once you find it, run a Swiffer or mop over it. The Swiffer Wet Mop cloths work wonders on these wood floors, and come in a lot of great scents.
Reality check: Your room doesn’t have to be Martha Stewart perfect to be clean. If you’re like me (so sorry!) organized piles do way more for you than everything put away out of sight. If you prefer to have everything strewn on the floor… well, just think of the hoarders, and go back to step one.
Make a schedule: and keep it! If you have an open hour or two, determine to make that time to work on your room. After awhile, it will just become habit. The clean room feeling should be all the motivation you need. I started off last semester super-tidy, and ended it living in a pit. Don’t let your room go the way of your notebooks.
Love your Le Fer life, ladies!
Popularity: 8% [?]
