College cleaning tips

I somehow seem to spend the most time in the smallest, most cramped places. In my current living situation (back in my parents' house post-college), I have roughly 2/3 of my apartment's contents in an 11x 14 space. This includes my desk, queen-size bed, bookcase, dresser, several large storage bins, and a craft table. Yikes! So despite me not being a particularly messy person, piles accumulate.

Also, as hot as it's been in my area (yesterday it was 110 out, I wish I was exaggerating), I've been indoors when I'm home, hiding from triple-digit temperatures in air conditioning. So again, things are piling up.

Here's a bunch of tips I have learned about how to make a messy room (or entire apartment) look presentable in under 1 hour:

1. Make the bed first. Not only is this going to make roughly 1/4 the room look nice right off the bat, but it gives you a surface to put other things on while you clean.

2. Put all the clothes away. Trust me, unless you're super Type-A there's clothes laying around. Fold/hang up the clean stuff, and put the dirty stuff in its proper place.

3. Throw away all trash. Tissues, plastic cups from various stores, receipts, outdated post it notes, tiny fabric scraps, etc. Also, take this trash to the trashcan. Don't leave the bag sitting around the room.

4. Put things in their correct spots, or if you're in a time crunch stack things pleasingly. Textbooks can be gathered and stacked in one pile. Fabrics and papers can be folded and stacked.

5. If there's time left, dust/vaccuum, Febreeze, etc.

And voila! Passingly cleaned living quarters in under an hour!