Closet Cleaning

I am one month away from being halfway through grad school. It's a really good feeling! However it hasn't left much room for much else, between commuting, work, and all my endless research papers. This problem is being resolved this summer- I'm moving to new digs much closer to campus in a few months.

This means going through all my stuff before I move, since I will no longer be allowed to use my parents' house as a storage unit. One major problem area that I have deliberately ignored through five years of college is this:

The fleshy thing you see on the right of the photo is my arm. I had to hang onto the doorway with one arm to get far enough back into the closet to get that shot. My closet is the toxic dumping ground for everyones' stuff, especially my things no one wanted to deal with, plus it is long and narrow.

Instead of working on my final papers for the semester, I cleaned all that and organized all my clothes. First was going through everything- even leaving out the things that were in okay enough condition for Goodwill, I still threw away six trashbags' worth of pure garbage.

One quick trip to Walmart later and I netted this cute shelf liner (lucked out- this was the only non-boring/ugly/bland one they had).

I put my clothes back in, added in my hanging fruit basket full of gloves and winter wear,shoe rack, and BAM! A very nice looking closet for the few more months I have it.

And then with what was left of my closet possessions fitting onto one shelf, I was able to move some things into my closet that I previously couldn't.

The best part is that I still have half the roll of that shelf liner. I may line my dresser drawers with it, it's so cheerful and fresh.

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!