Home Maintenance Hacks for Students

By Brittany Hawes on November 15, 2017

It’s easy to let your home-space turn into a disaster area while school is in session. There’s homework to focus on, not to mention friends to see, new people to meet, and places you’re itching to go out and thoroughly explore.

The thought of cleaning can be a headache, especially if you’ve already let a mess build up over the semester. With Thanksgiving Break coming up fast for many of us students, now could be a great time to start getting organized and get your space looking neat and tidy.

Here are some home maintenance hacks for students that will keep you organized and feeling safe and less cluttered (which equals less stress) when you are at home.

Image via Pixabay.com

Set up a chore list

If you have roommates, it might be a good idea to discuss chore duties with them, especially if someone in your shared unit tends to be on the messy side and doesn’t clean up behind themselves. Sit down with your roommate or roommates and ask if they’d like to set up a chore list.

A chore list is a list of all the household duties that should be performed daily and/or weekly.

Some typical household chores are as follows:

•Sweeping

•Dusting

•Mopping

•Vacuuming

•Cleaning counters

•Doing the dishes

•Cleaning the bathroom (if shared)

•Watering plants

•Taking out the trash

•Straightening up shared areas

•Cleaning the windows

This way, one person isn’t doing all of the cleaning and the duties that need to be done to keep your house in good condition can be split up. This leaves more time for homework and hanging out. You’ll also eliminate the chance of having a disgruntled roommate who might have been the only one cleaning up.

Wash dishes immediately after use

Another home maintenance hack (albeit a simple one) is washing the dishes! Washing the dishes immediately after you use them will stop any smells from building up in the sink. If it’s cookware that you know everyone in the house uses, cleaning it after you use it will save your roommate from having to clean it.

Set up a schedule for yourself

Get yourself a nice planner and start keeping track of when you have free time during the week. Choose a time when you have a break and use it to clean up your room, your bathroom, and anything else that you know needs to be cleaned. Having a clean house will help you relax more.

Clean up after yourself

Make sure you clean up after yourself, for your sake and your roommates’ sakes! It may seem like you don’t have any time to put away that book or clean out your cat’s litter box, but remind yourself to make time. If you do this, you won’t have to worry about letting those messes pile up into a giant behemoth of a mess.

Throw out old food every week or so

Nothing’s worse than opening the fridge and having your nose bombarded by the horrible stench of rotten food. The worst part is that you have no idea what could be causing the smell so you have to sort through container after container until you find the smelly culprit. Save yourself some trouble and keep tabs on which of your food is nearing its expiration date or which leftovers have been stored in the fridge for over a week. Toss out expired food and keep your fridge smelling great.

Get organized

Do you have clothes, books, games, magazines, and other random items strewn across your desk and bed because you “don’t have anywhere else to put them”? Instead of having your room look like the set of Twister or like Godzilla just went on a rampage in there, invest in some organizing units. Bookshelves, wall shelves, cubbies, and cubicle shelving units, dressers, and folders are just some of the organizational items that you can purchase to make your home look less chaotic.

Stay organized

Once you get your area organized, keep it organized. It can seem easy for things to start being moved around and fall out of place, but keep a close eye on yourself. If you find yourself falling into your old ways of messiness, stop and get organized again.

Image via Pixabay.com

Ask your landlord for help

If there’s a problem that you and your roommates can’t fix, call your landlord and see what they can do. I had a landlord that changed out our air filters every month for us and sprayed for bugs on a monthly basis as well. If you’ve noticed bugs or another big issue, contact your landlord and see what they will do to help.

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