The Ultimate Dorm Cleaning Schedule

Best Dorm Cleaning Schedule

Looking for an easy dorm cleaning schedule you can follow?

My freshman roommate and I always kept our dorm room looking spotless. While I don’t actually love cleaning itself (who does?!) I do love to be in a clean space. So I made time for regular cleaning.

Luckily, keeping your dorm clean doesn’t have to be a chore.

Most dorm rooms are tiny, which makes them a lot easier to clean!

Here is the daily, weekly, and monthly dorm cleaning schedule I followed to keep my dorm room super neat and clean:

>> CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE PRINTABLE CLEANING SCHEDULE. <<

Daily

There are only three daily dorm cleaning tasks that I did and they seriously took me five minutes or less every day to complete!

1. Make your bed

The first thing I do EVERY morning is make my bed. This is such a good habit to develop if you don’t do it already. Having a nicely made bed makes your whole room look so much neater and only takes a minute.

2. Clear off surfaces

If you just take a few extra seconds to put something away when you’re done with it, you won’t have to worry about surfaces like your desk, nightstand, or dresser piling up with clutter.

This includes makeup, hair stuff, school supplies, or anything else you might take out. Put it back in its place when you’re done with it!

3. Keep the floor clear

Along similar lines as above, don’t throw anything on the floor and leave it there. This includes clothing, shoes, and anything else.

Instead of tossing it on the floor, put your dirty clothing into your hamper and put your shoes away where they belong.

Note: I’m a big fan of this hanging shoe organizer.

Weekly

These are the weekly dorm cleaning tasks I tried to do every week. Picking a specific time (ex. Wednesday nights or Sunday mornings) to do your weekly cleaning really helps you stay consistent.

All of this should take no more than 30 minutes or so, plus the time it takes you to do laundry. (You can do the rest of these tasks while your clothes are drying!)

1. Do laundry

Depending on how much clothing and towels you have, laundry might be a bi-weekly task rather than a weekly one. Either way, set aside one day every week or two weeks to do your laundry.

If you can get into a routine with this, it will make it a lot easier and you won’t be scrambling to find clean clothes to wear because you put off doing laundry.

2. Wipe down surfaces

Once a week, you should wipe down all surfaces in your dorm room using either Clorox wipes or all purpose cleaner.

Surfaces to wipe down are your desk, nightstand, dresser, doorknobs/handles, windowsills, light switches, etc.

3. Vacuum and/or sweep

If you have carpet floors or a rug, vacuum them every week!

I had carpet floors, so I only used a vacuum. However, if you have hardwood or tile floors, you will also want to sweep or Swiffer them every week.

You’ll be amazed (and disgusted) by how quickly dirt, hair, dust, and other gross stuff gather on your floors. Keep ’em clean!

This handheld vacuum cleaner is the perfect size for small dorm rooms.

4. Clean up any clutter

For any clutter that has built up throughout the week, clear it out!

This could be little things like your desk getting messy with a bunch of papers, random junk on your nightstand, etc.

5. Take out the trash

This could be a weekly or more frequent cleaning task depending on how quickly you fill up the trashcan in your dorm room.

My roommate and I each had a small trashcan by the door in our dorm room. However, I tried to throw most of my trash away in the hall kitchen trashcan to avoid having to take out my own trash as much!

Doing this made me only have to take out my trash once a week.

Monthly

Finally, here are the monthly dorm cleanings tasks that you should do. Again, this should take about thirty minutes a month (plus time to do laundry.)

1. Wash your sheets

Okay, I think you’re technically supposed to wash your sheets more than once a month, but who actually has time for that??

I made it a rule to only get into my bed once I had showered and was wearing pajamas, which I think kept my sheets a lot cleaner.

Anyway, washing your sheets and pillowcases at least once a month is a good idea. Doing it more frequently never hurts either!

2. Clean mirrors/windows

It’s amazing the difference this can make! Nothing bugs me more than looking into a dirty mirror, and it’s such a quick fix.

Get some Windex or all purpose cleaner and wipe down your mirrors and windows once a month to get them sparkling again.

3. Clear out your fridge

If you have a mini fridge in your dorm room, clean out anything that might be hiding at the back well past its expiration date.

While you’re at it, make sure any dry snacks you have stored in your dorm room are organized and there’s nothing past its expiration date.

4. Organize your room

Take some time each month to do a deep organization of everything in your dorm room that might have gotten disorganized.

This can include organizing your closet, drawers, desk, stuff you have stored under your bed, or anything else where things might have gotten messy.

And that’s it! Simplest dorm cleaning schedule EVER.

Best Dorm Cleaning Products

I covered this more in depth in my post about the dorm cleaning supplies every college student needs but here’s a quick overview of the cleaning products I recommend everyone has on hand in their dorm room:

For more ideas about dorm room living, you may be interested in the following: