Clean a Very Messy Room
If your room looks as if an elephant has clambered through it, your door fails to open, your bed has huge piles of clothing underneath, and your closet is stuffed with junk, you'll be finding it impossible to get enough living space. Cleaning up a really messy room requires determination and a methodical approach to picking up all the pieces. Rest assured––it's totally doable, you just need to get started!
Contents
Steps
Getting started
- Get motivated! Don't just look at your room and sulk, that won't get it clean. Think of how wonderful it would be waking up and walking through your clean room or finding your item that you need in a snap of a finger!
- What's so messy about it? Look for the big things first. Realizing what makes your room messy in the first place is a very good start because it helps to cleaning it right. Now you got the main things out, you are ready to start cleaning.
Dealing with piles
- Put your dirty clothes where they belong. You're probably left with a lot of clothing, toys, etc. You didn't really do much but clear out the hardest parts. Take your dirty clothing off the floor and put them in a container, or, if you have one, a laundry basket. Take your clean clothing and pile them up somewhere else. Also, don't just leave your dirty clothes in the hamper, make sure they actually get washed! If you have any empty clothes hangers laying around, put them into your closet.
- Put up your toys. If you are still young, and reading this guide and have toys, then take your toys and think. Do you want them anymore? Are they in good enough shape to donate? Put your toys into 3 piles: Toys to keep in your room, toys to throw out, and toys to donate. Now keep your piles out of your room and away for now. Again, we will go back to that later.
- Put up the dishes. A common thing in messy rooms are dirty dishes. You probably have glasses laying around with a little sour milk still on the bottom, and plates with sauce all over them. Go to the "Tips" Section if you have ants, roaches, or any insect in your room. Anyway, take your dishes down and wash them or put them in the dishwasher. Make sure you do it well, and remember to put them back in the cabinet for the next family member or guest to use. Take a sponge and wipe away any glass marks (from not using a coaster) or spills from food and drink. Good! You got the grossest part of cleaning your room done. Now down to the next step.
- Pick up any crafty stuff. If you never do crafts, skip this step. Crafty stuff includes paper, stationery (pens, pencils, scissors, rulers), and things you'd use for creative hobbies. If you're a really crafty person, buy some drawers specifically for craft materials.
Dusting
- Take all your books and dust them. Make sure you get rid of any "Dog-ears" (folds in the corners of the page) and put them in a bookcase or shelf. If you don't have one, put them to the side for later (where you put your toys and clothing).
- If you want your room to look really tidy, then rearrange your books from smallest to largest, alphabetically, etc.
- If you have a television set, use a paper towel or cloth to wipe the dust off the screen. Do the same for the rest of the television. Keep the remote somewhere where you'll remember.
Putting things away
- Put the clothing away in your drawers. Do this neatly! Then take the toys you put aside and arrange them in your room as you'd like. Keep the donating toy pile for tomorrow, unless you did this early in the day. The books can stay until you have a place to put them.
- Hang up your clothes. A full laundry basket can be an eyesore to your goal to clean your room.
- Organize your shoes and make sure they are clean and fresh.
- Close your closet and/or drawer doors. If they don't shut, rearrange as necessary.
Tidying shelves
- Organize anything on your shelves into piles. For example: important papers go to one side, art supplies may go to another, accessories in another, and then trash obviously goes into the trash.
- Dust and wipe down your shelves with cleaning wipes. Let it air dry, or wipe it down with a clean rag or paper towel.
- Put back the items in the piles that you cleared off back onto the shelves.
Fixing the pet's living space
- If you have any animals, clean their cage/tank. You should be doing this at least weekly, for the sake of the pet's health.
- If you have fish, make sure the water is clean. If it isn't, read How to Clean a Fish Tank. Once it's clean, feed them. Make sure they are healthy.
- If you have bird(s),take them out for a little. Take out their newspapers from the bottom (Or sand if you use that) and throw them out and replace them. if your cage still smells, take your sponge again and wipe the cage inside and out. Put any bird toys back in and place your birds in, with it. Now you have a clean bird cage!
- If you have a reptile, (Iguana, Turtle, Snake, etc.) clean any feces out. If you have a turtle, then follow How to Clean a Turtle Tank.
- You may even have a rabbit. Follow this article in that case: How to Clean a Rabbit Cage.
Finishing up
- Clean your bed. If you were following the steps outlined, there shouldn't be much on your bed. Read How to Make Your Bed.
- Tidy the curtains or blinds. If you have Venetian blinds, dust them. If curtains are dirty, wash them.
- Pick up anything else left over after the big cleanup. Empty the garbage bin and take out trash bags. Then if you want, you can spray air freshener in the room to make it fresh.
- Reward yourself. Sit back, relax, and praise yourself for the work you've done. Remember to keep your room as clean as possible for as long as possible, because you don't want to do it all over again!
Tips
- Just start right as soon as possible. The sooner you clean your room, the sooner you can get back to your fun activities.
- Spray some air freshener, or put some incense, or plug in fragrance to make your room smell its best.
- Try cleaning your room once a week or more so it won't get super dirty again!
- Use Clorox wipes to wipe down your dresser, book self, or a side table by your bed.
- Control pests. Ants and roaches are a problem. Some people are afraid of them, and they will eat your food. If they are in your room, consider getting them out before they get to your kitchen pantry and snack on some cereal. Get an insect killer spray.
- Don't look at your messages on your phone. If you are using your phone for music, lock it! Your phone is the biggest distraction.
- Try not to mess up your room again after you clean it.
- Listen to music while tidying or cleaning your room ( listen to music that gets you moving )
- Any windows? Take window cleaner and wipe them down. For window sills, take a washcloth an dampen it then wipe them down also.
- Split your room into sections and work on one section at a time until it's all clean.
- Make sure you have a donation pile and a trash pile!
- If you have so many bags, hang them up by size or colour.
- When cleaning if you have a pile of trash left, take the big pieces of trash out first.
- Don't stuff things into drawers. Arrange them and put them away neatly.
- Put some music on while you clean. While you listen to it, divide the room into sections and clean each of them one by one to make it seem less daunting.
- Put stuff in piles, then organize it.
- Replace all the different sized coat hangers with all the same-sized slim ones. You'll be amazed how much more hanging space you'll get.
- Once you're done, make a chart with two sides for every day; clean or not clean. At the end of the week, if the clean side won, relax on the weekend. If not, give yourself a small punishment.
- Listen to music to get you in the mood. Also, divide your room into sections so it doesn't seem so hard to clean!
Warnings
- Be careful with hot water and chemicals, especially if younger children are around.
- Keep the lights on! You may trip!
- Don't shock yourself when cleaning the TV.
Things You'll Need
- Sponge
- Soapy water
- Broom
- Vacuum cleaner or a mop
- Window cleaner (commercial, warm ammonia water or cool vinegar water)
- Clothes hamper
- Storage cabinets, shelves and bookshelves (optional)
- Trash bags
- Music
- Fabric freshener/fragrance
- Garbage can
