Our Top Simple Cleaning Tips for New Students

Making the move from home life to student accommodation can mean juggling a lot of new pressures. You need to manage lectures, deadlines, making friends, and even doing your own food shop! With all that going on, cleaning might not be at the top of your priorities. Here’s the honest truth though, a clean and well organised living space can make a big difference to how you feel and how well you can study.

Thankfully, with the help of a few simple cleaning tips, you can keep both your room and your sanity in check during your time as a student. There’s no need to become a domestic master overnight; however, everyone prefers to be around someone clean.

Why a Tidy Space Makes Life Easier

Keeping things neat and tidy should already be a familiar thing for anyone heading to university, and for good reason. Studies have proven that cluttered or dirty working spaces make it harder to concentrate. Too much mess competes for you brain’s attention, which is the last thing you need when you’ve got a deadline approaching.

There’s also the case of hygiene, and let’s just say it’s better to handle a kitchen mess straight away. There’s nothing worse than coming back from a long day with a mountain of washing up waiting for you, that could have attracted pests and caused bad smells.

A few basic cleaning habits can prevent everything from mouldy bathroom walls to major fallouts with your flatmates.

For a closer look at why being clean is good for you, this short guide from the Food Standards Agency explains it all.

What You Need in Your Cleaning Kit

Forget cupboards full of random chemicals and sprays. Most student rooms can be cleaned using a small selection of must have cleaning supplies that are readily available in supermarkets:

• Multi-purpose cleaner or vinegar and water mix
• Washing up liquid
• A pack of microfibre cloths
• Toilet cleaner and brush
• Bicarbonate of soda (it’s great for absorbing bad smells)
• Strong black bin bags

Keep all of these things in one place to prevent spillages. You might even encourage your friends to help out if you place it in a communal area.

Resets, Not Deep Cleans

Instead of having to save all of your cleaning work for one horrible day in the future, try breaking it down into manageable tasks that you can do regularly. Spend just 10 minutes a day doing a quick reset of your room, kitchen, and bathroom.

Put on some music, set a timer, and see how much you can get done in a short timeframe.

Some of the easiest things you can get done are:

• Cleaning your desk so it’s ready for tomorrow.
• Wiping kitchen surfaces after cooking.
• Throwing dirty clothes into the laundry basket, not the floor.
• Emptying the bins in your shared areas to prevent them smelling and overflowing.

A small amount of work every day stops the mess from taking over. It can also make your whole life feel more calm and under control.

Break the Week into Simple Cleaning Goals

Cleaning feels easier when it’s part of your routine. A small weekly structure can help you stay on the right track when life gets busier.

Here’s an example of what that could look like:

Monday: Organise your desk and study space

Tuesday: Fully wipe down the kitchen and empty the fridge of old food

Wednesday: Clean the bathroom

Thursday: Sweep or vacuum your room

Friday: Change your bedsheets and do the laundry

You should have more time on your hands at the weekend, and while it isn’t an exciting plan; cleaning is a necessary part of adult life.

Everyday Mess and How to Handle It

Life in student housing comes with plenty of new cleaning challenges for some, particularly if you’re an international student that isn’t familiar with British cleaning supplies.

Microwave looking like a crime scene?

Place a bowl of water with lemon slices inside and heat it for two minutes. The steam helps loosen any residue on the side of the microwave so that you can simply wipe it away.

Smelly Bins?

Firstly, make sure it’s emptied and wiped down with disinfectant. Then, consider putting an air freshener nearby to limit bad smells.

Bathroom slowly coming to life?

Make sure to keep the space ventilated by using an extractor fan or opening any windows. You could also use disposable dehumidifiers to help reduce the risk of mould.

Spilled food on yourself? 

It happens to the best of us. Dab it with washing up liquid and cold water immediately, then stick it in the washing machine.

Share the Load

Living in a shared accommodation means that you all have the responsibility to keep it looking its best. It might feel awkward to start with, but making sure your messier flatmates pull their weight with the cleaning early on will save any fallings out down the line.

Consider creating a rota that rotates each person’s cleaning job on a weekly basis. This way nobody is stuck on toilet cleaning duties all term.

Cleaning together can actually help foster a sense of community and pride in where you live. You’ll feel even better when you visit a friend who’s doing all the work themselves.

More Student Life Tips

Maintaining a clean living space is just one part of making your uni lifestyle simpler. From budgeting to days out, there’s plenty to discover as a student.

Check out more tips for student life and make the most of every moment.

Start Small and Consistent

You’re never going to be perfect when it comes to cleaning. They’ll almost always be a new job that pops up somewhere. What really matters is staying on top of things, so that the small messes don’t become monumental tasks to sort out.

Start with the smallest of jobs and work your way up to the most challenging. Then, your mission is to stay on top of things.

At Homes for Students, almost all of our student properties comes with onsite laundry services as standard. So, you’ll have clean clothes and bedding at all times.