How I find the time to clean as a busy student

We’ve all been there. Rushing in from a busy day, excited to relax in bed watching your favourite show until you fall asleep. But you open the door to a reminder that you haven’t cleaned your room in a while, seeing clothes littered on the bed and clutter over your desk.

Not having the energy to address it, you dump the clothes elsewhere and crawl into bed. The problem is, the cycle never ends! Carry on reading to find out how I fit cleaning into my lifestyle as a busy student.

The ‘Sweepy’ app

Sweepy is a cleaning scheduling app that helps people organise and clean their space, by setting tasks to the different rooms. I have mine set as ‘flat bedroom’, ‘home bedroom’, ‘flat bathroom’ and ‘flat kitchen’. Inside these ‘rooms’ you can add recurring or one-time tasks, using either their default task options or adding your own to fit your personal needs.

You then decide the frequency you need to complete each task, like wiping surfaces every seven days. The app shows you the average level of cleanliness of each room, depending on when you last completed each chore. I find this super helpful, as when I see it is getting a bit low, I just check which task I need to complete. Instead of doing a big deep clean that takes all day, I can clean the things that need tending to more regularly and avoid a really dirty space before it accumulates.

Organise your stuff

Organising your stuff into storage boxes is a fantastic way to avoid clutter piling up, and means you can actually find what you are looking for. Plus, you only have to do it once - and then it’s just a case of resisting the urge to kick things under the bed going forward.

I use cheap storage boxes from Poundland or B&M, or cardboard boxes that may be lying around. I then use sticky notes to label them so I know where to find what I need without too much rummaging. This works in a similar way with desk organisation - using binders for paper and university work, and nice-looking containers and trays for makeup, stationery and books.

Make it a morning chore

I have found the best way to tackle motivation problems when it comes to cleaning and tidying is to try not to leave it until the end of the day when you’re tired and burnt out. This may be difficult if you’re not a morning person, but even setting aside just five minutes when you wake up to make sure everything is in its place can have a profound effect on your mood and stress levels. I find it gives me the mental clarity to go into my day in a positive way, and it’s great knowing that you don’t have to come home to chores.

Strike while the iron is hot

If you have a sudden burst of motivation, tap into it and get as much done as possible before you change your mind! Often, once you start a task you will then feel motivated to complete other tasks and you won’t want to leave them unfinished. This is especially helpful if you suffer from lack of motivation or find yourself with free time but struggle to use it productively. Even if it only lasts five minutes, you’ll be surprised what you can get done. A little goes a long way.

Stick on some music, or your favourite show

If you make it that little bit less boring, a task won’t seem so monstrous. If you’re cleaning or organising while getting your daily fix of Netflix, you’re killing two birds with one stone. You may even get more done if your concentration is on something more exciting.

Cleaning hacks to make your life easier

You don’t have to be as useless as I was. Take heed of my mistakes and listen to the lessons I learned. Here are some of the best cleaning hacks I picked up along the way.

Clean up after yourself as you go

I really don’t want to sound like your mum and dad here, but this little gem of information will save you a whole lot of pain. Wash up your pans and clean the kitchen surfaces after you’ve eaten. It will only take five minutes, but it means the grime doesn’t build up and set in.

Once it’s festered for a few days, it’s tough enough to muster up the enthusiasm to actually start cleaning, let alone scrub away because the grime has set in. Quick wins like wiping down your shower or clearing up any spillages will also save you time and effort in the long run.

Clean the fridge

Fridges can get seriously smelly. Especially when someone has left a bag of carrots in the drawer for about three months. Having a regular clean out will help stop the fridge from becoming a biological hazard.

Take all of your food out (bin anything out of date) and remove the drawers. Then sprinkle bicarbonate of soda onto the surfaces you want to clean, before using half a lemon to scrub away at the surfaces. Wash it all down with warm water and, voila, you’re done!

Bring a burnt pan back to life

Burning a meal on the hob is a depressing experience. Not only have you ruined your dinner, but you’ve also just created a whole lot of work for yourself because of a burnt pan. Get clever about how you clean, however, and it doesn’t have to be the end of the world.

Bring some water to the boil in the pan (make sure the pan has cooled down before adding cold water), add a fabric conditioner sheet (or a tablespoon of the liquid conditioner) and then leave it to soak overnight. In the morning it should wash off easily enough.

Tackle foul smells from the bin

Put some newspaper and a couple of scented tumble dryer sheets into the bottom of your bin (underneath the bag). They’ll soak up any moisture and absorb bad smells. Oh, and emptying the bin regularly will also help.

Clean the microwave

I never thought I’d be excited about cleaning. Until now. Did you know you can clean a microwave with just a lemon and some water? Amazing, right?

First fill a microwaveable bowl with 150ml of water, then slice a lemon in half and squeeze the juice out into the bowl. Drop the lemon halves into the water, pop it all into the microwave and zap it for a few minutes. Once it’s finished, leave it to stand for another five minutes, open it up and wipe everything down with a damp cloth. Hey presto, you’re done!

Clean your shower head

Shower spraying off in every direction but the one you want it to? Yeah, it’s probably time you cleaned the shower head. There’s no need to invest in expensive cleaning products.

Simply take a small food bag, fill it with an equal mix of water and white vinegar and then wrap it around the shower head using an elastic band, string or hair band to secure it. Take it off after half an hour and wipe it off. Voila!

Use a toothbrush to get rid of mould and damp in the shower

Most showers tend to end up with a mould or damp issue at some point in their lives. You’ll know because you’ll see discolouration or black spots on the grout between tiles and the white sealant at the edges.

Bathroom cleaner and a sponge won’t usually cut it on this type of grime. Instead, scrub at it with an old toothbrush and a whitening toothpaste. If it hasn’t quite done the job, dip your old toothbrush into bleach and scrub away (remember to wear gloves and cover your face). Leave it for a few hours and then rinse off.

So there you have it. These tips would have saved me money and a world of pain, so I hope you benefit from them. At the very least they should save you some time.