Deep Dorm Room Cleaning Tips

After the stress of finals, the last thing you want to do is clean your dorm room. Yet, most colleges require you to do a deep clean and move out within a few days. If you’re not a neatnik, this may be daunting. Here are a few tips to make move-out this May as easy as possible.

1. Keep Your Dorm Clean Throughout the Year

You know what’s more disgusting than having to clean a shared shower? Having to clean a shared shower caked in nine months’ worth of grime!
It’s impossible to keep your dorm spotless, especially if you’re juggling classes, homework, a job, volunteering and a social life. However, a hectic life is much more manageable with a cleaning routine. Instead of sacrificing your entire weekend to chores, schedule tiny cleaning tasks throughout the week. Maybe you vacuum every Thursday after your last afternoon class or wipe down the countertops Monday during your weirdly long lunch break that isn’t quite long enough for a nap. Make your schedule work for you.

By maintaining a general level of cleanliness throughout the year, it will be much easier and quicker to clean come move-out time.

2. Start Decluttering Early

This goes hand in hand with the previous tip. Even if your dorm room is on the small side, you may have amassed more stuff than you realize over the course of the year. For example, you may still have an ungodly amount of ill-fitting unisex t-shirts from welcome week taking up closet space. If they’re too scratchy to wear to bed, get rid of them. Same goes for your old textbooks. You’ll never open them again, and you’re better off selling them while you still have the most recent editions or gifting them to a friend.

3. Do the Damage Checklist and Walkthrough

At the beginning of the school year, you were probably asked to inspect your dorm and list any damages. Hopefully, you rated your dorm harshly because this is what colleges use to determine if you’ve damaged your room at the end of the year.

If you have the option to do a move-out walk through with a resident assistant or staff member, take that opportunity. It is easier to dispute potential charges when you’re with them than once you’re back home with your parents or in another dorm or apartment.

4. Don’t Forget the Baseboards

If you were given move-out instructions, pay close attention to them. Your college really can (and will) penalize you for scuffed baseboards and dusty blinds. As a general rule, leave your dorm in better condition than when you arrived. Use parents’ weekend cleanliness as your barometer. Make sure to nab leftover food and cleaning supplies on move-out day.

5. Cut Corners, But Not Too Many

In some situations, you just won’t have enough time or money to get your dorm up to snuff. If you’re in a pinch, focus on the areas that need the most attention. If you can’t do anything about that massive hole in the wall, cut your losses, focus your attention elsewhere and don’t forget that you can always rearrange your furniture to cover up some of your more regrettable mistakes. Use store-brand cleaning products or cheap alternatives like vinegar, baking soda and bleach instead of the go-to name brands. Disinfecting wipes and Mr. Clean Magic Erasers or similar sponges are your best friends if you have less than an hour to clean.

Whatever you do, don’t use White-Out to paint over patches in the walls or permanent marker to fill in gouges in your furniture. It seems like a good idea when you’re running on less than three hours of sleep, but seriously – don’t do it. Check at the front desk to see if they have extra paint, or, worst-case scenario, do a paint match at your local hardware store.

6. Sell or Donate Your Stuff

You may be planning to upgrade your furniture or TV when you move into your next place. Or maybe your parents aren’t too keen on turning their garage or basement into a rent-free storage facility. Either way, instead of hoarding unusable stuff, start selling or donating it now to save time and energy later.

Garbage Pickup in Western New York

During move-out week, your school’s dumpsters will be overflowing and people will be rushing to and fro trying to ditch their stuff. gotTRASH? can make moving out less stressful with our residential cleanout and dumpster services. We can remove the big stuff the average college can’t handle, like furniture, electronics and appliances, and our trucks and dumpsters are large enough to accommodate shared dorms, apartments and frat and sorority houses. Call or text us at (716) 800-2000, or contact us online today to schedule service.