19 Dorm Cleaning Hacks So Good, You’ll Actually Want to Clean
Want to know how to spend less time and energy cleaning your dorm? Here are 19 genius dorm cleaning hacks that college students swear by.
Keeping your dorm clean is a lot harder than you think. Between friends and people coming over all of the time, and just living your everyday life, it can get messy pretty quickly. Don’t say I didn’t warn you! 😉
Not to worry, this post is going to give you the best dorm cleaning hacks, so you can keep your dorm sparkly clean 24/7 without much effort!
Even though your dorm is small, there’s still quite a few things you’re going to need to keep up with to make sure it not only looks clean, but FEELS clean as well. There’s nothing worse living in a dorm where you can feel the mess and dirt just piling up.
But with these dorm cleaning hacks, you won’t have to! We’re bringing back to the basics so you can have the cleanest dorm on campus. I promise, it’s really not that hard!
You’re going to find out about the best dorm cleaning hacks from cleaning hacks for dorm rooms, college dorm cleaning hacks, dorm room cleaning hacks, and more.
Here are the dorm cleaning hacks that are super easy to follow and will help you maintain a clean dorm all-year round without putting in too much work.
The last thing a college student wants to do after a long day of classes is spend an hour cleaning their dorms. Luckily, these dorm cleaning hacks solve that problem for you!
Best Dorm Cleaning Hacks:
General Dorm Cleaning Hacks
1. Make a Mini Cleaning Caddy – You don’t have to include a lot of items in your cleaning caddy. But having a couple of cleaning essentials in one spot that you can easily grab will make your life so much easier!
You can just use an extra bin or basket that you have on hand for your cleaning supplies and tuck it away in your closet. You can also get a second shower caddy and use it for your cleaning supplies. That way, whenever you want to do a quick clean of your dorm, everything is easily accessible and in one spot.
2. Use Dryer Sheets to Dust – In a college dorm, you don’t have a lot of space, so anything that can have multiple purposes is a win! Dryer sheets actually make for really good dusters and will leave surfaces with a good shine and prevent dust from forming as quickly.
This is one cleaning hack that isn’t just good for the dorms, but also your future apartment and house. It’s so convenient and works so well, you’ll never stop using this one!
3. Disinfect with Rubbing Alcohol + Water Spray – It’s super easy to make your own disinfectant with ingredients you probably have lying around your dorm. If you have a first aid kit, it probably has rubbing alcohol in it that you can use for this DIY.
Take some water and mix it with rubbing alcohol and put it in a spray bottle and you just made your own disinfectant that you can spray on fabrics and around the dorm to get rid of germs and lingering odor!
4. Clean in Zones – Most dorms aren’t too big, but breaking up whatever you have to clean into smaller sections and tasks always makes it feel more doable and less overwhelming.
So if you know you’re someone who isn’t going to want to spend an hour on the weekends doing a deep clean of your dorm, break it up over the week. Clean your bedding one day, laundry another, clean surfaces on a different day, etc.
If you spread it out over an entire week, it’s a little easier to manage and you won’t have to block out as much time on the weekends.
This is honestly just a preference thing, but if breaking it up over multiple days is going to help you stay consistent and actually keep your dorm clean, it’s worth it!
5. Use an Air Purifier – Air purifiers are such a slept-on essential for the dorms. It’s not just for people who have allergies, although it is helpful. The dorms can get super stuffy and gathers dust quite easily, so an air purifier does help you breathe better, but it also helps your dorm be less dusty by circulating clean air.
Especially if you aren’t able to open a window to get some fresh air in the room, an air purifier is seriously something to consider.
This is the air purifier I bought for my dorm, and it was easily one of my favorite purchases! It’s not super big and bulky, which is important in the dorms. But it also helps you feel like you’re not just living in a stale box lol.
Bed + Bedding Hacks
6. Vacuum Your Mattress Weekly – When you change and wash your sheets (ideally every week), just take a few extra seconds to go in with your handheld vacuum and vacuum the actual mattress.
Don’t ask me how dust manages to get under there, but it does. This is an extra step that will only take a few seconds, but is worth it!
7. Spray Linen Spray Between Washes – Linen spray will keep your bed and bedding smelling fresh when you don’t have the time to wash your bedding. College can get super busy, and sometimes the last thing you want to do is wash your bedding. So linen spray will be your best friend to keep it smelling clean without actually having to wash your bedding.
This is not me telling you not to wash your sheets! You definitely still need to be washing your sheets regularly, this just helps in a pinch. If you want to make this yourself, mix water, witch hazel, and a few drops of essential oil. It smells so good!
8. Use a Lint Roller on Pillows + Bedding – A linen roller is super helpful for picking up those hairs and crumbs that get on your pillows and bedding.
Late night snacks in bed are great, but it can definitely get messy! A lint roller is your best bet for making sure your bedding is clean. You should do this once every couple of days, especially if you eat in your dorm bed.
Laundry + Closet Tips
9. Mesh Laundry Bags for Socks, Underwear, and Masks – One thing no one talks about enough in college is how helpful mesh bags are for laundry! When you’re sharing a laundry room with a bunch of other people, it will make your life, and everybody else’s life so much easier if you use mesh bags with your delicates.
As annoying as it is, people will move your clothes from the washer and dryers if you don’t come get them right away. So mesh bags help to keep all of your clothes together and keeps you from losing socks, underwear, and other small items.
It’s also a lot easier to sort your laundry when socks and underwear are in their own separate bags.
10. Wipe Down Inside of Hamper Monthly – This is something a lot of people forget to do! When you’re in college, you’re probably using your clothes for clean and dirty clothes. Taking your clothes back from the laundry room, you need something to put them in and your laundry bag is the easiest way to carry everything.
But since you’re using your laundry bag for clean and dirty clothes, it’s good to give it a good wipe down every once in a while. If you have a fabric laundry bag, you can even throw it into the washer for a good clean.
11. Hang Dryer Sheets in Your Closet – Dryer sheets are such an easy way to make your clothes and dorm smell fresh, even when you know it’s not. 😉 To keep your clothes smelling fresh in between washes, put a dryer sheet in each of your drawers and in your closet to give your clothes that clean laundry smell.
Mirror, Desk, & Electronics Cleaning Hacks
12. Use Coffee Filters to Wipe Mirrors & Screens – Coffee filters surprisingly make for super convenient cleaning agents. Wipe down any glass or clear surface with coffee filters for s streak-free clean.
There’s not a whole lot you can use on windows and glass besides an actual glass cleaner that won’t smudge them up. Even glass cleaners sometimes can look streaky. Coffee filter’s won’t let you down!
13. DIY Electronics Cleaner – Mix 1 part distilled water + 1 part isopropyl alcohol. Lightly dampen a cloth (never spray directly) to clean screens and keyboards.
I will say, I just ordered a pack of alcohol pads off of Amazon and they worked great! It’s also super cheap – you get a pack of 400 for only $6. Talk about the perfect hack for broke college students haha.
They’re individually wrapped so they don’t dry out, and once a week you can use a pad to clean all of your screens and electronics and get rid of the bacteria.
14. Use a Toothbrush for Crevices – A toothbrush is a great cleaning tool for those harder to reach places where you can’t quite fit a regular cleaning tool or even a paper towel. Use an old toothbrush that you no longer use, stick it in your cleaning caddy, and use it to get in those tight spots!
Sink and Shower Cleaning Hacks
These really only apply if you have a dorm suite and have your own bathroom that you share with a couple of other people. But if you have a communal bathroom, it will get cleaned for you, so you don’t have to worry about this.
15. Keep Dish Soap in the Shower – Dish soap works well as a shower cleaner if you don’t want to buy a separate cleaner for the shower.
Plan on cleaning your shower when you are actually showering (makes the job so much easier) and use some dish soap to clean the shower walls and ground. The dorm showers are never going to look perfect, but at least you’ll know they’re actually clean.
16. Use Retainer Tabs to Clean the Sink – I didn’t have a retainer, but I still bought some retainer cleaning tabs off of Amazon (and still use this hack to this day) because it’s so darn convenient to just fill your sink with water, throw a tab in there, let it sit for a few minutes, and rinse out your sink.
No need to put a lot of elbow grease into cleaning your sink with this one.
Bonus Cleaning Hacks
17. Stick Baking Soda in a Cup in the Closet or Fridge – Baking soda is one of the best items you can use for odor, and it’s super cost-effective.
Just open a box of baking soda, stick it in your fridge, or wherever smells in your dorm, and the odor will disappear. It seriously works like magic! There’s no need to buy deodorizers with this hack on hand.
18. Use Essential Oil on a Cotton Ball in Your Trash Can – Essential oil is such a great natural way to make your dorm smell fresh and clean.
Choose an essential oil like lavender (that you won’t get tired of) and use it to make your dorm smell better! It’s also not overpowering like a lot of room fragrances.
19. Keep a Mini Broom & Dustpan in the Room – A mini broom and dustpan set is great to have in your dorm! Keep it close by so whenever you see some crumbs on the floor, or spill anything, just send a few seconds cleaning it up.
It’s so much easier to clean up crumbs and what not as you see them rather than letting the mess build up.
This post was all about the best dorm cleaning hacks every college student needs to know.
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