Hey Dummy! 7 Tips for Cleaning your Room

Since I moved into my new space, I seem a bit burdened with the pile of junk that I have managed to accumulate. I also feel dread looking at the pile of junk that the previous occupants of the space has left behind.

Hmmm, if I were to base it from other people's accounts of their experiences with the house, it would seem that the place has already become a jungle. Just imagine, a slender slimy snake crawling right on the door post! Who wouldn't be wary of pulling out box upon box of things?! Ngrrrh! It makes me cringe just thinking of the probability of pulling out a heap of clothes and finding a snake staring at you. Ugh!

Anyway, just to help out others on what to do, here's what I know (this is my method, so feel free to make up your own...continue reading below.)

# 1: Start from the highest level from the floor.
I start from the cabinets, shelves, or storage areas that's farthest from the floor. This way, we get as much dust as we can falling from the highest point of the room down to the floor - which means, we lessen the possibility of being redundant in sweeping the floor again (or mopping) due to dust from the high cabinets or shelves.

#2: Go through every thing.
I mean everything. Every thing that you have pushed into boxes, containers, folders, drawers, etc. Why? So you can look into all your junk and start an argument with yourself whether you are willing to get rid of them now than later. This would most likely cut your junk pile into half. Trust me.

#3: Dust 'em off.
Get rid of the dust that has accumulated on top of shelves, in between cracks, on books, on your lamps, etc, etc, etc. Use a damp towel so that the dust won't come flying off everything. If you have a static-powered duster, then better.
**Dust off your lamps and lights. A clean lamp conserves more electricity than a dirty and dusty one.

#4: Re-arrange.
Uhuh. Re-arrange. By re-arranging, you also dig up things that may have been waiting for you to find them for a long while. You can also filter out more junk by re-arranging things. Also, if you find out a more space-saving way to arrange your things and make the room look more spacious and cozy, then that's plus points for you.

#5: Organize.
Easy to say, right? Yeah, kinda. I also have a weakness for this since I'm not a neat freak and I'm more used to sometimes pushing things into containers and bins without even trying to arrange them. Well, since we've tried arranging already, then let's just slowly and orderly put them into boxes, storage bins, cans, shelves, whatever, just to organize everything.
** A cool way to cut down clutter is to label your storage bins or containers, especially if they're not transparent, and you won't easily be able to see inside if you're looking for that long lost pen holder you think you have put away after Christmas morning. You can either attach lists with some description of how the items look, or you can take pictures if the items with your cellphone, resize the pictures so they all fit into one sheet pf paper and print it out and stick it on the box or storage bin!

#6: Change.
Since you have arranged and rearranged everything, why not go a step further? Change your sheets, pillowcases, curtains, rugs, everything that the dust may have stuck into while you were cleaning up. Turns the "dirty" odor way down the scale. Gives a refreshing look and feel to the room, and a nice scent if you use something for your clothes and sheets like a fabric conditioner and the like.

#7: Sanitize.
I don't mean you spray or bathe everything with a disinfectant or alcohol or sanitizer - although that may be a good idea in the long run. What I meant was that, in one way or another, figure out how you can integrate sanitation - like mixing a little disinfectant solution with the water you're going to clean the floor or shelves with to exterminate the germs that has evolved there in the nooks and crannies of your room. Also, this gets rid of the dungeon-like odor from all the dust and humidity.