“After we clean, it feels so much better,” she said.

Here’s a few tips and tricks for keeping your dorm room or apartment clean.

Set up a cleaning schedule early

One of the first things you should do upon moving into your new dorm or apartment is set up a cleaning schedule. This is probably the most important part of keeping your new home clean.

Putting a schedule in writing designating who will keep what clean and when will make sure no one forgets their duties and will make is easier for everyone to do chores. Mircobiology junior Chris Woelk lives with three other guys and said that they don’t have a cleaning schedule, and it tends to cause problems.

He said that if the others are gone and he washes the dishes or cleans the bathroom, they aren’t aware that he did it and get upset with him for not helping out.

“Maintaining the cleanliness of the common space is most important,” he said, mentioning that in apartments like his, everyone can clean their room as often or as little as they like, but there should be a cleaning schedule for rooms like the living room, kitchen and bathroom that everyone shares.

Interdisciplinary studies in social science senior Elizabeth Kurkowski said she used to clean every Tuesday and Thursday, the days when she had more time after classes. She said that her room was spotless last year and it was an effective way to keep things clean.

Take responsibility for your messes

Keeping things neat and clean as you use them will lessen the workload when cleaning day comes. Just because Saturday is your day to vacuum the floors doesn’t mean you should leave a spill on the carpet until then.

It’s good to have a designated “cleaning day” for cleaning the bathroom and your room, but cleaning as you use the room is much more effective.

Putting things back after you use them and having a set place for everything (always put the remote on top of the TV when you’re done, for instance) will lessen the chance of items getting lost and will keep your room neat and clutter free.

Media arts and technology sophomore Lisa Longlois said the responsibility needed to keep your room clean comes with living on your own. Longlois said that she and her roommates try to keep things neat and do things like cleaning dishes right after a meal to keep their room as clean as possible.

“You kind of look at a mess and go ‘ew’ and you want to take care of it,” Longlois said.

History senior Megan Hamilton said the best way to keep things clean is to find the right time to clean and to find motivation to do it. She said that having people over or her parents visiting gives her a good reason to clean. She added cleaning is a good break from studying, and she finds that that is the best way to get it done.

Besides breaking up a block of studying and being a little more fun because it is active compared to just reading or writing, she said it is nicer to study in a clean room.