Student Apartments - Tips for Keeping Things Clean

Student apartments, or temporary apartments, can reach scary levels of gross. If you're currently studying and living in a temporary apartment, follow our tips to learn how to manage home cleaning.

As adults, we enjoy coming back to a clean, orderly home. But as a college student in a shared living space, values might be a little different. Today, we want to tackle student apartments and keeping them clean.

Whether you’re the student or someone you know is, you probably know that sometimes there’s no other choice but to share an apartment. Everyone has their own way of living; some people are tidy, while others are not.

The differences can lead to confrontations. Sharing a home isn’t easy, especially if there are several housemates. But everyone can come to an agreement by talking and establishing house rules from day one.

Get to know your housemates

Students often travel to a new city for the first time and rent an apartment room. More often than not, students move into places with strangers. As a consequence, getting to know the new roommates personally is extremely important.

• Keep communication fluid from the start and try to create conversation and learning about their personal life to understand their family, social and personal context.
• There’s a fine line between students who have already shared apartments before and those who are first-timers. The latter group often still hang on to their family habits and don’t know how sharing an apartment exactly works yet.
• The key to building healthy relationships is creating a positive atmosphere that is tranquil, team-based and free of clashes.

Establishing cleaning rules in student apartments

When you first start living with other housemates, you need to agree upon a clear set of house rules.

More likely than not, you’ll have a housemate that doesn’t understand the need for cleaning rules in the beginning. If that’s the case, you have to show them why having a clean home is important. Understanding the importance comes with maturity; take the time to help them understand.

To set the rules, call a house meeting and try finding an agreement between everyone. Make sure you emphasize the idea of compromise. Every member has to stick to their word and keep up with the weekly chores.

Cleaning schedule: how can you set it up?

Once everyone agrees to follow house rules and a cleaning schedule, it’s time to create one. Try following our tips:

• Daily chores should focus on simple tasks such as keeping the living room tidy, bathrooms free of stains and picking up anything that’s out of place.
• Divide the weekly chores between housemates: one can take care of the living room and hallway, another the kitchen and the last the bathroom. If you have more housemates, divide the chores into more specific areas.
• But places like the bathroom and kitchen will need more than one clean a week. For these areas, everyone should pitch in daily with the little things, while the person in charge of the kitchen does a deeper clean.
• You should use the vacuum, broom, and mop for all the rooms for a proper clean.
• Posting the cleaning schedule and rules on the fridge or in the living room can keep everything visible and keep everyone on track.

If one of the housemates doesn’t to his or her part, you have to confront them about it. Make sure to be specific and do your best to not make them feel attacked. By minding their feelings and backing up your argument with specific events, you can keep the atmosphere positive.

Bedrooms

The biggest problems tend to stem from bedrooms. Bedrooms are a personal area where each member cleans as he or she pleases, which can mean problems.

In many cases, people skip a weekly clean, which leads to dust and odors. Very few people actually open their windows in the mornings to ventilate their rooms.

If you’re noticing this problem, you need to address it carefully. Make them understand that though bedrooms are a personal space, they need a weekly clean because also are a part of the house.