How to Clean Your Room Quickly and Efficiently

Tidying Up Messes

Gather up trash and put it in a garbage bag. If there is any plastic, make sure to recycle. Do not put it in a garbage bag. Take a quick look around for any obvious trash, like wrappers, old food, tissues, or cut off clothing tags, and toss it into a garbage bag. While you’re at it, empty any wastebaskets in your room and put in new bags. Since you’re doing a quick cleanup, stick with really obvious garbage. Don’t worry about sorting through stuff like old papers and deciding which to keep or toss.

Pick up any laundry that’s scattered around. Gather up your dirty clothes and throw them in a basket or hamper. Don’t worry about sorting your clothes—just get them off the floor for now. Make sure to separate out any clean clothes so they won’t have to be washed again. If you have a lot of clean clothes lying around, take a few minutes to fold them and put them in your dresser or hang them up in your closet. If you don’t have time for that, bundle them up neatly and put them in a basket so you can put them away later. If it’s time to change your bedsheets, strip your bed and toss those into your hamper, too.

Put your things back where they belong. Next, look around for stuff like books, papers, toys, electronics, or any other things that belong in your room but aren’t in the right places. Gather up these items and quickly put them away. Put books back on the shelves or put them in a tidy pile on your desk, dresser, or nightstand if you’re still using them. If there are toys around, put them in boxes or bins. If there are small items around that you use every day, like your watch or a favorite lip balm, try putting a small decorative dish or basket on your dresser or nightstand where you can keep them all together.

Carry out any items that belong in other rooms. Chances are that a few things have gotten into your room from other parts of the house. Quickly gather up any strays—like plates and cups from the kitchen or that screwdriver you used when you changed the batteries in your clock—and bring them back to wherever they came from.Tip: If your room is a total mess, pick up all the loose items and put them in a big pile. Quickly sort them into categories, like “laundry,” “books,” and “art supplies.” Once they’re all sorted, start putting them away, one category at a time. If you’re really in a hurry to finish cleaning your room, put everything in a box and set it outside your bedroom door so you can put it away later.

Getting Rid of Dirt and Dust

Dust off any dusty surfaces, starting with the highest ones. Take a duster or slightly damp cleaning rag and dust off things like your lights, curtains or blinds, headboard, shelves, dresser, and nightstand. Use a dry cloth to wipe away any water or smudges of dust that the first cloth leaves behind. Start with high surfaces so that you don’t knock dust down onto surfaces you’ve already cleaned. If you have blinds in your room, put an old sock over your hand and use it to wipe the dust off of each slat. You can also use the sock trick to dust picture frames and other wall decorations! Using a damp cloth will help you pick up dust instead of just sending it into the air. Use a vacuum cleaner with a dust brush attachment or a small duster vacuum to suck up dust bunnies or clean extra dusty areas.

Wipe down your dresser and other surfaces with a cleaning fluid. Spray surfaces that are really grimy with a household cleaner and wipe them down with a cloth. You can also use cleaning or disinfecting wipes such as Lysol or Clorox wipes, or make them yourself. Use a glass cleaner, like Windex or SprayWay Glass Cleaner, to brighten up any mirrors, windows, or glass door panels in your room. If you don't have one, you can try making one. Light switch plates can start to look grimy fast, so give them a quick wipe down if you notice dirt and smudges.

Vacuum or sweep up dirt on the floor. If you have a carpet, vacuum it to get up any dirt or pet hair. Use a broom or put your vacuum cleaner on a bare floor setting if your room isn’t carpeted. Try to go over your whole floor, but focus on the obvious areas instead of trying to clean every corner or make the area under your bed perfect. Sprinkle a little baking soda on your carpet before vacuuming it to help freshen it up and get rid of weird smells.

Go over your mattress with the vacuum cleaner. All this dusting and cleaning may have gotten your bed a little dirty, so quickly go over it with the vacuum cleaner. Strip the bedclothes off first, if you didn’t already. If you want, sprinkle on a little baking soda to freshen your mattress up before you vacuum it. Use a crevice tool on your vacuum to get hard to reach areas, like the crease around the lip of your mattress or the crevices between the padded areas on top.

Making Your Bed

Put the fitted sheet on your bed and smooth it out. Take a clean, fitted sheet and spread it out on your bed so the corners are lined up with the corners of your mattress. Tuck one of the corners under, then go across diagonally and tuck under the next corner. Repeat with the other 2 corners. Take care to smooth out the sheet and check that the corners and sides are tucked in well, so that the sheet doesn’t pull off easily.

Spread the flat sheet over your bed, patterned-side down. Lay out your top sheet so that an even amount of it hangs off of the bed on both sides. If the sheet has a pattern on it, lay it face down so that the plain side faces up. This is so you can see the pattern when you fold the sheet back. Smooth out your sheet to get rid of any big wrinkles, gaps, or bulges. If you notice that there’s more sheet hanging off the bed on one side, gently pull the other side so it’s more even.

Tuck in your flat sheet neatly. To make your bed look extra tidy, create hospital corners with your sheet. Carefully tuck the bottom edge of the sheet under your mattress and smooth out any bumps or wrinkles with your hands. Grab an edge of the sheet about 16 inches (41 cm) from the foot of the bed and lift it up so it hangs down in a triangle shape. Tuck the hanging part under the mattress at the side of the bed near the foot end. Then, grab the top part of the triangle you made and fold that under, making a 45° angle from the top corner of the mattress to the bottom edge. Do it again with the other bottom edge of the sheet, then tuck the edges of the sheet under along both sides of the bed. This sounds tricky, but it just takes a little practice. Once you’ve done it a few times, you’ll get the hang of it!

Put on your blanket or coverlet. If you have a blanket or coverlet, spread it out across your bed on top of the flat sheet. If you want, you can tuck it under just like you did with the sheet. Fold back the blanket and flat sheet from the head of the bed so that there’s enough room for your pillow. If the weather is chilly or you just want to give your bed a more put-together look, you can finish it up by neatly spreading a quilt or duvet on top. Leave about a pillow’s worth of space at the head end of the bed.

Place your pillows neatly at the head of your bed. Put fresh pillowcases on your pillows and place them tidily at the head end of your bed. If you like, you can add a couple of decorative pillows or cushions to make your bed look even fancier. A neatly made bed can make the whole room look nicer. Stand back and admire your work!