How can I clean/organize my currently messy room and bathroom?

Question

I am a natural pack-rat, thus my room is a complete sty. My room is fairly large but you can no longer see the floor as it's covered with clothes (both clean and dirty), trash, an exercise machine, lots and lots of books and papers, craft supplies, etc. I would like to clean my room in the next few days...any thoughts and suggestions? And, how can I *keep* my room clean and organized?

My bathroom is also very gross and needs help. What cleaning supplies do you recommend?

And oh, no smart-alecky, troll-like answers please; some people like myself are naturally messy and don't know where to begin when it comes to cleaning. Thanks.

Answer 1

What I do to get started is to take everything on the floor, dressers, etc. and put it all on the bed. Vaccumm and wipe off the furniture. After that is done go to your bed and start throwing the things u don't need away. Really really think about what u need and don't need. Then just go on from there.

Answer 2

Supplies you need before you do anything.
--Trash bags
--Plastic bins- in assorted sizes. Cheap at Walmart or Target and the Dollar Store
--Hangers- unless you already have plenty
--Hamper for dirty clothes: Extra big so you don't have to do laundry that often
--Book Shelf- these can get expensive so you can just put them on top of each other against the wall. That works and looks good too.

Now let's get started:

I say start with your clothes: get everything together clean or dirty. Separate what you want to stay and what to throw away. If you haven't worn it in the past 6 months dump-it. Then when your done with that-- laundry everything your going to keep even clothes you have in the closet and drawers. It's worth starting clean with all your clothes that way there's no worry about if it's clean or not. While you got the laundry going start picking up random junk everywhere and just dump that or have a garage sale the following week. Check on the laundry and transfer clothes into the dryer.

Take a break:

Then I recommend sorting all your things first. Use the bins you bought, label them and dump everything in individual bins. Sort by usage or some kind of categorizing system. That will take time.

Take another break and check on the laundry once again.

When you get everything situated and all the garbage thrown out get started in looking around the room to see if moving the furniture might help keep you organized. Since you got a big exercise machine try moving all you furniture against the walls that way you got walking room in the middle of your room. Put the bins in the closet or against the wall as well.
Well from there you should be good to go.

If the laundry is done. Fold or hang everything out of the dryer right away that way it's less wrinkled.Hang everything you wear to go out and fold and put away clothes you just wear at home. I think that system works well cause clothes you wear at home don't need to be hung.

Hope this helps this is how I got my boyfriends room to get/look organize and clean.

As far as the bathroom your own your own with that.

Answer 3

I have been in the same "rut" as you and have to agree to some degree with the above answer. Although they could have used a bit more tact in their answer.

It can seem an impossible task, which is probably one of the reasons you have let it go this long. Let me assure you from experience.... you can wish, hope, & pray that it will somehow go away; but tomorrow the beast will only be worse and you will feel a even a bit more defeated.

My best suggestion is to ask an organized or task master friend / relative to help you with your shameful mess. Not only will they help you get motivated, but an extra hand at cleaning and organizing makes it go so much faster. The worst of it is swallowing your pride and fessing up to your "catastrophie".

If help is not available, you have to find a way to motivate yourself and this can be really hard. Dont tell yourself you are going to get it done in a day. It is too over whelming! Read some bathroom cleaning and organization tips online. Having an idea of how to tackle your room will save you a lot of time and energy.

Start with a reasonable amount of time such as 2 hours and stick to it no matter what!!! Put on some good music, get lost in your thoughts and you will be amazed at the dent you can put in it. Hopefully, that will energize you to keep the room maintained at this level and set another goal soon to tackle more.

One last tip I have found is really helpful is to plan and extra 5 minutes into your morning routine. If you take this time before you leave the house to hang up your clean clothes, put away your beauty tools or even give the floor a quick sweep it really helps to maintain the room. This is a priority! Dont put it off until later. You always run out of time and energy.

What ever you do, dont give up. If I can do it, so can you!

Also, in different thought from others.... I would start at the top and clean down. Just as you would anything else. Dust settles as you clean so you want to get the top first. I also would not recommend storage containers. They often dont help the situation becuase you are always digging and moving things out to get to others. Hooks & shelves are much better because you can see what you have and get it without moving other things. Also, its much easier to put them back.

Answer 4

Pick up ALL the clothes, pull the sheets and start washing and drying. While that is going on you can be picking up the trash in there using a big contractor's bag. Anything you want to save, stack it neatly on your desk and dresser.

Put the first load in the dryer and start the second load of wash in.

Go move the exercise machine to one side of the room and out of the way. Go to Wal-Mart or another store where you can get bargains on things and buy a box of file folders, file labels and 6 or more inexpensive milk crate type plastic bins. If you need something with a lid, buy 3 of those. Make certain at least one of these plastic items fits your file folders which are standard or legal sized. Remember that stack-ability is important when you have lots of stuff! Think about your crafts needs and buy some small boxes with lids to hold scissors, glue, glitter, paints and other small items.

Come home, fold the load that's dry, put the washed clothes in the dryer and start another load in the washer! On your way back to your room put the folded clothes away.

Go back to your room and start to sort things out. Start with your books, those will be easiest. Do you have a bookcase or shelf for them? If not, create a place on your dresser for now. The next time you're out buy an inexpensive bookcase at Wal-Mart or Staples. Look at your papers and decide what you need and what can be thrown out. What you need to keep gets put into a folder, labled and put away in one of the boxes. Craft supplies are next. Sort out the blank papers or what have you, put them in a labled folder and put the folder in another box. Pamphlets/Books or instructions go into another labled folder. Follow the same procedures on all the other things you have laying around the room and then,

Go down and fold the dry clothes, put the one's just washed into the dryer and start another load of wash. On your way back to your room, put the folded laundry away.

Now to your closet! Hang everything that can be hung and concentrate on the floor area and the shelves. Organize those things and stack them on the floor or the shelves using the boxes you just bought. Remember to keep up front, those things you use most of the time. Sometimes theres only one top shelf in a closet and nothing but lots of unused space above it where you can put in another shelf! No problem. Just measure the same length as the bottom shelf and measure the depth where it just comes short of hitting the door when it's closed. Go to Home Depot or lumber yard and have it cut to size. Have them cut three other pieces you'll use as cleats to hold the new shelf up. 2 of them don't need to be more than 1 inch by whatever depth the new shelf is and the last should go almost from end to end of the closet and placed it the back for support. Buy 8 - 3 1/2 - 4" screws to fasten them to the walls. Drill pilot holes into the wood strips all the way through (you'll need 2 - 2 & 4 holes)

By now you should see the light and take a nap, but not before you fold the clothes, dry the next load and take the towels and rugs from the bathroom to wash those.

After your nap go and vacuum the bedroom floor and then the bathroom. Cleaning supplies are tilex for the tub and tles, windex and paper towels for the mirrors and **** n Span or Mr. Clean for the floor.

Keeping it clean means keeping it organized and up to date. If you start a craft project but cannot finish it, put the large part of it on your desk or dresser until you can get back to it. All else goes back into the boxes and put away. Neatness prevents cleaning from taking a back seat. Good luck!

Answer 5

For the bathroom use a 50/50 bleach solution in a spray bottle and spray your tub/tile surround and let it sit... You can also spray your toilet and turn off the water valve and pour bleach into the bowl and let that sit.. Spray counters/sink as well.. *Remove any rugs and wash.. Open window/turn on fan your bathroom will smell like the city pool !!! However, bleach will kill everything/anything in that bathroom.. Also wear old clothes while doing this.. *To keep up with the bathroom get in the habit of using anti-bacterial wipes in the morning wipe down all the surfaces and spray the tub about once or twice a week depending on how messy you are.. If you leave your toothbrush in the bathroom you might want to think about replacing it... If your bathroom is filthy chances are so is you toothbrush.. Or you can run it through the dishwasher...

For your bedroom get a big trashcan and some contractor bags... Some storage bins mark them KEEP, DONATE, TOSS and start sorting... When you have enough dirty clothes to start a load of wash.. START IMMEDIATELY... Anything you want to keep wash as well... DONATE put in a contractor bag and put in another room... Anything you aren't using find a different place for or donate/trash.. Clothing anything torn or ripped or not worn for a yr... DONATE/TRASH. Once you clear the floor... Start working on surfaces..DESK< NIGHTSTANDS

Answer 6

Ok, here goes. Start at the bottom and go up! Start at the door and move in a circular motion around the room and carry a trash bag and a laundry basket and throw trash in bag, laundry in basket and then when all that is up, start at the door again with different tools to clean it up. Repeat as often as necessary to clean up the room then go up one level, etc. Get all the trash and laundry out and then it will be easy. Good luck and have fun! Put on you favorite records (OOPS)-that's CDs or radio station and groove to the music as you clean. Make the music loud as you can stand and sing with the CDs!

Answer 7

Watching tv is easier but I love reading literature more

Answer 8

while reading a written book, you're stimulating the human brain. You increase your reading and literacy skills and you also along the way, are more literate. Even with today's modern tools, you need to be able to read still.
While watching t.v. can be good fun, it isn't doing anything to your brain.

Answer 9

Throw stuff away, you wont believe how much better and cleaner you feel afterwards. Use big tupperware bins or the plastic glad bags (the big ones) for storage, as far as cleaning supplies, I always use clorox bleach spray or comet with sos pads for scrubbing. Use rubber gloves from the dollar store. and a sponge too. good luck.

Answer 10

check out some web sites like flylady.com is pretty great and or betterhomeandgarden.com they have some nice organizing tips, flylady is also great with cleaning and setting a schedule to stick to and keep it clean. good luck