How to Clean Your Room in Under 20 Minutes
Because no one has unlimited time to clean
We all want a clean and comfortable room to wind down in after a long day. But, staring down at clutter and dust can be intimidating, and it can be hard to know where to start. That’s why we’ve rounded up eight tips to help you clean your room fast for an effortless shine.
1. Create a Plan
Before you start pulling your room apart, it’s a great idea to prepare for a fast clean—one that will ideally take 20 minutes or less.
Target your most essential spots for cleaning.
Gather all of your supplies in advance—trash bags, storage baskets, bins, and boxes, vacuum cleaner, broom, and mop—if needed.
Set a timer if you want to challenge yourself. This will ensure you clean your room fast.
2. Perform a Quick Sweep
Grab a large trash bag. Remove any dirty dishes, cups, and trash, empty the trash can, and place dirty clothes in the hamper.
Sweep the room—get rid of trash and broken items. Don’t forget to look under the bed and behind dressers.
3. Re-Hang Clothes in Your Closet
Grab any clean clothing lying around your room and hang them up or fold them neatly in your closet.
Keep your closet doors open so you can quickly dust, vacuum, sweep, and mop at the end of your fast clean. This step will help eliminate any musty odors that gather in your closet.
4. Clear the Floor and Furniture
A culprit of a messy room is cluttered furniture and floors. Take all bulky items that consume too much space in your room and place them in a bag or storage box. You can decide later whether you want to move these items to another spot in your home.
5. Tidy Up Your Belongings
You'll want items on your shelves, nightstands, and dressers to look organized and uncluttered.
Quickly rearrange your things—place miscellaneous items in storage bags or boxes to reorganize later. You may want to move makeup, brushes, and personal hygiene items to the bathroom during this step. This will provide another excellent opportunity to take advantage of storage bins.
6. Make Your Bed
The fastest way to make your room look clean is to make your bed—it will look and feel fresh instantly. You won’t have time to wash sheets or put on new bedding, but it will make a big difference. If your mattress is starting to smell though, you’ll want to make a plan for how you will clean your mattress later.
7. Dust and Vacuum Your Room
Grab a duster and a damp microfiber cloth—clean the tops of high-touch areas—dressers, nightstands, the headboard, mirrors, and shelves. If you have time, run your cloth over your baseboards—a big dust collector!
Finally, vacuum, sweep, or mop. You’ll probably only have time for one, and you won’t be able to move furniture or hit hard-to-reach areas. One quick vacuuming tip is to use your crevice tool to clean the room perimeter quickly, which accumulates hidden dust bunnies.
Tips for Keeping Your Room Clean
Now that your room is sparkly clean, you'll want to make sure it stays neat. You’ll want to clean your room everyday to keep it organized. Make it a habit to add a daily cleaning checklist to your schedule that includes:
Make the bed.
Pick up any items—clothes, books, chargers, etc. and put them back where they belong—closet, hamper, or shelves.
Quickly dust main surfaces like dressers or nightstands.
Empty wastebaskets.
Integrating these simple cleanup tasks into your daily routine will ensure a calm and relaxing domain that you’ll love coming home to every day.
If your room becomes hard to clean, you may want to consider hiring a professional home organizer or a house cleaner near you to help maintain a well-kept and pristine room. A house cleaner costs on average $30 to $50 an hour and scheduling one weekly will be on the lower end of the hourly rate. If it’s been a while and you need even deeper cleaning, like carpet cleaning or window track cleaning, expect to pay more.