Ah – it’s that time again. Cleaning day has arrived – but wait! You don’t have time to deep clean your apartment today. Whether you have unexpected guests stopping by or you’re throwing a last-minute get together, one thing is for sure – you’re on a time crunch. If it’s cleaning day for you anyway, or if you should’ve cleaned last Saturday (like me), then you probably can’t bear to see your apartment in bad shape for one more day.
No worries, fellow renters. I’m here to help! With a few quick cleaning tips that cover tidying your bedroom, bathroom, kitchen, and living area, your apartment will be spick and span in no time. Well, maybe not no time, but within an hour, tops.
Keep in mind – this won’t be your typical five-hour deep cleaning session (or maybe that’s just me), but it’ll keep your mind at ease until the next afternoon you decide to tackle your apartment’s dirt and grime. But before you get started, here’s a quick list of supplies you’ll need:
- Duster
- Paper towels
- Multi-surface disinfectant spray
- Glass cleaner
- Vacuum
- Sponge
- Foaming disinfectant bathroom cleaner
- A desire to clean (this may be harder to come by)
Declutter Your Apartment
While this seems like an obvious cleaning tip, decluttering is the first step to cleaning your apartment. You won’t be able to get everything done within an hour if you’re cleaning around your belongings (aka random junk you don’t know which drawer to shove in). Put the dirty dishes from your sink into the dishwasher and pick up all of your dirty clothes and place them into the hamper. Life changing, right? You may have decluttered now, but unlike many people’s opinion (like your college roommate’s), that doesn’t make your apartment clean – it just makes it acceptable.
Dust Tabletops and Ceiling Fans
This is where your handy dandy duster comes in. Avoid trying to wipe down your tabletops, especially with disinfecting wipes, before dusting. You’ll end up with a wet wipe full of dust, making it harder to actually get grime off of the counters without spreading your collected dust back onto the surface. Dusting is key to making your apartment appear cleaner! Dust your dresser, nightstands, living room table, and any side tables or counters that could use a quick swipe.
And do not, I repeat – do not, forget to dust your ceiling fans! This may seem like a trivial task, and I’m sure you’re asking yourself, “Who looks at ceiling fans when they come over?” The answer is: more people than you think. If you have a nice pile of dust on each blade of your fan, it’s time to dust. And lucky for you, it’ll take you just a minute or so to do it. Stand on your bed, chair, or couch (whatever is closest and sturdiest), and remove the filth! You don’t need to take the fan apart to clean it in any way, unless you’re trying to clean a plug-in fan. If so, put it in the closet for now and worry about it when you have the time.
Wipe Everything Down
Now that you’ve dusted, it’s time to wipe down your counters, tables, and any surface that’ll be seen or used by guests (or that you use frequently). Typically, paper towels and a multi-surface disinfecting spray will do the trick, but if you prefer disinfecting wipes or natural products, go for it! Either will do.
You just want to remove any sticky spots or food stains on the kitchen counter and give all of your surfaces a nice shine. Here's a tip for cleaning your bathroom: your sponge and foaming disinfectant bathroom cleaner will be your new best friend. Simply spray the foam, let it sit for a minute, and then use a damp sponge to wipe it up. Goodbye toothpaste in the sink, hair on the counter, and grime around the sink knobs. And don’t forget to use this foaming spray on the toilet, as well. Next, spray your bathroom mirror with glass spray, and wipe it down with a paper towel to remove water splash marks.
Because this is a quick clean, don’t worry about using the foaming spray on your shower/tub right now. Just close your shower curtain and worry about that on deep-cleaning day!
Hide What Can't Be Cleaned
Now that you’ve decluttered, dusted, and sanitized, it’s time to hide what you can’t clean. Don’t have time to organize all of the clothes you’ve taken off the hanger and tried on (but didn’t actually wear)? Put them in the closet – that goes for your assortment of shoes on the floor, as well. All of your random stuff that you haven’t found a perfect place for yet – put it in the closet. This is what closets are for, people! Not really… but that’s what they’re for when you have company coming and only a short time to make the place sparkle.
Close the shower curtain, keep items on your bathroom sink minimal by putting your toiletries or makeup under the sink, put your dirty dish towels in the washer, and replace them with clean ones from the kitchen towel drawer (assuming you have a drawer assigned to decorative towels like me).
Vacuum
The last major cleaning task you have to do in your apartment is the ever-dreaded vacuuming. I may be the only person who enjoys this task, but for those of you that don’t, you don’t have to vacuum everything. Sure, it would be great to have perfect vacuum lines on the carpet, but this quick clean is more about removing crumbs and such from the floor. Quickly vacuum your bathroom floor to remove hair and dust, the entryway to remove what’s been tracked in from outside, the living room by the couches, and the kitchen where the majority of the crumbs lie. You may not have time to vacuum the entire place, but vacuuming the most highly trafficked areas (and most highly seen) will do great things for the appearance of your newly cleaned apartment.
Finishing Touches
Okay, renters – it’s time. You’re almost at the finish line with just the finishing touches left. Fluff the couch pillows, fold the decorative blankets, place your décor back where you had it, and hey – why not light a candle (or turn on your plug-in candle warmers) to set the ambiance! Now that your apartment sparkles (for the most part), it’s time to make it smell as lovely as it looks. Voila! You have a clean apartment – look at you go, you tidy apartment renter, you!
