Former dorm resident Chris Sanchez, 21, a senior psychology major used to go home for the entire spring break when he lived on campus.
“I found it easier to have everything clean when I would leave,” Sanchez said. “I might not be there for a week so I might as well clean. I didn’t feel like it was so messy and cluttered. I would want to come home and relax and do homework and focus on school.”
Spring break is a time for relaxation and trips to lavish places. Students work hard all semester and this is their time to be carefree and free of obligations. But their plans most likely do not include cleaning.
Along with the 10th week of the spring semester comes midterms, the anticipation of spring break and spring cleaning for some.
All the stress of tests and anxiousness to take a much needed break could leave a stressed student complacent about cleaning their spaces and saying, “Ain’t nobody got time for that.”
It may be beneficial for students to find time for it, though.
As elementary as tidying up may seem, it may help keep the mind clear when returning to school.
According to a study conducted by OfficeMax of more than 1,000 adults, it was found that 90 percent of Americans believe clutter has a negative impact on their lives and work.
“Sometimes if we just tidy up our atmosphere and make sure its nice, it can shift how you feel about yourself and school and your academic presence in the school you attend,” said Ahneishia Washington, 21, English major and senior resident adviser of three years.
The way a student’s home environment is kept can often correlate the way their minds work, according to the OfficeMax study.
“[Not keeping a clean dorm] would make me want to just go back home because it’s like, why am I going back to a mess? I’d feel like I’m not ready to start school because I’d have to clean the mess to get back on track,” said Cassandra Irvin, 21, a senior sociology major who has lived in the dorms for three years.
To make things easier for the student anxiously anticipating spring break, here are a few tips to get organized so that returning to the dorms after being home can be an easy transition:
1. Make your bed. Making your bed may not seem very productive when it comes to cleaning, but chances are, your bed is the biggest piece of furniture in your room. If it is kept clean and orderly, the rest of your room can, more easily, follow suit.
2. Give everything a place. If everything in your room belongs in a specific place, it will be easier to keep up with it and easier to clean up.
3. Get rid of visual clutter. Take a moment to scan your room for random clutter, such as papers on the desk and pens on the floor. These are things that can create clutter and make your mind feel overwhelmed when returning to the dorm after spring break.
4. Establish limits. Establish the amount of items that you want to have in your space at once. Once that number of items is exceeded, use it as a cue to tidy up and throw unnecessary items out. In instances like these, less is more.
5. Factor cleaning into your weekly schedule. College students are busy, but factoring in cleaning for a couple of hours into one’s schedule could prevent messes from getting out of hand.