We’ve all been there. What started as small clutter has suddenly turned into a full-blown mess, and now you’re faced with the task of cleaning. But is cleaning a messy room really that necessary, especially if you don’t have guests coming over? And where do you even start when you feel overwhelmed just looking at the space? In this guide, we cover the impact of messy rooms beyond aesthetics, how to clean one, and tips for keeping it clean.
How Messy Rooms Can Impact Your Wellness
A cluttered space is more than just an eyesore—it can increase your stress levels, reduce your ability to focus, and even impact your sleep. Clutter adds visual noise to a room, which can be distracting and make it hard to focus. That pile of laundry on your bedroom chair or dirty dishes accumulating on your living room coffee table remind you of tasks left undone, increasing your stress.
But how can a messy room disrupt sleep? All that clutter in a messy bedroom can overstimulate your brain and create a mental association between the room and stress. So, when you enter your room to go to bed, your brain switches to stress mode, making it difficult to fall and stay asleep. If your room is tidy and quiet, your brain associates the space with calm, which can help you fall asleep easier.
How to Clean a Room That Is Really Messy
Nobody likes a really messy room, and the more clutter there is, the more stressful it can be to get started. Staring at everything that needs to be picked up can be overwhelming, so you need to devise a solid attack plan.
Whether it’s a home office, bedroom, or living room, focusing on one task at a time will give you a simple checklist to follow until you have a nice, tidy room ready to relax in.
Start with the trash.
Trash is the easiest place to start when cleaning a messy room. You can quickly identify what’s trash and what’s not, and you know exactly where to put it—in your garbage bag! Clearing trash first will also help you avoid potential spills and stains as you clean.
Grab a heavy-duty garbage bag, start in one corner of the room, and pick up any food wrappers, discarded tissues, and other trash you see. You can also grab a separate bag for recyclables like empty cardboard boxes and soda cans. Keep another bag on hand for smaller trash you may miss and find later as you clear more space.
Pick up dirty clothes (and put clean ones away).
With trash taken care of, it’s time to tackle laundry—both dirty and clean. Yes, that means addressing the dreaded clothes chair in the corner of your bedroom.
Sort your clothes into three piles: clean, dirty, and worn but not dirty. Start a load of laundry for the dirty clothes so they can wash in the background while you clean the rest of the room. Then, hang up or fold and put away your clean clothes. For the clothes you’ve worn but plan to wear again before washing, give them a designated spot. This could be a shelf in your closet, a separate laundry basket, or a dedicated drawer. Avoid piling them up on the floor or other surfaces in the room.
If your closet doesn’t feel big enough for your full wardrobe—especially once all your clothes are clean—consider other bedroom storage options, like space under your bed, a standing clothing rack, or even a storage bed with drawers attached.
Collect dirty dishes.
If you have dirty dishes in the room, they’re next. Gather all the dishes and place them in your dishwasher. Similar to laundry, you can let the dishwasher run while you continue to work on decluttering and cleaning.
Put out-of-place items in their homes.
Another easy task? Removing any items that obviously don’t belong in the room. A vacuum in the kids’ playroom or a hand drill set in the living room will stick out, making it easy to spot. Once you’ve found these misplaced items, simply put them where they belong.
Clear surface clutter.
With bigger tasks done, it’s time to get to the nitty-gritty and declutter surfaces. Counters, desks, nightstands, dressers, coffee tables, etc., can all be overtaken by small daily items that quickly build up. Packs of gum, jewelry, mail, magazines, pocket change, and other small objects can land here and never leave.
Take some time to put these items in their homes—and if something doesn’t have a home, create one. In the bedroom, you can get jewelry dishes for rings and earrings or clear organizational bins for perfume and skin care products. In a home office, you can organize files in a cabinet. In a living room, you can add a bookshelf for books, magazines, and knickknacks or a storage ottoman for stashing spare throw blankets.
Clear the floor.
Next is the floor, which should be pretty clear after you picked up any trash and clothing earlier. Just like clearing surfaces, you want to ensure every item is put in or finds its home. In a messy child’s room, this could mean picking up toys and placing them in a designated toy bin. (This is a great time to have your child help in the cleaning process!) In a messy living room, you could place throw pillows back on the couch, put remote controls in a drawer, or move a pet bed to a less central spot.
Dust and wipe down surfaces.
Now that your surfaces are clear and you don’t have any items on the floor you can get dust or debris on, it’s time to wipe things down. Use the right cleaner for whatever surfaces you have, whether that’s wood, glass, or marble. Don’t forget to dust lampshades, blinds, mirrors, televisions, and other furnishings you may have in the room.
Vacuum and/or sweep.
Always leave vacuuming or sweeping for last. You want to make sure the floor is cleared first so you don’t miss any spots. If you dust and wipe down surfaces after, you risk dirtying your freshly cleaned floors again. Remember to get under beds, couches, tables, and other furniture.
7 Tidy Habits to Keep Your Room Clean
You’ve cleaned your room from top to bottom and banished the mess. The hard part is keeping it that way. With these expert tips, you can prevent the mess from coming back, no matter how hectic life gets.
1. Invest in storage.
It’s easier to keep a room tidy when there’s a spot for everything. Invest in shelves, storage bins, filing cabinets, cubbies, wall hooks, baskets, or multi-use furniture like a captain’s bed to ensure everything has a home.
2. Remove clutter as you notice it.
When you have plenty of organized storage options at the ready, you can pick up clutter as you see it. That letter sitting on the dining room table? Now it’s in a mail tray. Keys left on your dresser? Put them on the hook by the door. Jacket thrown over the back of the couch? Onto the coat rack it goes.
3. Set a weekly cleaning day.
Add a cleaning day to your schedule each week. With a more frequent cadence, this should be a quick clean to clear clutter and wipe things down. It’s easier to do a small clean regularly than panic clean a giant, overwhelming mess.
4. Make your bed daily.
Picture a freshly made bed. Would you want to dump dirty clothes or your gym bag on it? Probably not. But if the bed is already messed up, you may be tempted to toss random belongings on it.
Making your bed in the morning can help you feel productive, make your room feel cleaner from the start, and prevent you from adding mess to it. You can also apply this to other furniture in your home, like fluffing the couch pillows each day or pushing in all the dining room chairs after a meal.
5. Don’t leave food behind.
If you eat somewhere other than the kitchen or dining room, don’t let cups, trash, or snacks linger. Instead, try to get in the habit of returning everything to the kitchen as soon as you’re done eating to avoid them piling up.
6. Do a nightly floor check.
At the end of the day, take a quick look at your floor. Check for charging cables, shoes, bags, or anything else that can be picked up and put away before bed.
7. Adopt the “2-minute rule.”
If a tidying task will take less than 2 minutes to complete, just do it. Whether that’s straightening a stack of books, putting files away, folding a blanket, or even sweeping up pet hair. This helps prevent clutter from accumulating and keeps the room tidier without needing a full clean.
Keep the Clutter Away with CORT Furniture Outlet
A clean, organized space can transform how you feel—and keeping it that way is easier with the right furniture and storage solutions. At CORT Furniture Outlet, you’ll find stylish, pre-leased furniture that helps maximize your space while keeping clutter under control. From functional storage pieces to sleek, space-saving designs, we make it easy (and affordable) to create a home that stays tidy and stress-free. Shop CORT Furniture Outlet today and take the first step toward a cleaner, more organized home—for less!
