Tips for cleaning your student accommodation

Try the little and often approach

The accommodation team at your uni or your landlord will most likely inspect your accommodation on a regular or semi-regular basis. If your place is a mess or dirty, this could end up damaging the property – or even your health – so they’ll expect you to keep it to a decent standard. 

To save yourself any difficulty, it’s worth keeping on top of the cleaning. Though don’t worry, it should be a team effort with your housemates.

1. Share responsibilities 
   
   You’ll all be able to help with cleaning your student house or flat – making it much quicker than you might imagine. In general you’ll clean your own room and take care of your own washing up, but make sure you take your turn to give the kitchen a clean or run the hoover around. Some students make a rota, while others can see each other taking their turns and they’re ok with that. Make sure you do your bit and you’ll be fine.
   
   If you have a shared bathroom, you might all have different standards of cleanliness, but if you can all keep a fair level of cleanliness then everyone’s happy. If it’s super sparkly clean (more so than you’re used to), maybe that’ll be quite nice?
    
2. Cleaning supplies

   Firstly make sure you’re all contributing to the purchase of cleaning supplies – whether that’s giving money to the person or people who are doing a shop for cleaning stuff. Or whether you take it in turns to buy cleaning things when they’re needed.

   Secondly, what should you buy and where from? Shops like Wilko and Savers are often cheaper than supermarkets – though if there are good offers at supermarkets, that could be a winner too. Own-brand products are usually cheaper than the big names. Most kinds of washing up liquid and cleaning sprays are similarly effective, so try out some good value ones and see how you get on.

   If you are looking for an all-in-one kit that will have all your cleaning items (of small and big brands) at a student friendly price, then you can check out this curated Cleaning pack by Student Essentials. It has all the essentials you need to get your new room sparkling clean and they will deliver them directly to your new accommodation.

3. Tips for speedy cleaning

   For your kitchen it’s worth having a few different cleaning products to make it an easy job.

   - Get a kitchen spray that works on your surfaces, the sink, your fridge shelves etc
   - Have a cloth or sponge handy (and rinse with washing up liquid to keep them fresh
   - Have a few spare sprays, washing up liquids, cloths and sponges under the sink
   - Plus bin bags – don’t automatically get the very cheapest as they might split
   - Wash your dishes as soon as you can (so the food doesn’t get stuck on!)

   For your bathroom you could use some bathroom spray and a sponge or cloth for the shower, bath, sink, toilet seat and handle. Then some bleach or toilet cleaner you can pour around the toilet bowl. Try to keep your bathroom ventilated with an open window or extractor fan – this will help to reduce any mould from dampness. Wash the bath mat and towels regularly too.

4. Keeping your room nice

   
   This is mostly about being tidy and not leaving used plates or cups for days(!). You could have a tray or large plate to catch any crumbs – and keep a fair level of tidiness so you can find your things when you’re getting ready for lectures. You’ll be so relieved on the days when you don’t have much time to get ready.

Any questions?

If you’re not sure how’s best to divide up or do the cleaning, you could ask a student who’s already at uni to see how they did it. There’s no one right approach, but they might have some good tips (or funny stories).

What’s next?

Check out more advice on settling into student accommodation, and doing the all-important food shopping.

Or start your student accommodation search here.