How to Make Cleaning a Bedroom an Easy and Fun Chore

Here is a method of bedroom cleaning guaranteed to accomplish the job and to be rather painless.

Pick what you will do to thank yourself immediately after you are done . Time to read a book? Play a game? Eat a piece of cool, delicious, crunchy fruit? Phone someone? You decide.

(Good hint for the future or all the time.) Keep them in an old bucket, or a box for easy moving to the area about to be cleaned. In PA, you can go to a state liquor store and ask for empty boxes. They are a nice size for holding cleaning bottles, clean rags, sprays, paper towels and antibacterial wipes.

Phone off! Or on mute. If possible, don’t choose a time where family members or pets will need help or attention from you. This may be a BIG “if possible,” for some of us, but try your best.

Have it going at an uplifting volume. You should not be disturbing the neighbors or hurting your own hearing. Also, you need to realize that during vacuuming, you won’t hear it. One of my brothers led his young daughters in Saturday morning cleaning with marches such as Seventy-Six Trombones (from The Music Man)or real oldies with a brisk tempo. I often use fast belly dance and world drumming tunes. I recommend mostly fast tempo songs that encourage you to keep moving. Think zumba.

Do you have “stuff” thrown on chairs or the floor? If you are in my bedroom, you will definitely see that sort of thing. I am a morning person, so at the end of the day I am not super-energetic about putting my jeans away or hanging up every single sweater.

The deal at this part of the cleaning is to get things out of harm’s way as you clean. That can either be putting them in their ultimate belonging place or just making a small pile in one spot. There is no point in sweeping cobwebs or dust onto your shoes or clothing. Unless you are creating a Halloween haunted house.

Ceiling

Drape a broom head with a clean rag or dustcloth or use the small round brush attachment and hose on your vacuum cleaner. Brush your bedroom ceiling and high on wall to catch all those cobwebs.

Framed art on walls

Use a slightly damp cloth or paper towel to take away the dust on top of the frames. Also, wipe the remaining 3 sides.

Windows, blinds, curtains

Ok, I am a minimalist. This means, for house cleaning, that I do not feel it is necessary to have spring cleaning levels of cleanliness in my bedroom at all times. My guess is that you also feel this way, because you are reading this article. Welcome, friend! Therefore:

Windows – If it is needed, damp dust the top of the window frame and all around, as you did for the picture frames. Also, if it is a double hung window, dust the frame in the middle. Remember to dust the window sill. Don’t wash the glass unless it needs it.

Blinds - Use a clean rag or dustcloth or the small round brush attachment and hose on your vacuum cleaner to dust them. If you have a fancy blind cleaning brush, use that.

Curtains – Examine to see if they need to be dusted. Decide whether to put them in the laundry or just shake them hard. If they are dry-clean only affairs, you can vacuum the dust off with your round brush attachment and hose.

Higher bureau tops and shelves

Move knick-knacks to the side in same positions they had on the furniture. Dust with a slightly damp cloth or furniture polish. Slide knick-knacks back and repeat for the other side.

Lower nightstand tops and shelves

For furniture you can actually sit on, plop your derriere onto a dust cloth and wiggle to the music. My sister and I "invented" this dusting technique when we had to do dusting as elementary aged children. So, just sit on dust rag and slide around. It's fun! For unsit-able shelves and surfaces, dust quickly.

Lamps and switchplates and door handles

Pull out the heavy duty antibacterial wipes or cleaning solutions for these items which are touched by many hands. Lightly moisten a throw-out-able paper towel with your cleaning solution. DANGER – as you clean these, immediately wipe them dry with a clean paper towel. Some of those cleaners will discolor metal if permitted to sit and “soak” on the metal.

Put away the piles

If you made compact piles at the beginning of the cleaning session, now is the time to put them away. Not by shoving them under the bed or in the closet, silly. Where the items belong.

Change bed sheets

This is a reward in itself: to have fresh, clean sheets on the bed. If you are really ambitious, flip or rotate the mattress, too!

Floor

Sweep, wet mop, or vacuum – do whatever your floor surface requires. It is amazing how much dust, hair, and scraps of junk reside there. Well, that’s gravity for you. Also, empty the wastebasket and put in a fresh liner.

Air

Spray Lysol ™ or other air freshener if you wish. In the hotel trade, air spray is used liberally as the housekeeper exits the room.

Clean your brushes and brooms – at least of the obvious crud. It is not useful to have a broom or brush or dustpan full of junk when you need it the next time. Grab the stuff with a paper towel and discard.

Put the box of cleaning bottles away, safely unavailable to pets and wee ones.

• Pick a reward
• Gather all supplies BEFORE starting
• Block interruptions
• Play your cleaning music
• Quickly move things
• Start at the ceiling and work down

First, look at the floor that you can now walk on, and the bed that you could flop down on to stretch out and relax. Laugh! Maybe you’ll even want to photo it and put it on Facebook or Pinterest!

Now – give yourself whatever reward you chose. You earned it.

Photo and text copyright 2012 Maren E. Morgan, who is going to clean her own bedroom right now