Guide to keeping your halls clean

Unfortunately, moving away from home means that you'll have a lot more responsibilities in your accommodation, which includes keeping it clean!

Now, it's all down to you. Whatever mess you create is your responsibility so it's important to clean up after yourself, especially when you're living with flatmates. Here are some simple but effective tips and tricks that can help you keep on top of your cleaning:

Create a cleaning rota

This usually doesn't take long to do and will stop a lot of arguments between you and your flatmates in the long run. Of course, you should all clean up your own mess but your flat will need a deep clean now and again. It's a good idea to make a list of everything that will need doing in the shared spaces, from cleaning the oven to taking the bins out. All of the jobs should be equally divided between everyone and spread out across every week or every month. Then, nobody can complain! 

Set a timer

If you let your cleaning pile up, by the end of the week you'll regret it especially if you have a lot of uni work to get on with. Whereas if you clean little and often, you'll only need to do a deep clean once in a while. A simple trick is to set a 30 minute timer and focus on tidying and cleaning to get it out of the way. If the cleaning takes less than 10 minutes, you might as well do it there and then. 

Have a designated space for everything

When things have their own place in the kitchen, living room or your bedroom, it's so much easier to keep the spaces tidy. The littlest thing can make it look messy but if everything has its own place all you have to do is pick it up and put it back where it belongs. 

Stock up on cleaning supplies

It's so easy to forget cleaning supplies on your weekly shop so you might as well stock up. Some of the essentials include multi-purpose surface spray, glass cleaner, cloths and sponges, bin bags, bleach, washing up liquid and scourers. It's easier to get a cleaning spray that can work on a range of surfaces so it doesn't feel like a chore having to pick up specific cleaning items and you won't need to keep stopping and starting during your cleaning. 

Don't forget about those hard to reach areas

There's so many places that are easy to forget about when cleaning, for example your oven, microwave, the hallway, inside the cupboards and drawers, skirting boards, inside of the windows and windowsills. Make sure you don't forget about these areas during your deep clean because after a while it'll be so much harder to get all of those marks off. It's never nice when you go to put your dinner in the microwave and there's bits of food everywhere.  

Cleaning jobs can pile up quickly, so it's a good idea to keep on top of it before things get smelly. A clean flat is a happy flat.