The Subtle Art of Cleaning Up
I pride myself on a relatively clean room. That is, until things in life start to hit me at once and I need to figure out my priorities. When such happens, room maintenance gets pushed to the very bottom of the ladder and my room stays incredibly messy for however long the wave of other priorities last. For reference, here is how my room looked like a few weeks ago.
To be fair, as the caption suggests, I was well on my way to spring cleaning as the weather got warm, only to be interrupted by more important plans. Though the spring cleaning of my closet should have been at the top of my list, sometimes life gets so hectic to the point where wearing weather-appropriate clothes become a luxury and you’d rather sweat profusely. It took me a whole week for the jumble to get fixed, but here are three tips on how I underwent a full-scale spring cleaning of not just my closet, but also the entirety of my room.
1. Utilize boxes, luggage, trash bags, and any other items you can fit your things into
Just know where and what you put in each. I organized my sweaters and heavy jackets into a box that I happened to keep since the beginning of this academic year. Since these clothes have volume, the box filled up very quickly. I couldn’t figure out a place to put my bigger coats into without molding them into the shape of whatever medium I store them into, so I pulled out heavy duty trash bags. I laid the coats flat, using the trash bag more as a flexible storage unit. The luggage, tucked away under my bed, is where you can find a plethora of random objects. From bottles of shampoo to my Rilakkuma onesie that I wore for Halloween, I put things that I know will become useful in next year’s dorm life. I’m not sure if the onesie would prove of any daily use, but it is acting as a cushion to keep all of my other fragile items.
2. Throw things out, and sometimes that has to include things that spark joy
As a reservation, I have not read the book nor watched the show. However, it is to my understanding that Marie Kondo tells you to throw out anything that doesn’t spark joy anymore. As anyone who’s been to my room would know, I have a sweet potato stuck in a jar full of water. For context, I had purchased several potatoes in the beginning of the year. I unfortunately was too impatient to wait for my slow cooker to cook my potatoes, well, slowly, so I had them in the corner of my kitchen supplies cart until I realized that they have sprouted. I put them in water to see what they would grow into, and ever since they’ve been functioning as great plant décor. I learned that potatoes have almost a heinous ability to sprout new leaves every day. I now have three mason jars full of sweet potato leaves that are still growing and still spark me joy. In preparation for moving out, I thought about giving them to my friends who are staying in Atlanta over the summer. However, something that sparks joy to me does not necessarily mean that it’ll spark joy to others, especially if it’s a piece of shriveled potato stuck into a mason jar that (still!) grows new leaves every day. It is hard to say goodbye, but I am likely going to throw them in the trash when moving out. It’s been real.
3. Rearranging furniture can yield more space, and what is out of your sight doesn’t exist
This is something that I did in the very beginning of the year. My room originally had two drawers on one side of a small wall, and other two on the other side. The first side has the clothing rod and over-the-head storage space, and the other side is intended for studying desks.
I did not want to loft my bed, because I woke up every day of my freshman year kicking up the classroom tiles ceiling (Dobbs people would relate). This meant that I couldn’t fit any cabinet or my mini fridge under my bed, and that I had to align everything against the wall as space-efficiently as possible. I tried a variety of different arrangements for the two small and two large drawers I had, but because of where the outlets are on the wall the best arrangement I could come up with was one big cabinet on one side of the wall, and the rest as well as the fridge on the other side. This way, you can use the rod mounted into the wall to hang your jackets and right underneath you can place your large drawer. The drawer isn’t big enough to take up the entire side of the wall, so I bought a shoe rack to store my shoes. This sounds like a lot, but here is the catch — if you buy a stretchable rod and hang a curtain over to cover all of the mess that you have, the room instantly becomes less cluttered. No matter how well you arrange items, nothing looks cleaner than a nice curtain covering up all of your shoes, jackets, and of course a plastic bag full of other plastic bags.
I hope that these tips can help you move in for your summer housing or next semester. I am a strong believer in personal space becoming a reflection of your mind, so leave behind your stress and anxiety from whatever has bothered you. Clean up, clean out, and start fresh.
P.S. If you are more interested in room décor, don’t forget your tapestry and hanging globe lights.
Written By: Grace Lee | EEVM Director of Design
