Spring Cleaning For Students: Five Steps To A Sparklingly Clean Room
Although the weather might not have caught up quite yet, it’s officially springtime on 19th March! That date marks the Spring Equinox, where the position of the sun swaps from the Southern hemisphere to the Northern hemisphere - hailing longer days and a return of the sunshine for us in London.
Springtime traditionally marks a new beginning. The start of the new season means flowers are blooming, trees are blossoming and the sun is finally providing Vitamin D again. We generally feel better, more optimistic and hopeful for what the rest of the year brings. Plus, London is beautiful in the Springtime! It’s the perfect time for exploring London’s green spaces.
Along with this new beginning, a lot of us feel the pull to ‘Spring Clean’. Some people believe Spring Cleaning began in the Catholic Church, where the church buildings would be thoroughly cleaned in preparation for Easter celebrations - but wherever it began, Spring Cleaning is now hugely popular and it’s the perfect excuse for a clear out!
Step One: Open Up The Windows
It might still be a little chilly outside, but it’s time to open up the windows, even if just for a few minutes, to get some fresh air circulating the room. It’s a simple step to start with, but has lots of benefits.
During winter, with heating blazing and windows firmly shut against the cold outside air, your room can get stuffy - and become a breeding ground for bacteria. Opening up the windows and letting the breeze roll in refreshes the air in your room, and has been linked to better digestion, increased happiness and reduced blood pressure.
Get those windows open!
Step Two: Closet Clear Out
Now that the weather is slowly warming up, you’ll likely be digging through your wardrobe looking for Spring clothes. Which means that now is the perfect time to have a clear out of your clothes.
You’ll find hundreds of tips out there about the best way to clear out your closet, but we recommend a combination of the 12-Month Rule and the Power Hour. The 12-Month Rule is simple: any item of clothing that you haven’t worn in the past 12-months is no longer needed. And the Power Hour is self-explanatory, too: dedicate just 60-minutes to going through your clothes, forcing you to make quick decisions about what stays and what goes.
Hopefully, you’ll identify some items of clothing that you just don’t need anymore. They either don’t fit or they’re just not ‘you’ anymore. But, they’re still perfectly good clothes - so don’t throw them away! A shocking 350,000 tonnes of clothing was sent to landfill in 2018, estimated to be worth £140million. With your old clothes, either donate them to your local charity shop or list them on Facebook Marketplace so they can find a deserving new home.
Step Three: Kitchen Clean Up
The kitchen is probably one of the places you clean most often, as it gets most messy. But when was the last time you went through the fridge or the cupboards? Now’s the time.
Open up the fridge and take everything out, separating it into:
Still okay to use, and will use this week
Still okay to use, but probably won’t use before its use-by date
Not okay to use!
Get rid of everything that is past its use-by date - it’s taking up precious fridge space and will generate nasty bacteria if you leave it too long! If you’ve got food that’s perfectly fine, but you’re not likely to use it by its use-by date, this is the perfect opportunity to give Olio a go! Featuring in our top apps for students in London, Olio is a food sharing app - sort of like Facebook Marketplace, but for food! The food you’re unlikely to use can be listed on there, so that other people who might be in need of that ingredient can pick it up from you.
Repeat the process with your cupboards, too! There’s almost certainly some tins gathering dust that you can share with your neighbours.
Step Four: Textbooks & Paperwork
Buying textbooks for every new course or module you start is one of the biggest pains of being a student. They’re expensive, often huge, and you’ll likely never open them again once you’ve finished your course.
Spring is the perfect time to have a clear out of old textbooks. If you’re sure you won’t need them again, sell them - your university will often have a way of connecting your old textbooks with students who need to buy them for their course, so check this option first. If not, there are some good alternatives here. You can make a little bit of your money back, and de-clutter your bookshelves!
The same goes for old paperwork too. Folders full of notes from last year’s course take up space and gather dust - so if you’re completely done with them, pop them in the recycling bin (making sure you shred any confidential/sensitive documents first!) and use the saved shelf space for something much more useful.
Step Five: Spring CV Refresh
In the vein of new starts and fresh beginnings, Spring is the time when you’re probably considering what you’ll be doing with your summer break. If you’re lucky, you’ll be heading off to somewhere much warmer, much sunnier, and with much less work to do! But, it might also be the perfect opportunity for a summer internship, or simply a summer job to earn some money!
Whether you’re looking for a top-level banking internship or a Saturday coffee shop job to pay the bills, Spring is the perfect time to update your CV and make sure it’s in tip-top condition. Having a relevant and up-to-date CV is crucial when applying for internships or jobs, and Spring means that you’ve gained a whole lot of new experiences since the start of the academic year back in September. So even if you’ve not got any new work experience to add, you’ll definitely have new skills to add.
CV Refresh Checklist:
Are your contact details still correct, or do you have a UK phone number that might be better?
Have you added your most recent course/module details?
In your skills section, have you added things like time management (meeting study deadlines!), teamwork (collaborating on team projects), leadership (organising team projects) and communication (presenting your work)? All of these things are crucial skills for the workplace - and you’ll have plenty of experience from your studies!
[BONUS] Step Six: Relax in your new tidy room!
The hard work is done. You’ve decluttered, got some fresh air in, and made a positive start to the new season. Now’s the time to sit back, relax and revel in your success!
If you’ve managed to get rid of old things, it might be worth reorganising what you’ve got left to make the most of your space. Ride the wave of Spring positivity to create the room you’ve always wanted, without the clutter.
Our Beaumont House rooms benefit from lots of daylight, so Spring marks the start of sunlight streaming through your windows and making your study-time a little less painful. Bright, airy and tidy rooms are strong foundations for academic success!
Get in touch to arrange a Springtime visit to Beaumont House to experience the sunlit rooms for yourself.
