Written by: Greg Wiszniewski

How many times a day does your parent or guardian say, “clean your room”? Cleaning seems really important to adults, but how important can it be, really? Very important! Not cleaning for a long time can cause all sorts of problems which may lead to disease.

First, there is dirty laundry. Not cleaning your clothes will not only make your room stinky – they can be filled with Staphylococcus. Letting them sit will also make it harder to get out stains, and not putting clean laundry away will result in clothes being wrinkled and dusty. If you don’t ever clean your sheets, dust mites will start to inhabit them, feeding on skin cell flakes you leave behind. In certain parts of the country, bed bugs have become a huge issue after lying dormant for most of the twentieth century. Bed bugs actually eat your skin, leave their exoskeletons after molting in your bed, and can leave people itchy and uncomfortably pockmarked. What’s worse is once they infest, they are very hard to get rid of.

If you leave out food or garbage, it’s possible that you can attract mice or other rodents, which can carry a lot of diseases. Rodent feces can also make you very very sick. If there are any spider webs in your room, just know that not all spiders are harmless. Molds that can grow in your garbage cans, or anywhere there is some unchecked moisture, can cause allergic reactions and breathing problems.

Besides all of the gross fungus, molds, and disease that may result in not cleaning, there are also the mental results of not cleaning. Being surrounded by your things can actually affect your brain, making it hard for you to concentrate on your work. Hoarding behavior, also, is common for adults and can lead to a very difficult lifestyle. Organizing is a healthy activity, and the result usually will lead you to focus.

How does one start cleaning? Usually, the first step is to get motivated! Turn off distractions like your TV or computer, put on your favorite playlist so that you have something to listen to while you work. Don’t allow yourself to be overwhelmed by the mess – but at the same time create a small list in your head of things that need to get done.

Next, get really gross stuff out of the way. Remove garbage from your desk, get anything gross off your bed, take dirty cups to the kitchen sink and put dirty clothes in the hampers. Definitely wash your hands when you are doing this step and after you are done.

Next, you may want to try sorting and tidy up and put things in the proper place. This has to do with organization skills. For instance, are your video games all over the place? Are your books not on their shelf? When you’re done, there shouldn’t be very much stuff sitting on the floor.

The next step is sanitizing. You may want to have your parents help you with this one, as it may lead you to deal with some chemicals or places that you can’t reach. Typically when cleaning it is easiest to work top-down. Start with the ceiling – are there any of those spider webs? Work your way down and dust mirrors and pictures, then clean your windows with either a product (as long as you are with your parents) or a vinegar solution. In between, clean surfaces with a hand towel and your cleaner of choice on all points of contact (like your doorknob, light switch, and desk). You might want to ask your parents to soak plastic toys in bleach, or you can wipe them down with your hand towel. This step includes removing dust and germs!

Next, clean the floor, either with a vacuum cleaner if you have a carpet, or with a combination of a broom and simple mop if you have hardwood or tile.

Now that your room is clean, replace your sheets and linens on your bed. Make sure to replace pillowcases as well. Make your bed, so that everything is fresh. Make sure to bring to dirty sheets to your hamper, and you may want to have your parents help you do your laundry at this point.

Finally, give everything a once-over. Make sure there was nothing missed. Altogether, depending on how dirty your room was to start, the process shouldn’t take much more than half an hour to an hour. To keep your room the healthiest, it’s best to clean your room this way once every one-to-two weeks.