The Best Dorm Room Cleaning Essentials | 16 Best Dorm Room Cleaning Essentials

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This post is about dorm room cleaning essentials.

Keeping a clean dorm room is an essential part of every freshman college student’s routine.

To achieve this goal, you need to make sure you have all the right cleaning supplies! Don’t skimp in this department – cleaning supplies are a lifesaver, especially when you really need them!

I used all of these cleaning supplies in my dorm room, and I have leftovers that I’m bringing to my first college apartment. I swear by all of these products!

Here’s 16 dorm room cleaning necessities.

Best Dorm Room Cleaning Supplies

1. Small Vacuum

I didn’t have a small, light vacuum until after christmas break, and it was SO NICE! I was so upset that I didn’t get one of them sooner. They are so so so useful, and it totally beat trying to haul the huge one from the rental center on campus.

Here’s the one I had

2. Disinfectant Wipes

I feel like disinfectant wipes are the obvious must. I got a big pack of them, which came with 3 bulk size canisters of the wipes. They’re necessary! I used them constantly, especially to clean off my desk and any other hard surfaces.

You’ll notice that the pack listed below comes with wipes that have “micro scrubbers” and these were my absolute favorite! They were perfect for cleaning up sticky messes off my desk.

3. Window Cleaner

This is something I skipped on, and I really regret that! Windows get really dirty, really quickly, and they need to be cleaned along with everything else in your dorm room.

Here’s an earth friendly window cleaner.

4. Surface Cleaner

Although disinfectant wipes work for most things, it’s really nice to have a bottle of just plain surface cleaner.

When a jar of salsa spilled in my fridge, I was really thankful I had some towels and surface cleaner to clean out my fridge rather than using a million disinfectant wipes!

5. Carpet Cleaning Powder

I bet your dorm room carpet is just begging for a deep clean. With you new lightweight vacuum, make sure you give your carpet the deep clean it deserves!

I noticed that my dorm room carpet got a lot more foot traffic than I usually would have on a carpet, since shoes were worn in the dorm room so much more.

Carpet cleaning powder is cheap, and totally worth having around! It neutralizes any smelly carpet odors, too.

Related: 10 Best Dorm Room Storage Ideas

6. Paper Towels

Paper towels are an absolute must in every dorm room. They’re essential to clean your windows, clean up bigger messes, and anything else you’d use paper towels for!

Make sure you don’t forget these.

7. Laundry Detergent and Fabric Softener

Just like cleaning all of the surfaces in your dorm, make sure you stick to a solid laundry schedule – shoot for two times a week! I look at my academic calendar, and I pick which days to always do my laundry on.

This is my absolute favorite laundry detergent and fabric softener! I highly recommend it.

8. Stain Remover

Hand in hand with laundry detergent and fabric softener, make sure you have a really great stain remover!

This one is inexpensive, and I use it constantly. It comes in handy so much!

9. Disinfectant Spray

Disinfectant spray is great for frequently touched surfaces, especially during cold and flu season. I used this a lot when everyone around me was getting sick, and luckily I only got sick once (pretty good for living in the dorms.)

I just used lysol disinfectant spray, and it was really inexpensive.

10. Dish Soap and Dish Brush

Taking out your garbage and washing your dishes are probably the biggest things in your dorm room that need to be taken care of in a timely manner.

A dish brush and dish soap are essential for this!

Related: Cutest College Dorm Room Tapestry Ideas

11. Duster

Dorm rooms get extremely dusty, and making a habit of dusting is a necessity.

I make sure to always dust above my closet, above the curtain rod, windowsills, and all shelves that aren’t wiped down regularly.

12. Microfiber Towels

Microfiber towels were a total game changer in my cleaning routine. I love using them to clean surfaces that can’t be cleaned with surface spray or a disinfectant wipes.

These microfiber towels are my favorite for cleaning my laptop and TV screen.

13. Scented Trash Bags

Scented trash bags are an essential to keeping your dorm room smelling nice.

These trash bags don’t have a super strong scent, and I instead like to think of them as neutralizing odors opposing to covering them. An essential for small spaces!

Related: 23 Dorm Room Beauty Essentials

14. Magic Eraser

Magic erasers are really cheap, and I love them for cleaning stains off walls or other hard surfaces, vents, etc!

If you get a stain on something that belongs to the school, make sure you try using this on it!

15. Swiffer Wet Jet

If you don’t have carpet in your dorm room, a wet jet is an essential. Dirt collects super fast, and this is key to mopping your floors while picking up all the dirt!

16. Broom and Dustpan

Again, if there’s no carpet in your dorm, a broom and dustpan is a necessity! There’s no need to get an expensive broom and dustpan, any will do!

This post showed you 16 dorm room cleaning essentials for your freshman college dorm.