Bathrooms, kitchens most important rooms to keep clean

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Buying or renting an off-campus house brings plenty of luxuries, but most students wouldn’t consider cleaning as one of them.

Moving from a dorm to an off-campus location forces residents to adjust to the extra cleaning space.

“I would say we honestly only clean up once a month,” admitted Katie Helms, a dietetics junior who lives with three roommates off campus.

Living off campus requires residents to perform chores such as vacuuming, washing dishes and doing yard work that they didn’t have to think about in the dorms. That kind of stress added to the usual load of school work and other activities that can overwhelm students.

But cleaning differs from other required student activities in that it doesn’t necessarily have to be completed. Whereas homework and jobs require immediate attention, most acts of cleaning can wait at the obvious expense of living in a cluttered or dirty environment.

“I think it’s all based on how you want to live,” said Anthony Alexander, a communication junior who said he spends at least an hour a day cleaning.

“From my personal perspective, I like living in a clean area. It helps me stay healthy and keeps me out of the doctor’s office.”

Household maintenance might be monotonous, but at least visitors enjoy relaxing in a tidy landscape.

“The good thing about cleaning is when people stop by, they feel a lot more at home when there’s not food and clothes everywhere. People like coming over and hanging out in a clean environment,” Alexander said.

Cleaning services can aid students with the sometimes titanic task of keeping their area neat — assuming students are willing to invest the money.

Kawanna Jackson, the manager of a local Molly Maid Inc., said that she occasionally cleans student houses and apartments, which costs between $75 and $150 for a typical cleaning.

If this is too expensive, she advises residents to clean the important areas of their home.

“I would say that as far as students go, they should keep their bathrooms and their kitchens cleaned because that’s where the germs are,” Jackson said.

Jackson also recommends that students get their houses or apartments cleaned once or twice a month to ensure a sanitary living environment.

“They have people coming in and out and there’s parties, and it just gets nasty, so at least it’ll be sanitized versus them not touching it at all,” she said.

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