MCTAs the trees begin to bud and the grass on the ground pokes its way up through the soil, another ritual of the season creeps back into our consciousness – a newly cleaned house. This is brought about by, of course, spring cleaning.
Anticipated by some and dreaded by others, spring cleaning can be a useful way of starting the spring season off with a clean, organized slate. But how this spring tradition is performed can determine whether spring cleaning is a mind-clearing experience or an exercise in futility.
But why clean? According to 2006 spring cleaning survey conducted by International Communications Research, 98 percent of those who answered said they feel good about themselves when their home is clean. Nearly the same number understood that cleaning helps reduce incidences of illness, allergies and asthma, according to the survey.
Despite the emotional and physical benefits of spring cleaning, some view it as an unacceptable practice, a laborious task meant to be avoided annually. One such person is assistant professor of communications and journalism Jack Kapfer, who said he has no intentions of conducting spring cleaning at his house this year.
“(Spring cleaning) took the entire weekend to do,” Kapfer said, recalling his childhood and the spring cleaning he helped his mother with every year. He said his mother was a “cleaning person” who forced him to participate in the annual task.
“I have no desire to do it now,” he said with a laugh.
Still, many people see spring cleaning as a necessary evil, despite their reservations about the hard work it entails. Freshman Mark Prokopowicz said he tries to organize his belongings every year, including his first spring away at college.
“I got rid of a lot of useless stuff,” Prokopowicz said. He re-organized his bookshelf and drawers, replaced winter clothes with summer clothes and even pulled out his desk to clean out the debris that had fallen behind it, he said.
Prokopowicz said spring cleaning is an essential tradition in his family – cleaning out his garage, raking his lawn and putting up window screens every year after the snow melts.
He shared his tips for spring cleaning as well. Buying shelving and storage bins are very helpful, Prokopowicz said.
“Don’t cut corners, too,” he added. “It’ll come back to bite you in the ass.”
Freshman Mitch Volk also said he will conduct some spring cleaning in his dorm room this year. His plans include putting his clothes away, organizing his papers and cleaning up his closet.
“After a certain time, you get tired of the smell and the mess,” Volk said. He said spring cleaning was also a tradition back home, which he said helped motivate him to clean up his dorm room.
Potential spring cleaners should think out their cleaning plans beforehand and make a game plan before tackling a dirty room or messy closet, he said, adding that utilizing all of a room’s space is important. Buying bins to fill up and put underneath students’ beds and file folders for various papers can also be useful in organizing, he said.
Despite Volk’s enthusiasm about spring cleaning, his roommate Cory Frion is less thrilled at the prospect of straightening up his part of the room.
“I’m too lazy to do it,” the sophomore explained. “I’ve got too much going on.”
With a lack of enthusiasm like Frion’s, spring cleaning can often be a daunting task to undertake.
To combat this, the house managing Web site Repair-home.com lists various ways to make spring cleaning more enjoyable. The site suggests condensing the whole process down to one weekend so as not to drag it out over the course of a month or more. Getting family or friends involved in spring cleaning can also help make it more bearable, according to the site.
For students living off campus who have their own kitchen to look after, Brendenberg suggests using wax paper on counter tops while cooking so removal of crumbs and spills can be made simple.
Along with physically cleaning up their dorms and apartments, students also should take time to tidy up virtual spaces on their computers. With all the time students spend on their personal computers, a clean and organized desktop can have a large effect on a student’s life.
To help maximize their computers’ performance, the university’s Learning and Technology Services’s Web site advocates students perform spring cleaning on their computers. Students should clean out their computer’s e-mail and hard drive to improve the performance of their computer, according to the Web site.
LTS also offers a special deal for students to set up appointments to organize and clean out their computers, according to the Web site. Students can call the LTS Help Desk at 836-5711 for help getting started with the process.
RESCOM help desk analyst and sophomore Derek Steffen, said students should clean up their computers more often than just once a year during spring cleaning. Students should run anti-spyware and anti-virus programs as often as once a month to once a week.
They should visit the RESCOM help desk if they have any questions, Steffen added.
RESCOM offers free anti-virus and anti-spyware programs, available at the help desk Web site along with online tutorials.
So as the warmth of spring beckons us to the outdoors, students should first look to their dorms and apartments, to see what can be done to improve their living spaces. With a clean home and the peace of mind that comes with it, students can better begin the spring and summer seasons.
