There’s One Spot in Every Bedroom That Almost Never Gets Properly Cleaned
Apartment Therapy Weekend Projects is a guided program designed to help you get the happy, healthy home you’ve always wanted, one weekend at a time. Sign up now for email updates so you never miss a lesson.
How’s your sleep been lately? Not what it used to be?
Even if your sleep patterns somehow remain unchanged, and mercifully uninterrupted, any effort you make to improve your sleep is always going to improve your physical health and mental well-being. Comfortable sheets, bedding with just the right weight, cool temperatures in the bedroom, no TVs or workspaces allowed, and a comfortable pillow are all inroads to a restful slumber.
But there’s another factor at play in the bedroom that could be impacting your sleep far more than you realize: The cleanliness of your sleeping zone. I’m not talking about the pile on your clothes chair, the stack of books on your dresser, or the growing collection of socks that litter the floor on *someone’s* side of the bed (although for sure, those messes aren’t exactly relaxing). I’m talking about something more hidden.
This weekend, you’re going to clean an area that doesn’t typically get much attention. Getting it clean will give you a sleeping zone with cleaner air that will give you more restorative sleep, especially if you have allergies. This weekend you’re going to clean the under-bed area, and all that collects beneath it.
This Weekend: Vacuum under your bed(s).
Let’s all admit this task doesn’t get done as often as it should. The bedroom, because it’s safe from public view, is often the last and least-frequently cleaned area of a home. And when the bedroom does get some attention, you probably only vacuum the floors that show, leaving the hard-to-get-spaces under furniture for when “there’s more time.” Is there ever?
This weekend you’re going to make time for it. Here’s how:
- Gather your vacuum cleaner, a flat-head microfiber mop, and a yardstick or other long handled tool.
- Remove anything large that you might be storing under the bed, such as under-bed storage bins.
- If you can easily move the bed, do that. Pick up items under the bed and follow up with dusting the baseboards, vacuuming, and mopping if applicable.
- If moving the bed isn’t an option, grab your yardstick, broom stick, or mop stick, and use it to push out any pet toys, kid toys, lost books, or whatever else might have fallen under the bed.
- Vacuum. Then, unless you have a rug or carpet under your bed, use a low-profile microfiber mop to thoroughly clean the floors.
- Put away items you retrieved from under the bed.
If you have more than one bedroom, start in the primary one, and see how you feel before moving on to the next most-used, and on and on. And if you’ve got time today, here’s a bonus: Sort through the items in your under-bed storage bins before putting them back.
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Remember: This is about improvement, not perfection. Each week you can either choose to work on the assignment we’ve sent you, or tackle another project you’ve been meaning to get to. It’s also completely okay to skip a weekend if you’re busy or not feeling the assignment.