COLUMN: Spring cleaning for a messy human

It’s not easy to be messy — to create picture-perfect room destruction in a week’s span. It takes time, consistency and a certain personality type.

No matter how content messy humans are in their disorganized lives, there comes a time when we must pick up last week’s sundress and submit to order.

Spring cleaning is the perfect time to get our apartments, dorms and houses in order. It’s a new season and a busy one, too. As warm weather begins to sneak in, we all tend to sneak out of our cubby-holes and spend less time bundled up with Netflix. Once you’re out, there’s no way to get back inside to pick up.

Here are some tips to getting your room and house looking spiffy before vanishing into spring’s adventures.

1. Start big and go small. Beginning with the largest messes and moving toward a more detailed and meticulous cleaning will help you stay focused and allow short stopping points as you go. Trying to get through the entire process in one go will automatically profit a subpar product. For messy people, taking breaks between rooms or even tasks will help you develop a rhythm.

Think to yourself, “I’ll get everything off the floor and clean off my desk, then I’ll get a snack or step outside for a bit.” If you aren’t sure that you have the self-discipline needed to gain focus back, set an alarm. If you continue this process throughout the day, you’ll have a spotless house in no time.

2. Crank up the tunes, listen to a podcast or make it a game. Distracting yourself from thinking about how much you hate cleaning will drastically improve the entire ordeal. Your neighbors may complain a bit, but if the fate of your room lies in the balance, blare the Taylor Swift and grab a Swiffer.

Podcasts are fantastic cleaning material. Listening to something that captivates your mind will keep it from roaming from the job that must be done.

3. Open the windows, door and turn on the lights. Darkness is the enemy. If you can’t see the mess, you won’t clean the mess. You have a goal in sight — getting outside. Opening the doors and windows will remind you of the final reward. Fresh air and the sunshine will give you energy and the power to push through the clutter.

4. Stay away from social media while cleaning. One minute you are cleaning full speed ahead and the next an hour has passed since you sat down for a short break to check Instagram. Falling into a YouTube hole will not help you find the floor that was once there and is now lost under last week’s sundress and yesterday’s rainboots.

There are applications offered for Android and iPhones that will lock you out of your social media, but turning off your phone all together does the job just fine. Before turning it back on you have a five-second sliver of time where you have to choose between cleaning and surfing the web.

5. Get help. If you are completely helpless and consider yourself unable to deep clean, call a friend. Roommates are for something, right? This should be the final resort and should be avoided if possible because it is slightly pitiful.

When cleaning your apartment or house, by all means, include your roommates. Make a day of dancing around the apartment like you’re in “Dirty Dancing,” pretending the mop and broom are the world’s best dance partners.

Remember, nobody puts Broom in the corner. Especially when you still have cleaning to do.