While I was at college, I always lived in a place that had its own bathroom. Since that was the case, I always had to clean the bathroom while at school. My friends who lived in dorms with hall style bathrooms, however, didn’t have to clean them.
As a general rule, if you live in a dorm with a private bathroom, you are responsible for cleaning it. This same rule applies to suite style bathrooms as well, because they are considered private. If you live in a dorm that uses a hall style bathroom, then you’re not expected to clean it.
The amount of times that you have to clean a private bathroom depends on how many roommates you have to help you.
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You Have To Clean Your Private Dorm Bathroom
1. The Staff Won’t Clean It For You
If you live in a dorm room that comes with its own private bathroom, then chances are, the staff won’t be responsible for cleaning it. Their responsibility is to clean public spaces used by everyone. Since you and, if you have one, your roommate are the only ones who use the bathroom in your dorm, it doesn’t count as a public space. This rule also applies to suite-style bathrooms.
Even though they’re not completely private, they’re still used exclusively between you and whoever lives next to you. Since the entire dorm floor doesn’t use it, it doesn’t count as a public space. If you’ve never used a suite-style bathroom before, then check out my guide on how to use one! Despite everything that I just said, there are some schools that hire staff to clean every student’s bathroom, even if they’re private. Your school will let you know if that’s the case. Check out their website or call and ask them about your cleaning responsibilities as a dorm resident to find out before you apply.
2. The Cleaning Responsibility Falls On Whoever Lives There
One of the reasons why you have to clean your private dorm bathroom is because it’s your responsibility. Like I said a second ago, the staff are usually assigned to clean public spaces. A private dorm bathroom doesn’t fall under that category. If you live in a single dorm that has its own bathroom, then you’re the only one who’s expected to clean it. If you live with one or more roommates, then you don’t have to deal with that duty on your own. All of you have to share the responsibility of cleaning it.
This is one of the perks of living with more than one person. Want to know all of the pros and cons of living with roommates? Check out this post on my blog to find them all out! Sharing the duty of keeping the room clean also applies to suite-mates. If you want to know all about the lifestyle that comes with suite-style dorms, check out my full survival guide on my blog!
3. You Need To Keep It Hygienic
Another reason why you have to clean your private dorm bathroom is because it needs to stay hygienic. There are a lot of germs that can accumulate in a bathroom if it’s not properly and periodically cleaned, especially if more than one person uses it. During a study at the Worcester Polytechnic Institute, the scientists conducting the study listed three different types of bacteria that are commonly found on the surfaces of public restrooms.
Even if you’re the only one who uses your bathroom, cleaning it is still important. When LiveStrong.com interviewed Kelly Reynolds, PhD, she said that “Fungus, including mold, mildew, yeasts and some types of bacteria rapidly build up in bathroom environments,”. LiveStrong also listed the many risks that come with letting germs build up in your bathroom. Click on the link to their website above to learn them all. Reading these should help you understand why it’s so important to keep your bathroom clean.
You Don’t Have To Clean A Hall Style Bathroom
1. The Staff Cleans The Bathroom
The reason why you’re not expected to clean the bathroom that’s shared by the entire dorm floor is because your school already hired people for that. Every university has a cleaning staff that keeps the public spaces in good condition. Your hall-style bathroom is one of those public spaces. Since they have that covered for you, that’s one less responsibility that you’ll have to worry about while navigating college life. That’s a certified perk to living in a dorm that uses this kind of restroom.
If you are thinking about, planning on, or are already using a hall-style bathroom, then here are some survival tips to make your life even easier. If you’re using a private bathroom, then there are survival tips written in the same post. Just scroll up a little to read them.
2. It’s Not Your Responsibility
Another reason why you don’t have to clean the public bathroom is because it’s not your responsibility. You haven’t been given the entire bathroom for your use alone. If that were the case, then you would be expected to clean it. That’s why it’s your duty to clean your dorm room; it’s your room. If you need some tips on how to clean your dorm by the way, here is a full guide on how to do that.
3. Be Courteous When Using That Shared Room
Even though it’s not your job to clean the dorm hall bathroom, you’re still expected to help keep it from turning into a hot mess. This doesn’t mean you need to throw on your cleaning gloves and get to scrubbing. This means that you just need to be courteous when using the place. Don’t leave toilet paper on the floor, don’t leave the toilet un-flushed, don’t leave your things in the bathroom, etc. If you go out of your way to make the bathroom look super dirty, then you might get in trouble with your school.
Instead, clean up any mess that you’re responsible for making when possible. If you try to keep the room looking as clean as it can by being courteous, you’ll show respect to everyone else that uses that bathroom. you’ll also be respectful to the staff that scrubbed it down in the first place.
How Often Should You Clean Your Private Bathroom?
1. It Should Get Cleaned Every Week
If you live in a dorm with a private bathroom, then it shouldn’t go without being cleaned for more than a week. At most, two weeks. Even though this may sound tedious, it’s very important to get it done. Check out the “You Need To Keep It Hygienic” section of this post to remind yourself why your bathroom needs to stay clean. If you live in a single dorm with its own bathroom, then this could get annoying since you’re the only one responsible for scrubbing it down.
If you live in a double dorm, or a triple dorm however, then having a roommate or two should make this job easier to get done. That is, if everyone plays fair and splits the cleaning duty evenly between one another. If you have a roommate that refuses to lift a finger to help you keep the bathroom looking acceptable, then check out this post for a four step guide on how to ask them to help you.
2. You Should Clean It When It’s Your Turn
If you got fortunate enough to live with a roommate, or roommates, that clean the bathroom when it’s their turn, then you need to hold up your end of the bargain too. Sticking to a cleaning schedule that relies on everyone pulling their weight will help keep the bathroom healthy and the overall dorm in tip-top shape. It will also help lighten the load of chores on everyone’s shoulders.
If you contribute to a mess and don’t help clean it up, then you could easily stir up some drama with your roommates. As stressful as college can be, do you really want to deal with that kind of headache at home too? It’s important to get along with the people you live with, and to do so, you have to share the housekeeping responsibilities. Check out this post for an example of a cleaning schedule that you and your roommate(s) could put together.
How Do You Clean A Dorm Bathroom Floor?
1. Gather The Right Supplies
The floor of a bathroom is a pretty neglected place when it comes to cleaning. Throughout my time at college, I was one of the only roommates and suite-mates that knew that a bathroom floor needs to be cleaned. Now that you know this too, let’s list all of the supplies that you’ll need to get the job done. First, you’ll want an all purpose disinfectant; this is because you can use it to clean any area of the bathroom except the mirror (which needs windex).
Having this will save you money and properly disinfect the room. Second, you need a cleaning cloth. I recommend a microfiber cloth because they pick up and cling onto more dirt.
Lastly, you need some rubber cleaning gloves to keep your hands clean while you disinfect the floor. It’s pretty gross to scrub the germs away with your bare hands. Even though you’re wearing gloves, make sure to wash your hands after you’ve finished cleaning and putting the supplies away.
2. Remove Everything On The Floor
You can’t properly clean the floor with all of that stuff in the way. The next thing you’ll want to do before you scrub the floor is move everything out of the way. Taking everything that’s on the bathroom floor out of the room will help assure that you won’t miss any spots when scrubbing it clean.
Some of you may have a lot of stuff in there that you want to keep in order. Moving everything can mess up that order if you don’t put everything back where you found it. Not to mention that, if you have roommates or suite-mates, you’ll risk moving all their stuff out of place and putting it back incorrectly. That could easily lead to some drama. Before moving anything, take a picture of the room to assure that you’ll put everything back where it came from.
3. Start From The Far Side Of The Room
Now that you’re finally ready to clean the floor, you’ll want to start at the corner that’s furthest away from the door. You’ll want to do this because the final place that you scrub should be right in front of the bathroom door. If you have more than one exit, pick the one that you’ll use to exit and make it the last spot that you clean. Starting on the far side, spray the floor and immediately wipe it down with your cloth. Continue to do this until you reach the exit. By then, every inch of the floor should be disinfected.
4. Let It Dry
After you’ve cleaned the floor, you might want to put everything back right away. Don’t. It’s still wet with the all-purpose cleaner and needs time to dry. Don’t worry though, this should only take about 10 minutes. In the meantime, lay down and relax because scrubbing can be hard on your back. Your knees might hurt too. Take a well deserved rest.
5. Put Everything Back
Now that 10 minutes is up and the floor is dry, it’s time to return everything back to the bathroom. If you took a photo, now’s the time to use it as a reference to make sure everything is put back exactly how you found it. Congratulations! You have a pristine bathroom floor and you are drama free when it comes to your roommate(s)/suite-mates.
