Let me go ahead and start things off by saying: I hate cleaning. Like, I really hate it. I pray for my future husband, because he will most likely wind up doing the lion's share of the cleaning in our house. I am so uninterested in the monotony of cleaning, and frankly it's super boring to me. That being said, I really like the way my room looks after I clean it. There's something really nice about having a nice, tidy work-space to get focused and feel relaxed in. If you're like me, and hate cleaning but want to shamelessly reap the benefits, keep reading. This is the time of the year when everyone convinces themselves they need to spend hours "Spring cleaning" to be real-life adults, but it doesn't have to be that intense. Here's a few ways to get your living space together without actually having to spend too many precious Netflix-watching hours cleaning.

Prioritize your mess (or messes). So, when you look at your room, try to find the one mess that really makes you feel bad about the way your life has been going lately. If you have more than one, that's okay (because me too). Do you have a pile of clothes in that one chair that is almost touching the ceiling? Maybe you have crusty dishes laying around, or junk literally covering your entire floor? Whatever realm the mess is in, figure it out, and make a list.

Get rid of the big deal messes. Once you've determined the biggest cleanliness faux pas in your room, get rid of them! Spend time washing that one pile of dishes, or folding and hanging up that gigantic pile of clothes. If you tackle the biggest messes first, the rest of the room can be handled with less focused energy (or maybe in, like a week, when you have another random burst of adult-ing energy).

Make your bed. For real. If there's one way to make your room feel cleaner, it's making your bed. If you haven't washed your sheets in a hot minute, do that. If you have, go ahead and make your bed and put all your pillows and blankets on it - all that nice stuff you got from Target that you convinced yourself you would actually use. If there's nothing else you actually accomplish from cleaning, do this. At least at first glance, you will seem like you have your life together.

For the love of God, please throw away expired food. Listen, I get it. Who has the time to meticulously go through their fridge and throw away every piece of expired food? Um, you do. The time is now. If food has gone bad, or is past its expiration date, love yourself and throw it out. For that matter, wipe your fridge shelves down with white vinegar and paper towels while you're at it.

Use a lint roller to dust. Okay, obviously dust gets on things like blinds, lampshades, and shelves all the time. Also, clearly you aren't gonna want to take like thirty minutes of your life to vacuum and dust these awkward-to-clean objects. Use a lint roller instead, and take your life back.

Duct tape will help you pick up crumbs like, real quick. Say that you spend a lot of time on the couch, watching Netflix. Also, say that you like to consume lots and lots of potato chips while doing this. (Me too, girl). It's all fun and games until you get crumbs all in the couch cracks. Use duct tape to pick these up really fast.

Microwave a sponge to clean your microwave, and your sponge. Microwave a damp sponge for two minutes on high, and then wipe your microwave clean. The heat will kill the bacteria in the sponge (thank God - college bathrooms are gross enough as it is, without the added risk of infection). Also, the steam from the damp sponge will help loosen that stuck-on cheese from all the instant macaroni you've been making.

Tape a dryer sheet to an air conditioner vent to make your room smell awesome. Taping a dryer sheet to the AC and then turning it on causes the room to be filled with wonderful smells, and you will feel like everything is fine in your life. Plus, it makes it seem more clean already - even if you haven't really started cleaning yet.

Help lighten your closet load. Spring cleaning in your closet? Yeah, you're just that good. At this point, you should be thinking about finally getting rid of those clothes that you will literally never wear again. Also, get in the habit of hanging your clothes back up with the hanger facing toward the closet wall after you wear them. In a year's time, look at the clothes that still have hangers facing away from the closet wall. If you haven't worn them in a year, it's probably time to get rid of them, you little amateur hoarder.

Keep your desk space clean always. This might seem like cheating a little bit, but if you just always keep your work-space clean, the rest of your room seems not as bad and that is the truth. Spend an hour really cleaning out and organizing your desk. Once you do that, it's easy to maintain that "just cleaned" feeling elsewhere in your room.

Storage containers are your friend. This might be the most obvious tip of all, but storing your belongings in easily accessible, convenient containers makes cleaning up so much easier. In a pinch, you can just shove all your junk into storage bins and call it a day. But, it's nice to feel like you're an adult kind of when there's a place for everything and it looks good - at least on the outside.

I hope these tips have inspired you to attempt to clean a little bit, even if you just try one of them a day. Cleaning is zero fun whatsoever, but you do feel a heck of a lot better once you do it.