How to Organize Your Dorm Room

So you have flown the coup, grown up and headed to the crazy busy life of a collage goer! Here comes the great life of friends, parties, homework, tests, teachers and many many deadlines. You are headed to live the next year of your life in close quarters with another human being in the smallest room imaginable! You are expected to be able to eat, sleep, study and play in your collage dorm room and things can quickly get out of hand. Here are some great tips on how to organize your dorm room and keep it running smoothly.

How to Organize Your Dorm Room

Touch base with your room mate and make plans on who is going to bring what. It only makes sense to share some items and save yourself some valuable dorm room space. Having a mini fridge and a microwave are a must but do you really need two of them hogging up the space. Come up with a master list of what the two of you want in the room and then divide the list up. You will both be glad that you have the extra space when you all get settled in.

Invest in a calendar, white board and bulletin board and use it for keeping everything organized. It will help free up valuable desk space and add some multi-functional decor to your room all while getting you more organized and on top of your day. Dorm rooms can be rather bland if you don’t dress them up a bit so add a little pop of style to your organizing tools!

Command strips can be a collage goers best friend! These handy little strips can be used to hang tons of accessories such as hats, scarves, book bags and many other things on the wall and out of your way. You won’t have to try to find a place to put all your accessories and they can really look great on display on your walls.

Clothing can take up so much space in a dorm room and can quickly overtake a room. Keep clothing down to a minimum by only keeping in season clothing in your dorm room. Plan a trip back home to see the parents when it comes time for a new season and switch out your clothes while you are there. Use space saving hangers and organizers in the closet area to keep thing in order. Find a small drawer unit to keep all your extra toiletries in the closet area well organized and easy to find. If you are unable to travel home when it’s time for a season change consider vacuum packing your clothing and storing them under the bed until you are ready to use them.

Use multi-purpose furniture throughout the room to get the best use of your space. An old trunk could be used for storing an extra blanket or jackets and could also be used for a coffee table for eating or entertaining. Using an ottoman for additional storing is a great idea and can bring in additional seating to the area for guests.

Utilize unused space on the floor and near the ceiling. This space can often go unused in a dorm room and if utilized correctly can really free up some space. Use short bins preferable on wheels to store things like dirty laundry, books, shoes or unused kitchen items under your bed. See if your collage allows you to put shelving units on the wall for storing books and necessities up and out of the way.

Keep clutter to a minimum on your desk. A desk is probably one of the most used spaces in a collage dorm and can quickly become cluttered and un-usable. Consider buying a shelving unit to attach to the desk to store your many needed supplies. This will keep them handy when you need them but up and out of your way. Try downsizing on the items you use on a daily basis. Having 20 different colored highlighters is fun but not very function-able when it comes to storage.

Last but not least consider grabbing an over the door laundry basket or shoe organizer. The door is there so you may as well figure out a way to use it! A clear shoe organizer can hold many different small items like toiletries, shoes, school supplies and snacks.

Now that you have your dorm room organized you will want to take time every week to keep it that way. Always put things back in there home when you have finished using them and once a week do a quick once over to make sure everything is in its place.

Do you have any great tips on how to organize your dorm room that have worked well for you?