Guide to Organizing Your Dorm Room

Utilize the space under your bed. Remember when you used to clean your room by shoving everything under your bed? Now, you can finally get away with it! The space under your bed is a great place to store things like books, food, a laundry hamper, and more. Get a set of risers that will give you an extra 10 or so inches of clearance and open up a whole new storage area. Many stores near college campuses will sell cinderblocks for this purpose, but risers are a much more stable and safer option.

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Stacking organizers are your friends. Sometimes the best way to go when making new storage is up. You can use stacking organizers like small shelves, plastic drawers, and even a computer stand to help create more storage space in your dorm room. Plastic drawers often come in a size and shape ideal for under your bed. A few small shelves will help to keep your desk free of clutter. You can also keep your closet organized with some small shelves for shoes, toiletries, and anything else that needs a home.

Consider cord control. Between your computer, phone charger, lamp, and anything else you have that needs to be plugged in, there’s a constant mess of cords on your desk. Consider using a power strip, multi-port charger, or a surge protector (best option) for your devices. Consolidating your plugs into a single location makes it easier to organize them and keep them out of the way. If there’s still a mess of cords under your desk, get a small Velcro strap to tie them together to remove the eyesore and improve your dorm organization. Velcro makes it easy to undo them as needed if you have to take your laptop or phone charger with you somewhere.

Use drawer trays. It won’t take more than a couple of weeks before your desk drawers are a mess and half of what you had in there at the start of the semester no longer fits. Use drawer trays to ensure everything stays where it’s supposed to. Not only is it easier to keep your drawers clean and tidy, but it also makes them easier to open and close.

Hang things. There’s always space on the back of a door or under a desk to hang things. Use an over-the-door hook to hang a jack, towel, or laundry back in your closet, so you’re not taking up space where you have your clothes. You can also manage some of your charging cords and headphones by getting a headphone hanger that goes under your desk. Some come with USB ports so you can charge your headphones while they hang as well as your phone while you study at your desk.

Incorporate functional storage furniture. Living in a small space like a dorm room might make you think twice about adding anything else to the space. When you do bring in new furniture, it should do more than look nice. Consider items like a storage Ottoman, a coffee table with drawers, or bookshelves to add storage space. A storage Ottoman is a great place to keep shoes or extra blankets without cluttering the floor, then it can double as a seat when you entertain friends. Even if you can’t drill holes in the wall, you can still find shelves that can be hung using command strips or another adhesive.

Knowing how to organize a dorm room can make for a much happier semester. Even if you haven’t moved in yet, envisioning your space and gathering your thoughts ahead of time will make it much easier to control the clutter and focus on the important things.

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