Are you living your best dorm life?

Photo illustration by Kylee Weber

It’s the first month of school and that means a clean slate for your new dorm room. As many upperclassmen know, you have limited space inside your dorm. However, what if you could create more space, incorporating an open concept into your new living space? If you’re looking for ways to organize your dorm room to use all the potential space you have, then follow these tips and tricks.

Raise Your Bed

This is the easiest way to create more space in your dorm room. This will allow you to store more items under your bed and open up the room. However, the dorm bed posts will only go so high, so you can simply buy bed risers (less than $10 at Walmart). They come in all shapes and sizes, and some even have power outlets. Allowing this open space under your bed will make your room cozier and comfier. Don’t worry, you most likely won’t fall out of bed. If you do get worried about that, make sure you have a comfy rug to cushion your fall.

Underbed Storage

This cheap trick will save you the headache of going through bin after bin, trying to remember where you put your biology book. Using cheap cubicles from Amazon, you can store books out in the open, allowing you to grab and go on your way to class. There are other cheap storage units you can use as well. There are also drawer systems you can find at Walmart that won’t break the bank. Using these simple storage units, you can find what you need and not make a mess while doing it!

Label

Label, label, label. This is the easiest way to know and remember where you put something. This cheap trick allows simple bins to become more organized and utilized to their full potential. Simply get a sharpie and write what you will use that bin for. For example, you can create a bin only for towels, extra bed sheets or snacks. Labeling these bins will bring a sense of calmness to your life when you can’t remember which bin you put something in.

Open up your living space

If you are living in one of the apartment-style dorm rooms on campus, you have a living space that seems stuffy and unloved. Opening up this living space will allow you to have a cozy locale to do homework in or pig out and watch Netflix (while trying to ignore your roommate). This living space can be utilized in several ways. The easiest way to do this is to find which way you like your furniture and automatically, your space opens up. A simple folding table can be used in so many ways from homework, to dinner or a quick card game.

Utilize every tool      

A shoe organizer can be used for more than just holding shoes. If you have a rack-style shoe organizer, you can also use it as a drying rack. Over time, you will learn that the dorms’ dryers don’t dry every piece of clothing equally. If you use your shoe organizer as a drying rack for your clothes, be sure to lay them over the rack neatly and straight; then, in a few hours, your clothes will be dry. If you have a hanging shoe rack, you can use this to create more storage space in your closet. You can put extra pieces of clothing in those cubbies to maximize all that space in your small closet. An over-the-door shoe hanger can also be used as extra storage for shampoos, perfumes and other bottles. 

Command Hooks/Strips

These lifesaving tools are an easy way to hang things up and keep them up. Command hooks and strips can be used for so much more than just hanging pictures, too. You can hang hats, necklaces, scarves, jackets and even backpacks. You can find command hooks at almost any store like Walmart; plus, they are reusable. Using these hooks and strips will allow you to take clutter and create a spot for it. If you can hang it, you can use these hooks. This is not an advertisement for command hooks, but man, they will save you from clutter.

Decorating

Decorating is the best way to make your dorm room more livable. The cheapest decoration to make your room more livable is extra lighting. Using twinkle lights or lamps will make your room cozier and not quite as bright as the overhead light (or in some cases, might be quite a bit brighter than the overhead, but in a good way). A cheap way to fill empty wall space is to purchase a shower curtain with a design on it. All you need is scissors, tape and fabric glue: this will create an easy DIY tapestry. Decorating your dorm with personal pictures on your wall will allow you to feel more at home and ultimately will save clutter created by all those picture frames on your desk.

These tips and tricks will allow you to thrive in your new dorm room. Don’t feel like you’re living in a prison cell, open up your space and make it feel like home. Who knows, maybe you’ll find your own clever ways to organize your dorm room with your own personal touches. However, be sure to utilize all your space in the room and remember that everything has a place.