5 Ways to Organize a College Dorm Room

The day you move into your college dorm room can be exciting and fun. It can also be hectic and disappointing as you realize the small space you will be living in. But with a few tricks and tips you can organize your college dorm room in a way that makes it livable and gives you more space. Here are five ideas for organizing your dorm room to get you started.

Bed – Start out with your bed, this will be the biggest space requirement for your room, but it can also be a way to save lots of room. If you are allowed to bring your own furniture to your dorm room, consider the possibility of having a loft bed. This gives you a separate sleeping space up off of the floor and plenty of room below for other items. Under the loft you can place a desk, a dresser, a bookshelf or whatever other large items you may have. Having a loft also gives a clear definition on what is “your side” of your college dorm room if you are sharing with a roommate.

If you can’t bring your own bed, or you don’t want to move in a large loft, you can still use the space around your bed. Purchase bed risers or blocks to raise your bed a little higher off the floor and use the space under the bed for storage. You can use plastic drawers or containers to store clothing, books, movies and many other items in your dorm room. Place items in a convenient order so you can slide them in and out to get what you need when you need it.

Closet – Your college dorm room may come complete with the smallest closet you’ve ever seen. But don’t worry, you can make it work. Make sure to utilize ever inch of space in the closet. Where your hanging clothes end is where you can place plastic drawers or shelves underneath to store extra items. If the closet has a high shelf it may not be convenient to place everyday items there, but use that space to store items you need to have on hand, but that you use infrequently. For your hanging clothes it’s a great idea to find hangers that allow you to hang multiple items in a vertical fashion. Wonderhangers is an example of this storage option, but you can use any brand you will be happy with. You can also use hanging compartment storage. This vertical hanging shelf hooks onto your closet rod and gives you multiple compartments where you can store shoes, folded clothes or other items.

Plastic hanging shoe organizers can be the best purchase for your college dorm room. You can purchase multiple organizers and hang them on whatever door space you have available. Organize not only your shoes, but also things like desk supplies, scarves and gloves, snacks, toiletry items, even school assignments. The possibilities are endless for these plastics organizers, and because they are clear you can separate items and see everything all at once.

Entertainment Center – Of course there is more to college than just studying and doing your own laundry. You will want to have your TV area ready for viewing. The most convenient item for your college dorm room will be a TV/DVD/VCR combo system. Not only will it save you shelf space to store this, it will be simpler to move in and out with just one item, and the connection time will be practically nothing. If you have quite a DVD collection that you want with you at school you may want to bring the movies and leave the cases behind. Purchase a CD case holder with plenty of disk slots and transfer your movies into this one holder. And as a tip you may want to write your name on your discs with a permanent marker for loaning purposes. Keeping all your DVD’s in one place also lessens confusion over which movies belong to who when you are sharing with a roommate.

Bathroom – If you will have your own bathroom in your college dorm room consider yourself lucky! Purchase a shelf with suction cups that will easily stick to your shower wall. Keep all of your shower items neatly on the shelf and avoid stepping on them on the floor.

If you will share a community dorm bathroom (as will most likely be the case), purchase a plastic basket with a handle and assemble all of your needed shower items in one place. This basket can slide under your bed or a specific place in your closet and then you can pull it out just to take to the shower.

Food area – During your college career as you pull all-nighters and all-night movie marathons you will need food in your dorm room. The best way to do this is have a shelf dedicated to this need…preferably next to the mini-fridge that you will need. Have a shelf with 3 or 4 compartments and purchase plastic square baskets that fit into the shelves. These will serve as sort-of drawers, you can organize your food into these different baskets and then when you slide them into the shelf it hides the food from sight and gives it a neat appearance. If you’re sharing with a roommate you can even have separate baskets to keep your food in your own space.

Just remember, college dorm rooms can be small spaces, but you can organize them and keep them looking pleasant for you, your roommate and your friends. And even though your dorm room may be small, it will be a place full of fun and memories.

Happy Organizing!