Follow These 5 Tips to Organize Your Dorm This Semester

It seems like it all happens at once. One day you’re off to school and your room is in order, the next you return to what appears to be the aftermath of a natural disaster in your dorm room. Every now and then, we all get caught up in the ebb and flow of life, whether it’s our job, our school work, our social life, etc. All of these external duties and responsibilities can sometimes force us to neglect the very place we call home, leaving it a complete mess.

If you are swamped with a messy dorm and unsure of how to organize your small area, these five tips should help you tackle just about any problem!

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1. Use the Space Under Your Bed for Storage: In a dorm, the most important thing to do is to utilize your space the best you can. In a lot of cases, this means sacrificing some furniture items to make the space livable and breathable. A full-sized dresser and a bed can take up a large amount of area in a dorm, which is where storage under your bed comes in to save the day! A great way to organize your bedroom is to purchase bed risers to lift your bed frame, then store clothes, books, bedding, etc. in plastic containers! Because of the risers, they’ll conveniently fit underneath your bed, leaving you much more space and organization in your room.

2. Break It Down Into Areas: Looking at the big picture of organizing your dorm room can send you straight into a panic attack and leave you more uncomfortable than before you started. To make organizing your dorm feel more achievable, break each area down and focus on one space at a time.  For example, desk organizers and floating shelves are great ways to clear up space in your study/office area. Put important items, books, pictures, etc. on floating shelves to free up space on your desk, and get organizers to hold important documents, office supplies, and files to make your desk workable again! In the bathroom, get rid of old soaps, shampoos, and anything that is cluttering the area. Next, get some drawer/shelf organizers to help sort through various products in your vanity or on your shelves. Finally, put all cleaning supplies in a small cubby so they are easily accessible when you need them!

3. Hack Your Drawers: For a lot of us, drawers are an absolute disaster that are to be avoided at all costs. As the semester becomes bogged down with assignments, studying, projects, and tests, the last thing on your mind is organizing your drawers. However, this drawer horror story can be completely alleviated just by simply doing a few easy hacks! For instance, reuse an old shoebox to create dividers in your drawer and eliminate unnecessary clutter. Organize your drawers by clothing type such as t-shirts, pants, pajamas, etc. For extra points, consider getting a hanging organizer you can put on a wall or in a closet to store your clothes for the week ahead, saving you the time and hassle of having to pick the day of and destroying your drawers!

4. Create Spots For Loose Items: We all have that one spot in our space that is occupied with mail, important papers, receipts, etc. that we avoid for obvious reasons. While this pile can be overwhelming to deal with in the moment, it will be even more terrible when it’s piling over into your bed or study area. To help you stay organized, get yourself an accordion folder to clear out your tower of paper terror! You can label the slots in the folder with the respective name of the items you wish to put in it (i.e. “work,” “school,” “bills”). While you’re at it, purge all of your old quizzes, tests, essays, worksheets, etc. I promise you will NOT need those in the future.

5. Try a Monthly Clean-out: One method I utilize when I want to organize and reduce clutter is what I call, “The Six Month Method.” Obviously, you will not be in your dorm for longer than four months at a time, but this method can be shortened to fit whatever your life looks like. To keep your space organized, try doing a monthly or bi-monthly clean-out. For example, go into your closet or drawers and evaluate what you have. If you have not seen it, worn it, or touched it in the months you set for yourself, truly ask yourself if it is worth keeping. This applies to items like clothes, shoes, old papers and magazines, old makeup, toiletries, etc., not sentimental items or anything that matters to you! By using this method, I can’t tell you how many times I was able to clear out clothes and unnecessary clutter! Doing this helps you not only get a grasp of the items you have but also visualize how much you can physically get rid of.

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Getting your dorm organized may sound stressful and tedious, but in the long run, it can motivate and inspire you to maintain a neat and clean space in the future. Rome wasn’t built in a day, so remember to be patient and tackle one area at a time.