12 Tips For the Perfect Dorm

image courtesy of digdog

A big issue college students face is dealing with a lot of stuff in a little room. Dorms are relatively small and your space must be managed wisely or else your roommates will get pissed. Although I don’t live in a dorm, my living area is roughly the size of one. I will share with you little tips and doo-dads on how I manage with the space.

In today’s post, some points will be directed to dorms while others to apartments. I understand that eating situations differ with different audiences. Even if you haven’t moved out of your parent’s house yet, you can still take my advice to heart.

1. Stacking Shelves Pending on where you live, there are different rules. Most dorms will not allow you to put up shelves or do anything that involves nails. Some apartments may permit it while some wouldn’t dare let you push a thumbtack into their dry walls. The point is, you have to work with your surroundings. Can’t nail shelves? Stack boxes against the wall to maximize your space. Shelves are very important in a living space for it can serve multiple purposes. It’s a place to put your books, backpack, laptop, TV, radios, etc. without investing in different mounts and tables. Also, take advantage of hidden spaces in your area such as vacant spots under counters or in corners. There’s always a hole ready to be filled with your junk.

2. Create Partitions and Sections Go out and get some small containers to hold your little items. IKEA’s got some great collapsible containers that you can store anywhere. Do you just leave your keys by the door? Get a container for it. Do you pile your pencils on your desk? Get a container. Remote on the table? Get a container. Reefer on the TV? Get a freakin’ container. Now that you’ve got your little containers, let’s move on to what you do with them.

3. Designate Specific Spots Assign your stuff to a place/container and STICK TO IT. If you have your bills in a box, ALWAYS put it in that box. If you have a cup for your pencils, ALWAYS leave it in the cup. Your area will be less cluttered if you commit to this AND your things won’t get lost as easily. We all waste a lot of time scouring our rooms for misplaced items. If they were given spots to stay in, we would never misplace them.

4. Always Build Up When you’ve got a small place, sometimes the only way to go is up (do it like the Jeffersons). Going back to the box shelves, you can create room dividers with them as long as you stabilize it. You can cover an entire wall with them. Bunk beds are a great idea if you’re short on space. Living by yourself? No problem! Get those bunk beds with the bed on top and nothing on the bottom so you can stack more stuff there. Try to leave your floors as clear as possible and maximize your central space to give your room optimal space.

5. Clean Out Seasonally Check your closet. If you have swimming trunks and a wool coat in there, you’ve failed. Your clothes are some of the most mess-inducing substances in your home. Drawers are always full of clothes you don’t wear. Closets are vomiting out ancient apparel. Take some time and choose what clothes you need and don’t need. Then out of those chosen few, decide which is appropriate for the current season you’re in then pack the rest away in storage. If it’s summer, do away with the heavy jackets and leave them at your parent’s place. Clothes and dead skin are the main culprits for a dusty room. Do yourself a favor and do-away with it. The Salvation Army and Goodwill will be happy to take them off your hands.

6. Eradicate Space Consuming Media The compact disc is dying out and die out it shall. Not just CDs, in fact, DVDs too shall fade away. I suggest you purchase a nice big external hard drive to store all of your music and movies into. I understand it can be a pride thing to show off your substantial music or movie collection but no one really cares if you’ve got all 12 versions of Star Wars or the Director’s/Producer’s/Sound Technician’s cut of the LOTR series. If you must keep CDs and DVDs because you’re A. Poor or B. a freak, get a big CD folder to archive everything and do away with the cases.

7. Frugal and Mindful Furniture Shopping If you have the chance to buy your furniture (or scavenge craigslist for it), try to find furniture that works for smalls spaces. For example, the captain beds are really cool. You know, the beds with the drawers on the bottom so you can put stuff in. Desks with a second (or third) story are cool as well. Check out Ikea Hacker for ways to modify your furniture to better suit your needs.

8. Keep Surfaces Clear Here’s a toughie that varies with different crowds. If you want your place to look organized, neat, and sleek, avoid putting anything on surfaces. That is, nothing on your desks, nothing on your tabletop, and nothing on the top of your boxes. This will give you a very decluttered zen look. This one is very important to me because it really works instantly and helps me crank out better material. Now many people would rather style their places homely and add personal flairs. Though it does make the environment warmer, it also gives it a slight smothering/cozy feel. I tend to lean towards that every now and then but I have realized that a clean and sleek environment boosts my productivity. I’m in college to work, not to have tea parties.

9. Create a Disciplined Cleaning Schedule Force yourself to clean, even if you don’t think you have to. I like to make myself clean at least once a week to maintain everything. If everything’s relatively organized, scrub a bit or vacuum. Dust never goes away so you always have to deal with that. Always do dishes right after you eat or the buildup can get gross. Maintain your habitat and your habitat will maintain you.

10. Share With Roommates If you and your roommates share taste in stuff and are close enough pals to share (after all, you are sharing your homes), take it one step further and share more. you guys can probably share one desktop computer if you needed to, even though everyone has laptops nowadays. Share bookshelves, share dishes, accounts on the computer; there are lots you can do.

11.  Use Lighting To Your Advantage I’ve come to realize that a lot of college kids out there prefer a dark living environment. This is a terrible idea, you vampires, get some light in. Always take advantage of your window placement (if any) and position mirrors to lamps and sunlight to redirect the rays. Standing lamps are always cool if you position them cleverly. The truth is, light can make the size of a room double if used correctly. It exposes all the dark vacuums in your place and allows a sense of openness to invade your living quarters.

12. You Don’t Have Room For Everything Since money is such a big deal to us, we have to control our compulsive shopping. Aside from rent, gas, and food (which you still have to consider your choices carefully), there should be a 30 day list for you to put that item on. If by the end of 30 days you’ve lost interest for it, you would not have the need to buy it. This goes for movies, clothes, furniture, appliances, and more. Cut down to essentials because your living situation may not handle that extra closet of clothes or a new turntable.

There is my list of effective management you can put forth into your agenda. Mold and shape my advice to suit you however you wish as long as you don’t compromise and underestimate yourself. There are all the little things that we can get into such as eating out vs cooking or even the type of furniture you should be looking at and where. For now, consider these twelve tips. If you have any thoughts about these tips or if you would like to add some of your own, feel free to drop it in comments.