8 Organization Hacks For Your Small Dorm Room
When it comes to college living, most students are staying in dorms that don’t offer too much space. While you don’t need a lot of room when you’re a college student, it can still be hard to organize all of your clothing, accessories, and school supplies—especially when you’re sharing space with a roommate.
Here are some great organization tips and tricks for your small dorm room so that you can maximize your space and keep everything neat, tidy, and extra organized!
1. Over-The-Bed Shelving
Storage space and shelving is typically very limited in most dorm rooms. However, you can always add some of your own! Right above your bed is the perfect spot to put in some cute shelves; they’ll be close to you and help you keep your stuff in your own space.
These kinds of shelves are usually pretty easy to install; you can find ones at Target that don’t require any nails or drilling into the wall. It might take some time initially, but having that extra storage will be totally worth it. Now you can be sure that you’re utilizing vertical space and keeping your side of the room extra organized!
2. Use A Shower Caddy
Shower caddies can you help you keep all of your toiletry items together, which is highly necessary when you’re sharing a bathroom with other people. Rather than trying to fit everyone’s stuff in bathroom drawers or in the shower, have your own little shower caddy where you can store everything you need for the bathroom. Also, if you have a community bathroom in your dorm, these are an absolutely essential thing to have!
When you’re sharing small space with others, it’s important to keep your own stuff all together and to make sure that you know where to find it. You also don’t want to take up too much space with your toiletry items, so narrowing it down to one shower caddy will help with that!
3. Use A Rolling Cart As A Side Table
Rolling carts are super popular, and they are absolutely perfect for using in a dorm room. While these can be used for many purposes (food storage, makeup and toiletry organization, etc.), they make great side tables to go next to your bed.
Many side tables just don’t have enough storage, and it’s no fun to have to get up out of bed to get something just because you don’t have enough room to keep it next to you. Rolling carts make it so that you have tons of room to keep all your most used items organized and close to where you spend your time relaxing!
4. Add In A Desk Hutch
There are so many ways to organize your desk area, and there’s lots of cute bins and organizational items to keep everything in order. However, you simply can’t beat having more space; adding in a desk hutch opens up your desk area to be used for studying and doing other things, rather than being a catch-all for everything you can’t keep in storage.
Desk hutches can be added to your existing desk, and they utilize that vertical space and give you more storage where you spend a lot of your time working. Now you can make sure you have all your studying tools right where you need them and maximize your desk area at the same time!
5. Hang Up Your Jewelry (& Other Accessories)
I often find myself just setting my jewelry on my counter or leaving it on my desk, which definitely makes my area messier and my jewelry harder to keep track of. Again, try using your vertical space and put a jewelry hanger on your wall.
You can hang more than just jewelry on these organizers and you can keep track of your smaller items much better. Also, you’ll be much more organized by having specific places for items like necklaces, earrings, sunglasses, etcetera. Hanging organizers always utilize wall space, which is a great hack in any smaller room or area!
6. Under-The-Shelf Baskets
These are exactly what they sound like—little baskets that can be attached to pre-existing shelves in your dorm room! They maximize your space and provide more storage to help you stay even more organized.
It often seems like there’s just not enough room for everything you want to keep in your dorm. These baskets give you that extra room to store more books, clothing pieces, kitchenware, or shoes. Target has some great options for under-the-shelf baskets that aren’t too expensive. You can install these wherever they fit, and they can easily double your shelf space in seconds!
7. Use Your Doors
Doors aren’t just empty vertical space; they’re an opportunity to maximize storage and provide even more organization in an unconventional spot! Over-the-door shoe storage is very common, and you can find all sorts of organizers that hang on your door. Also, you can keep other things in these shoe organizers, too—not just shoes!
You can also hang mirrors over your doors to save room. This could be on the inside or outside of your closet door, bathroom door, or room door. All of these doors can be utilized and hold extra storage. You’ll be using your minimal space in a super smart way, and you’ll also be so organized!
8. Bedside Pockets
Bedside pockets are smaller organizational tools that can go right next to where you sleep. These are especially great if you have a bunk bed and can’t use a side table for extra storage or organization.
These little pockets just go right on the side of your bed frame, and they can store important items like books, glasses, water bottles, and electronics—all things you need close to you when you’re in your bed. This hack will help you keep your essentials organized, and it will provide you with the opportunity to conserve space in a tiny area if need be!
