The average college dorm room is less than 130 square feet, which means proper utilization of storage space is essential to maintain an organized living environment. An easy solution to limited dorm space is using plastic storage bins to organize and store your personal belongings. You can save a lot of space by raising your bed and placing a few 52 quart storage containers underneath.
We recommend buying storage containers at your closest retailer since they tend to be more expensive online. Some good stores to shop at include The Container Store, Bed Bath & Beyond, Walmart, Target, and Home Depot.
Stacking drawers are a great way to organize and store miscellaneous items like medicine, snacks, cleaning and cooking supplies, etc. A lot of students use 3-tier stacking drawers with attachable wheels instead of a traditional nightstand.
Most college dorm rooms have one closet shared between roommates, which means you’ll have to implement some creative space-saving strategies. One popular solution for shared dorm closets is a hanging shoe rack with flat shelves. Utilizing vertical closet space creates extra room for your shoes, hats, bets, gloves, and clothing.
Closet hangers seem very obvious, but a lot of people forget to bring them in the chaos of preparing for college move-in. You might also want to consider bringing a few cheap shelf dividers if your shared closet has top shelving.
Command hooks and strips are the best multipurpose tool for college dorm rooms. You can use them to hang towels, jackets, belts, hats, pictures, and tons of other things. The best part is they leave no hole in the wall, so you don’t have to worry about paying any damage fees when you move out of your dorm.
Sharing a small living space with a roommate can lead to mix-ups over personal belongings. Labeling items is an easy way to keep your dorm room organized and prevent any accidental confusion.
Campus security does a great job of keeping students safe, but property theft still occurs in college dorms. You might want to consider bringing a small safe if you plan on having cash or valuable items in your room. While it’s unlikely you’ll have personal belongings stolen, it’s usually better to be safe than sorry.
College students have a bad habit of losing things, so we recommend getting an electronic safe for your dorm room.
If you’re concerned about laptop safety, you can always purchase a laptop lock. The downside is the locks are fairly expensive, so most students set password locks and enable gps locators (like Find my Mac) to deter theft.
The most common causes of property theft in college dorms are leaving your door unlocked and roommates stealing from you. You should have a discussion with your roommate about your policy on locking the door when you’re not home.