Living and Learning in a 10x10: 11 Easy Ways to Make the Most of Your Dorm Room

After one month, the dorm room that looked tidy and organized when you and your roommate first moved in, now regularly looks like it’s just been struck by a tornado. Books, clothes and papers mingle together in piles throughout the room. The desks, which at one time looked cleared and ready for a great semester, are now covered in notebooks, dirty dishes and whatever else you couldn’t find a spot for. It’s becoming painfully clear that adapting to living in a 10 x 10 space with another person isn’t as easy it seemed it would be on move in day.

Professional organizer Eileen Roth says while your room probably looked great on move in day, you didn’t have the organization methods in place to keep it that way. But with a little work, you can get it back up to code.

“For most college students, taking the time to organize a messy dorm room probably sounds less appealing than a trip to the dentist,” says Roth, author along with Elizabeth Miles of Organizing For Dummies (Wiley, 2001, ISBN: 978-0-7645-5300-4, $21.99). “But the reality is that putting everything in its place will dramatically improve your comfort level in your dorm room, your ability to concentrate, your efficiency, and in turn, your level of success at school.”

Organizing For Dummies provides a broad range of simple and proven ways to organize every aspect of your life—from your kitchen to your office or cubicle to your mind. The book is perfect for anyone, regardless of age, who wants more time, less stress, greater productivity, fitter finances, better relationships, and the space to live, work, breathe, and be.

“College is the perfect time to start mastering the organization skills that will be hugely beneficial later in life,” says Roth. “If you can organize a 10 x 10 room that you’re sharing with another person, you can organize anything!”

Read on for Roth’s tips on how to get your dorm room neat, tidy and livable.

Get rid of what you don’t need. “Before you get started organizing the room, go through it with your roommate and get rid of anything and everything you don’t need,” says Roth. “All those extra clothes that you thought you’d need but have no room for can be sent back home or donated! Those books from the class you dropped, return them! All those picture frames you have no room for, send them home! Once you rid yourself of everything you don’t need in your room, you’ll already begin to see an improvement.”

Trash it. While your instincts might tell you to get a small wastebasket for the room to save on space, the wastebasket is actually one place you don’t want to skimp on size. “What will happen is that your small wastebasket will fill up quickly, then you and your roommate won’t have the time or the inclination to empty it when it needs to be emptied,” says Roth. “As a result, your trash begins to take up residence in various other places around your room. Go ahead and get a nice big, plastic wastebasket that you won’t have to empty every five minutes. Keep it clean with a plastic garbage bag liner, and watch for spills and mold in the bottom. Keep a couple of extra trash bags at the bottom of the wastebasket underneath the open one, so that a replacement is always ready to go.”

Focus on one area and then start the timer. When you look around your cramped space and see all of the stuff that needs a proper home, you might become overwhelmed. And being overwhelmed usually leads to putting organizing off for another day. “To avoid that feeling, chunk your chores,” advises Roth. “Don’t try to do your whole room in one day. Do the closet one day, dresser the next, etc. For each area, set a time limit. It’s easy to get distracted, but if you know the timer is going off in an hour, you’ll focus on getting the job done.”

Set a deadline. Organizing your dorm room can be something you constantly put off for another day, especially as exams, papers and the fun of college extracurriculars begin to take up more and more of your time. “Pick a date on your calendar,” suggests Roth. “For example, your parents’ first visit or before you leave for Fall break. Set the goal to have your room completely organized and clean by that date. Having a deadline will help you plan out the process and will give you a little extra motivation on those days when organizing isn’t high on your priorities list.”

Clean up right now. Clean up clutter as soon as you create it. “When you’re done with a textbook, put it back on the book shelf,” says Roth. “Don’t just toss it on the floor. After you’ve eaten immediately clean up the mess and wash any dishes that need to be washed. This will prevent you from having dirty dishes adding to the clutter of your room. And hang up clothes or throw them in your laundry basket after wearing them. Spend 15 minutes at the end of each day putting things away so that the next day brings a brand new, tidy start.”

Set routines. Establish patterns. For example, do your laundry the same day each week, reorganize your desk on Sundays so that it’s done before the school week begins. Clean your dorm room on Thursdays so it’s done before the weekend, etc. “The more routines you can set, the faster and smoother things can go and the tidier your room will be,” explains Roth.

Create your own storage space. “To create more storage space, use bed risers so that you can fit more storage containers under your bed,” recommends Roth. “You might also consider lofting your bed so that you can put your desk or the kitchen space under your bed or your roommate’s.”

Reduce desktop distractions. You’ll be spending a lot of time at your desk so do what you can to keep the space as neat and orderly as possible. “Clear your desktop of anything that catches your eye and could lead to a distraction when you’re studying or working on an important paper,” advises Roth. “For example, no knickknacks, picture frames, or gadgets (other than your computer) should be kept on your desk. And keep your pens and pencils corralled together in a pencil holder or drawer (if you have one).”

Roll it out. Rolling carts are great ways to make up for missing drawers (if you have a small desk) or lack space for larger shelves or filing cabinets. “If you are really pressed for space, a rolling cart in your dorm room could be a shared school supplies container for you and your roommate,” says Roth. “When you have your drawer in place, create a drawer floor plan, including handy dividers.”

Maximize your closet space. Because dorm room closets are tiny too, it’s important that you use your closet space wisely. “If you have limited closet space, you might want to consider using an add-a-rod to double up on hanging shirts, blouses, jackets, jeans, pants and skirts,” suggests Roth. “The add-a-rod simply hangs from the one you have. Layering is another space expander if you have a long-hanging area. Here you hang a bar with holes for additional hangers from the rod. Use a hanging rack or pockets on the back of the closet door to hold your shoes.”

Keep your bookshelves up to date. It’s likely that you’ll have a ton of books each semester and not much space to keep them in. That’s why it is important to keep your bookshelf organized so that you can quickly find any book you need. “Before you arrive for the new school year, purge all books that you won’t need for the semester ahead,” says Roth. “When you arrive, if you and your roommate have to share the bookshelf divide the shelves evenly between the two of you so that you don’t have to look through your roommate’s many science textbooks to find the novel you need for your English class. Second, when you’re done with a book, always, always put it back on the shelf where it belongs.

Stack, tier and hang up your food. When it comes to storing food in your dorm room, think vertical. “Stacking up cans of tuna and tomato soup on the food shelf in your dorm room, help maximize your space,” says Roth. “Tiered layers or steps raise each row higher than the one in front of it so you can see everything. Tiering works well for canned goods. Use a coated wire rack on the back of the dorm room door for additional food storage space.”

Invest in double-duty furniture. Who can afford single-use furniture when space is at a premium? “Look for drawers, doors, and shelves in every piece you buy so it has a second use as storage,” says Roth. “You might have a drawer for reading material and a cabinet beneath where you can stock clothes. An efficient TV stand might include shelves to hold picture frames, DVDs, or extra supplies like cups, bowls and utensils.”

“What blocks your flow?” asks Roth. “Time wasters, distractions, and frustrations. Items out of place. Disorder, and the disaster that can result when you don’t plan ahead. Freeing your dorm room and life from the things that aren’t necessary and streamlining those that are is the best way to attain flow, find fulfillment, and achieve your peak potential throughout the school year.”