Comments on: College Life: Making your dorm room livable

By: Rebecca

Rebecca — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 17:14:32 +0000

Istead of spending money on risers, my roommate and I bought cinderblocks from Home Depot to use as bed risers, and then I used under the bed boxes to store things. My mom and aunt liked to send me copious amounts of toiletries, so I used to keep a box with all that under my bed, as well as an extra blanket and a box with all my sweaters/scarves/etc in it so it wasn’t taking up room in the closet or dresser.

I had a large enough closet that I bought a plastic drawer unit and used that for my socks and underwear and then could store other stuff in the dresser drawers, too.

By: Twin XL

Twin XL — Fri, 08 May 2009 01:56:58 +0000

I dont think that many dorms will allow you to loft your bed, but I do have risers under mine that allow for a little more storage. It’s nice!

By: Franco

Franco — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 04:37:15 +0000

How about selling some stuff?
At The SOC Exchange.com – http://www.thesocexchange.com

You can sell anything you want, sell as much as you want and sell for as long as you want, for just $1 a month, FLAT RATE. Total!

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By: Minimalist

Minimalist — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 14:43:05 +0000

Put those bookshelves they give you on top of the desk…then you can house all of your books, printer, mail, etc in one spot.

Also if you can do it– bring your own desk chair, it will make working at your desk that much better and you can use the extra college issued chair for guests/storage.

Bring one winter coat, change things up with hats/scarves.

See if your facilities will allow you to call and move furniture out of your room…sometimes you can have that bookshelf/dresser taken out. This is good for people in triples, etc.

By: Erica

Erica — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 11:20:04 +0000

Great point Marc, is there info on that elsewhere on this site?

By: verily

verily — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 13:39:35 +0000

I lucked out and got a dorm room on the end of the building that was about 2 feet longer than the other rooms due to how the building jutted out there. So I wedged some plastic garage shelving and a plastic cube into that space.

I didn’t have much stuff. I could move in and out with just one car trip. But the benefits of having that shelf there just to store food, school books, my phone, and other random items in an easy-to-reach fashion was immeasurable.

My dorm configuration didn’t support this, but I saw a kid at my sister’s school stick an over-the-toilet spacesaver shelf over the minifridge to make an instant pantry.

By: Gretchen

Gretchen — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 19:15:18 +0000

A tip that I didn’t figure out until my senior year (alas!): put a bookshelf on top of your dresser. It adds an amazing amount of storage without taking up valuable floor space.

By: Karyn

Karyn — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 14:40:39 +0000

Oh, and on that loft link…those are not lofts that have rails along the bed, they’re just risers, so if you have any history of falling out of bed (even as a kid, as I did a lot), please do not consider a lofted bed without a rail.

I don’t even let my kids have bunk beds, I’m that paranoid. It just takes one fall.

By: Andy

Andy — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 13:51:31 +0000

@Karyn – Wow, dear! How rational. I’m moved to tears.

By: Karyn

Karyn — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 11:43:25 +0000

I have to be the buzzkill here and caution against lofting the bed. My freshman dorm at college was originally nun’s quarters, and so the rooms were VERY very small. Most everybody had the college-sanctioned, individually built, very sturdy lofts to put the bed above the built in desk and leave a little space for a chair or bookcases.

Middle of my freshman year, I fell out of the loft while sleeping, and broke my back on the concrete floor (I had a thin carpet on top of the floor, which probably saved me from being totally paralyzed from the waist down).

Yes, there was a railing. But if you move around a lot while sleeping, or have a bad dream, you can actually roll over the railing unless it’s high enough.

While I was in the hospital, my brother went to my dorm room and, according to my friends, practically tore that loft down with his bare hands. A few other students took theirs down, not wanting to end up in a back brace like me for three months.

I wouldn’t risk safety for a little space. I found I could get by just fine without the loft–under the bed storage worked just fine, so did paring down my possessions (not that I had a lot to begin with).

By: STL Mom

STL Mom — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 00:26:16 +0000

I remember there was a guy in my freshman class who was legendary for showing up in the fall with two suitcases and a guitar. That’s it. I thought that was SO cool. Not sure I could have done it, though!

By: Lizzy

Lizzy — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 20:19:26 +0000

As Libby suggested, you really do not need that much stuff. I, too, went to college with incredible amounts of clothes, and my mother just looked at me as if I were crazy. Moms are always right, of course. I could have gotten by with about 1/3 of the stuff that I took. I could have taken a small amount with me and asked my mom to ship items to me as I needed them or I could have brought more stuff at Thanksgiving. Now I share a 400 sq. ft. apartment in NYC with my husband, and I have very little stuff!

By: Michael@ Awareness * Connection

Michael@ Awareness * Connection — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 23:28:11 +0000

As I had a roommate, we did the bunk bed thing. I also set up a set of cinderblock shelves on top of my desk Up through my 20s those cinderblock shelves went with me everywhere I went. Not pretty, but they were practical and pretty portable for little money. Back in those days the container store was outside my price range.

By: Héctor

Héctor — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 22:49:37 +0000

I love back-to-college tips! Thanks!

By: Marc

Marc — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 21:56:30 +0000

If you store digitally always remember to backup! It’s a disaster to loose critical files.

Consider the numerous online backup that can automate your backup. In my opinion this is especially important with a laptop which is more likely to be damaged or stolen than a desktop.