Back-to-School: Organizing Your Dorm Room Desk
August 20, 2012
Once again, the summer has flown by and we are surrounded by back to school ads and supplies. If you or your child is heading off to college, you might be wondering what the best way is to organize the dorm desk. Here are some possible solutions to help you maximize your space and still be organized:
- Drawers – add drawer organizers to your drawers to help organize the smaller supplies, like tape, stapler, staples, scissors, etc. Squish drawer organizers are reasonably priced, come in fun colors, and have many sizes to allow you to customize any sized drawer. With a place for everything and everything in its place, you will never have to waste time searching again!
- Desktop – You want to keep this space as open and clutter free as possible. This is your workspace when you study, so you want to be able to spread out. If you don’t have enough drawer space for your little things (pens, pencils, tape, scissors, etc.), then consider a desktop organizer that doesn’t have a large footprint.
- Over the Desk – many dorm rooms have a shelf over the desk. This is a great place to keeps books, reference material, notebooks, etc. Use bookends to keep things from falling over and magazine files to contain folders and notebooks.
- Under the Desk – if your desk is lacking drawer space, you can use a multi-drawer storage chest under your desk.
- On the Wall – magnetic strips provide a handy place to keep calendars, schedules, reminders, etc. You can also purchase magnetic storage tins to hold smaller supplies like push pins, binder clips, paper clips, etc.
Some schools can provide dimensions or additional information about your room before you arrive. This can be extremely helpful in allowing you to plan your space ahead of time. If not, don’t worry – you will have time once you arrive and get settled. Use these suggestions to make it easier to find what your need when you need it and have an effective study area. Keeping your desk organized in college is the first step to creating good study habits. Congratulations – college is such an exciting and memorable time in your life. These organizing skills that you practice in your dorm room will serve you well the rest of your life!
Back-to-School: Organizing Your Dorm Closet
August 16, 2012
Since most dorm rooms aren’t spacious, it’s safe to assume that closet space isn’t going to be plentiful, either. Despite most dorm room closets being about three feet wide, there are plenty of ways to store all of the essential wardrobe pieces you can’t live without. Here are some suggestions on organizing your dorm closet and utilizing its space:
- Most dorm room closets only have one closet rod installed. Double your closet rod space instantly with the Double Up Adjustable Closet Rod. This closet rod requires no tools for assembly and installation. Simply hang the closet rod on an existing closet rod. Equipped with six storage hooks to hang accessories like belts, purses, scarves and hats, this closet rod can be placed at your choice of eight heights to accommodate your storage needs.
- Multi-tier hangers are another way to store more clothing options in tight dorm closet spaces. The Six-Tier Blouse Hanger is able to hang six different tops on one hanger. Each hanger arm is rubber coated to prevent your garments from falling off of the hanger and onto your closet floor. You can also apply the same space-saving solution to your pants with the Five-Tier Swing Arm Slack Hanger. Four rubber coated swing arms and bottom chrome wire bar provide hanging storage for up to five pair of pants on one hanger.
- Adding some hanging closet shelves is another option to increase your dorm closet space. A great way to do this is with the Six-Shelf Hanging Closet Organizer. This hanging closet organizer hooks onto your existing closet rod, only taking up 12 inches of hanging space. Each of the six shelves measures 12 inches wide and 12 inches deep giving you plenty of space to store t-shirts, jeans, sweatshirts and sweatpants. This hanging closet organizer measures 50 inches long, however, if you don’t want to use that much vertical space, a Three-Tier Hanging Closet Organizer is also available that measures 25 inches long.
- Taking the idea of hanging closet shelves a step further, the Canvas 10-Pocket Hanging Shoe Rackoffers a space saving solution for your shoes, while keeping them organized. This hanging shoe rack will only take up five inches of closet rod space while storing up to ten pairs of shoes. Each pocket is 12 inches deep and can also store purses, gloves, hats, and more.
- Even your jewelry can find a place in your closet thanks to some great space saving products. The Hanging 80-Pocket Vinyl Jewelry Organizer has an attached chrome hook that takes up less than two inches of space on your closet rod and is a great alternative to jewelry boxes, cases and drawer storage trays. If you like a little bit of edge, the Corset Hanging Jewelry Organizer is something to consider. One side of this hanging organizer has 23 clear storage pockets to hold rings, earring and other small accessories. The other side has 20 Velcro straps to store and organize bracelets and long necklaces to prevent any tangling.
21 Clutter-Busting Habits
August 16, 2012
Last week, Rita brought her 21 Tips to Help Kids Become Clutter Busters. Today, she brings you 21 tips for adults!
Our clutter does not come from being messy, lazy or disorganized, it comes from four goofy habits:
~Saving things that we never need or use
~Insisting on bringing in things that we never need or use
~Never deciding on a place for things Continue Reading