We’ve all been there: Life got crazy and you got busy with work, school, your social life (or all of the above), and now your room looks like the aftermath of a war zone.
I know I’ve done this (basically every year, if I’m honest). But this year, I’m stepping up my organizational game.
To combat this mess before it starts, I’m gonna be covering some of the best room organization tips around.
These tips are generally good for dorm rooms but can work for any type of bedroom. They’re designed to make it easier to get and stay organized, even when life gets crazy.
Let’s get right to them!
{RELATED POST: Dorm 101: Must-Haves for Dorm Organization}
Table of Contents
1. Make your bed.
This is not really a room organizing tip, but it sets the tone for your whole space, so that’s why it’s the first thing on our list.
Your room can look untidy or messy if your bed is left undone, so make your bed up first and then tackle the rest. (The rest will feel a little easier when your bed is made, promise!)
This article lists a lot of benefits that come with making your bed each morning including a boost in productivity and happiness.
2. Invest in a rolling cart.
You can find these carts at a number of locations, and they are worth their weight in gold.
The one above is from Amazon. I like it because it comes in six colors and with some of the options, you can buy accessories to add more storage.
These are great because you can use them to hold basically anything. I have a white one and when I still lived in the dorms I used it to hold my dishes and cooking stuff. In my apartment, it is my beauty storage solution.
These carts are really versatile, and always look good. I’ve even of some people using them as a bedside table which is genius. The possibilities are endless!
3. Use the space under your bed.
If you have a specifically small dorm room and have to loft your bed, this is kind of a given, however, those who don’t have lofted beds (say, us apartment-dwellers), should utilize this space too.
It may not seem like there’s a ton of room between your bed and the floor, but that space is crucial for staying organized.
You can use a variety of storage options for under your bed, from baskets to plastic bins, and a number of things in between. (See Amazon’s Under-Bed Storage section for a full list of options!)
Most people recommend using clear plastic bins so you can see what you have under your bed without needing to open it. This is especially great if you live somewhere with drastically different seasons and you need somewhere to store your out of season clothes.
4. Hang things on the back of your doors.
Like the space under your bed, the space the back of doors is usually not used to its full potential. So my best tip is to use it, ASAP!
The best part about this tip is there are a number of items that can help you use this space. Personally, I hung a full-length mirror on the back of my door and hung shoe organizers on the other ones. (You may need to talk with your roommate about the main door, but the one for your closet, if you have one, has limitless potential.)
My favorite tools for this are over the door shoe organizers, which can be used for more than shoes — invest in a few and you’ll see what I mean.
5. Get a pegboard, corkboard or other hanging storage.
I’ve talked about these in my post on photo wall ideas, but you should definitely use cork and peg boards for organization. These are versatile enough to use for storage and design purposes. Talk about a win-win.
This is a really good room organization tip because you can use them to hold just about anything depending on the kind you choose.
Pegboards are best for kitchen items or maybe some heavier accessories like purses. Corkboards would work well with small items like jewelry.
6. Get some customizable and affordable fabric bins/storage cubes.
I’m sure we’ve all had, or know someone who has had, a cube organizer with or without fabric bins. I somehow ended up with two.
I do love mine, though, because they hold basically anything. I use mine for craft supplies and another one for my makeup/hair-care.
You can also personalize these pretty easily. You can paint the shelves and switch out the fabric bins for ones that match your color scheme better. They also stack really easily and don’t take up a lot of space, perfect for dorm rooms.
7. Clothing racks always pay off (plus, they’re Instagram-worthy).
Most apartments and dorms don’t have the largest closets. I know mine never had a lot of room. This is where one of my favorite room organization tips, investing in clothing racks, comes in.
I got a clothing rack before my sophomore year and I ended up using it after I moved dorms to become a Resident assistant and, man, was that a worthy investment.
My room had little storage, especially for clothes so I kept some of my most used items, and my outerwear on the rack. Not only was it easy to access but I was able to use it as a part of the decor. I would recommend one of these to anyone who can’t fit their clothes in their closet.
The biggest thing is to make sure it will fit in your room and that it’s easy to put together/take apart.
8. Organize your cords with this DIY charging station.
There are a few iterations of this type of project online. I like this one because it doesn’t bend your chargers, something I am guilty of and that I know depletes their life cycle.
It’s also fairly simple to make. The hardest thing to do is cutting the holes out which should be pretty easy if you’re patient and take your time. It also gets rid of cord clutter and replaces it with this really cute box.
9. A bedside organizer helps collect your miscellaneous items.
This is especially good with a lofted bed so you don’t have to climb down to reach everything. It also means you don’t necessarily need a bedside table if you have a regular height bed and space is at a premium.
I kept one of these bedside organizers in my room my freshman year and it almost always held my phone, a flashlight, and my glasses. It was really nice to just set my phone there and not worry about losing it in the sheets (and/or causing a fire!) or it falling off my bed.
10. Use pop tabs or closet organizers to hang more clothes in your closet.
I have a lot of clothes, and you probably do too if you read CF on a regular basis. My wardrobe basically doubles in the winter too, thanks to layering. So I need a way to store as many pieces of clothing as I can.
Enter: Double hangers.
These are specific hangers that basically double or triple the amount of clothes you can fit in your closet. They hold your hangers and stack them, then hang your clothes vertically. I’ve seen people do this with pop tabs or chains as well. I’m thinking this might be something I invest in.
Just be careful not to overfill your closet or overload your closet rod! Dorm closets in particular are usually old and no one wants a broken closet.
What are your go-to room organization tips?
How frequently do you organize your room? Do you have any tips on how to do it? What tips are you most looking forward to trying?
I don’t live in a dorm, but I don’t have much closet space so I like the hanger tip for storing out-of-season clothes!
I’m glad that this was helpful! I know the struggles of limited closet space all too well.