Back-to-School: Organizing Your Dorm Room Desk

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!