Have you ever heard the theory that cluttered surroundings can contribute to a cluttered mind? At the very least, good organization proves to save time and energy, so one of the most important spaces to keep clean is your room. Teaming up with HCND, Ryan Hall RAs Kelsey Weber and Mary Wickert, and former Lyons Hall RA Lizzie Helpling share their tips on keeping even the tiniest of dorm rooms spick and span in today’s edition of The Dorm Room Survival Guide: Organization.
Over time, a messy dorm room can become a black hole fit for swallowing term papers and rain boots alike, and it’s much easier to ward off sickness when germs and bacteria are kept at bay. The first step in organizing this small room is to designate a specific storage space for each of your belongings. Crates, baskets, and shelving units of any kind are a tremendous help for storing miscellaneous items, and if you and your roommate can’t find a use for something, a friend down the hall probably can. One of the prime places to buy these storage units is at the Fall Mall during orientation weekend because you can usually find useful items for a low price, and upperclassmen can provide insight as to what you’ll actually need in your dorm better than any sales consultant can.
Clothes and shoes obviously belong in drawers and closets, but it’s easy for piles of laundry to accumulate on the floor if opening the wardrobe means stuffing a shirt into a jam-packed sardine tin or unleashing an avalanche of clothing. When the dirty clothes pile up, a stench is sure to follow, and the chain reaction of grime begins. Want to maintain a clean room? Maintain a clean closet.
First and foremost, you will have to part with some of the clothes you have in your dresser at home to make room for the articles of clothing you’ll wear on a regular basis. A good rule of thumb is to donate anything you haven’t worn at least once in the past year. Once you know what you plan to pack, think of how it will fit in your closet. Some clothing items can take up significantly less room if folded neatly and placed into a set of drawers, or even plastic bins. A hanging shoe organizer can then save space on the floor of your closet, leaving room to place a tension rod for a second row of clothing. Hangers that hold multiple sets of clothing will become your secret weapon.
“A key strategy will be utilizing your dorm’s storage so that you can switch out seasonal clothes and shoes,” explains RA Kelsey Weber, “For example, in Ryan Hall’s basement you can store luggage and boxes during the school year, so in the fall and spring I would put away my puffy coat, snow boots, etc. in my suitcases so that they didn’t take up usable space in my closet. If there isn’t a lot of room in your dorm’s storage, you can always store things in tubs under raised or lofted beds. Same idea, different storage location.”
Even if your dorm room is organized, it isn’t necessarily clean. Remember to set aside time to dust, vacuum or sweep floors, cleanse surfaces with Clorox wipes, and spray Lysol– especially during flu season. You’ll want to bring a waste basket to campus, and take out the trash regularly. ND graduate Lizzie Helpling suggests keeping plastic bags on hand and bringing plenty of air freshener, and Weber recommends that you “…work together with your roommate to vacuum or clean the sink, whether it be taking turns or cleaning together once a week (or just before your families come to visit). It is nice to have some small cleaning tools on hand like Febreze, a duster, and Windex. There should be vacuums and brooms in your dorm for bigger scale cleaning.”
Admitedly, between classes, research, internships, and volunteering, a number of activities take precedence in our lives before we even think of making time to clean. Says Ryan RA Mary Wickert, “Keeping your room clean can be a challenge, but that’s something that you and your roommate could work out. Some people can deal with a mess, others can’t. My best advice would be that if you’re a messy person, try to keep your mess contained to your own area. Everyone gets busy and cleaning your room isn’t usually a priority, but keep in mind that you share a room with someone else who might not like having all of your stuff thrown around the room.” As Wickert reminds us, dorm room maintenance is a group effort. Divide and conquer the work, and before you know it, the task is done.
Read the last installment here: The Dorm Room Survival Guide: Laundry! And keep an eye out for the final issue of The Dorm Room Survival Guide: FAQs, featuring questions from the class of 2018!
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