It’s that time of year where students are off to university and The Store Room’s Salford team have listed some great hacks to save space and make your room feel like home.
1. Wardrobe Space
Your university room may have a lot less storage space than you are used to, and a lot of university halls only provide a wardrobe and no drawers. To utilise the space better, you can buy a hanging wardrobe organiser, to give you shelves within the wardrobe. There are also other versions of this for your shoes too!
2. Desktop Organiser Shelf
This is essentially a small shelf that sits on your desk to house books and stationary and should help keep your desk tidy so you can focus on completing your work. If you are planning on taking a monitor with you, it’s also a good idea to get a shelf for your monitor to sit on, because it’s better ergonomically than just using your laptop, but it also provide more room underneath that you can store other stationary.
3. Utilise Space Under Your Bed
Most beds will have space underneath them which is perfect for fitting bulky suitcases that you used for moving. You can also get boxes that have wheels on them to help you easily access and store items underneath your bed (perhaps for more clothing storage if your clothes seem to be spilling out of your wardrobe space)!
4. Bed Risers
If your bed isn’t high enough, or you want to create a bit more space underneath the bed you can purchase some bed risers. This means you should be able to fit bigger items underneath your bed (like a bulky suitcase). You can also get some high-tech ones that have charging ports in them, so you don’t need to faff around with an extension lead!
5. Storage Mirror
A lot of student housing don’t have full length mirrors in your room, and if you need one, you can purchase a mirror with storage in it. There are lots of different types such as; skinny ‘jewellery storage’ mirrors, larger mirrors with hanging storage behind them (which could be perfect for hanging your coats, and even mirrors that have drawers at the bottom).
6. Cable Management
Cables can really get in the way of your work space so it’s great to invest in some cable management items. You can get “cable tidies” that hold all your wires on your desk or under desk basket trays to hide your cables. It could also be worth investing in some cordless items such as wireless charging ports.
7. Multifunctional Furniture
If you are planning on bringing some furniture with you, like a mirror as mentioned above, it’s best if the furniture can double as something else. For example, If you need a stool for your desk, you can get some that have built in storage space. You can also get other stools that turn into a side table and 5 other stools, which is perfect if you want to have people over to socialise, or even chairs that turn into single beds so that your friends can come and visit.
8. Think About The Layout
A lot of university rooms are quite small so it’s important to make the most of all the space you can. Think about whether you can you push your bed up against the wall to make more space. Do you have space under the desk to fit an extra set of drawers?
9. Utilise Your Door
Something people forget about is getting storage from your door. If it doesn’t have any built in hooks, you can buy over the door storage. Whether this is an over the door coat rack or an over the door shoe store, it’s a great way to free up space elsewhere in your room, and keep things looking tidy.
10. Self Storage
A lot of students sometimes overpack and don’t have anywhere to keep their things, so using a self storage unit can be beneficial if you have too much stuff and don’t have space for it. It’s also a good idea for students to use self storage when you go home for the holidays, so that you have somewhere to keep your items rather than having to lug them back (and might save an argument or two with your parents)!
The Store Room wish the best of luck for the year ahead to the students returning to university over the next couple of weeks. Remember to work hard, but also have fun.