The Ultimate Storage Solutions For Your Student Accommodation

By Sophia Mold, MA Creative Writing at University of Lincoln

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You can often be quite strapped for storage space in university accommodation, but with these clever and efficient storage hacks you’ll hopefully be on your way to the bliss of ‘tidy home, tidy mind’.

Drawer storage

There are a couple of tricks to help make the most of the few drawers you get given in the majority of student rooms.

One of these is to use dividers — there’s a variety of different styles of these for a reasonable price on Amazon. You can even get next-day delivery for free with Amazon Prime free for 6 months.

If you’d rather save your money for the pub, then you can also DIY your own drawer dividers out of old cereal or shoe boxes.

Another way, and possibly the easiest way, is to learn some efficient techniques of folding clothes to take up the least amount of room in your drawers. For example, folding t-shirts and then standing them up, or ‘filing’ them, vertically in your drawer, or rolling up your jeans.

As well as this, you can organise your clothes seasonally, so that clothes you don’t need to access through the summer or winter can be packed away leaving more space in your drawers.

Wardrobe storage

Wardrobes can be quite small and thin in student accommodation, so things like magic hangers, hanger connectors, and hanging closet shelves can be a life saver.

These will allow you to utilise the vertical space of your wardrobe once you’ve filled it width ways.

Another way to smartly make use of empty space is to put a set of plastic drawers in the bottom of your wardrobe to store items like shoes and bags. You can find cheap sets of drawers at places like Argos and B&Q.

As well as this, you can think outside the box, or outside the wardrobe, and use the space on top of your wardrobe. With stylish storage boxes from shops like Wilko, you can store things outside of your wardrobe or drawers without it looking messy or being an eyesore.

Desk organisation

Stationery can sometimes be the hardest thing to store neatly; most of the time you will end up with pens rolling around and notebooks and paperwork cluttering up your desk.

It’s a good idea to buy some pen pots and desk organisers to keep all of your stationery in one place tidily. There are so many different stationery organisers and mini desk shelves available, so you will easily be able to find one that matches your aesthetic.

Another trick to keep your stationery organised and stored away is to use a cutlery tray in a drawer; it works just as well with pens and pencils as it does with your knives and forks!

To keep your notebooks, paperwork and files stored neatly you can find many different styles of file trays or magazine files, or you could even buy a small bookcase to fit under or alongside your desk.

It’s especially helpful to have a bookcase if you have a lot of textbooks or literature to read for your course.

Over-door hooks

Over-door hooks are a great way to make the most of every inch of empty space in your room. Along with this, they allow you the advantages of hooks without you having to drill holes in your walls or lose your deposit.

Over-door hooks can be used to hang up coats and jackets, or to hang over the door storage for items like shoes, bags or anything else you have lying around.

Alternatively, you could have over-door hooks on your bathroom door to hang your towels or a dressing gown, or equally for over the door storage for all of your toiletries.

Multi-use furniture

Furniture takes up a lot of space, so a great way to fully take advantage of that space is to use furniture with multiple purposes or built-in storage.

A good example of this is an ottoman, which can be used as seating, as a footstool, and as storage. Another suggestion is a bedside table with drawers, or space underneath, for extra storage. Furniture can sometimes be a bit expensive, but you can get stylish storage for less with money off.

It’s also a clever idea to utilise the space underneath your bed. The vast empty space under your bed is perfect for storing large items like suitcases, moving boxes, or even a Christmas tree! You can also pack away the seasonal clothes mentioned earlier under your bed.

This list of storage solutions will help you make your student room practical and tidy as well as stylish! Just because you’re short on space and budget, doesn’t mean you have to be short on storage.

If you found this helpful, why not find out how to make extra cash to fund your room upgrades.