Dorm Hacks Told By A High School Student

Depending on your region, you may be going off to post-secondary in either August or September. Some students may also end up living in dorms or renting a place nearby their college or university, well, whatever that may be, here’s a few tips (from a current high school student) that may be useful!

I put together a small list so that it can sort of help people get together a list of stuff they’ll need prior or college/university, and I tacked on “told by a high school student” because some items on the list I might find useful, but it may not be the case for others. Though, hopefully, you’ll find this list and go “Oh! I might actually need that!”.

Yup, going straight into this list! I remember Poo Pourri many many years ago from an ad I saw on Youtube, and it cracks me up every time I see this ad (which isn’t often). I would’ve expected to find it at Shoppers Drug Mart or Walmart, but get this, I spotted this at Indigo! For those who don’t know Indigo, it’s a Canadian bookstore chain that also includes Chapters and Coles and more. This is so weird!

How it works, is that you use few sprays before uhm, you know, and it should mask the stink. I personally think this could be useful, and that maybe some schools could invest in this. So for a dorm, it would probably save your room mate  when they get back, or it would make for a good bathroom scent-er. Up to you!

The Power Of Steam! Well, more specifically a steamer, especially if you have clothes that can get wrinkly. Or if you don’t bring any wrinkle-prone clothes with you off to college/university, I believe some steamers are able to sort of act as a stand in for dry cleaning? Not entirely sure how that works out fully, but the heated steam should be able to kill/remove bacteria so it does have some uses.

I think the best time to get them are in sales, so check them out for the Boxing Day and Back to school sales.

Garment covers (I don’t know any other name they could be known as) will protect your clothes from dust and etc when you aren’t wearing them. Of course if you have a large bag, you can cut some holes into the top so you can stick the hook of a hanger through it, and voila! A cheaper garment bag!

Though, if you have more than one garment you might want to protect, may I suggest in investing in one of those block-looking garment bags? They go across the hanger bar and look like a giant clothes shaped plastic block, but you can stuff a good amount of clothes in there.

This is rather vague, if I’ll be honest. But what I’m referring to are organizing bags in general, which can be anything from clothing bags, shoe bags and etc (Not toiletry bags because that’ll be left for later). If you don’t have room in the common area of your dorm room to place your shoes, get some bags large enough (or buy a shoe bag) to put them in and they can stack in your room.

Also, if you don’t have enough shelf or drawer space and might have to consider putting your clothes on the ground, there are square clothing bags you can use to prevent them getting dust and other things on them. It doesn’t have to be the vacuum sealed ones either.

In the chance that you have very little vanity space in the bathroom, or have a public bathroom you have to share with those on your floor (I honestly don’t remember if I read about this in a book or a text but just in case). You can place your toiletries into a toiletry bag, or shower items into a plastic bag so you won’t be lugging around an armful of products. They aren’t just useful for trips!

Okay, I feel like this is a no-brain-er but it’s still best to get a reminder of it I guess? My suggestion is to have an arsenal at least 2 tumblers, so you have a spare ready if you misplace or forgot to clean one. I would suggest a plain stainless steel one that’s the most basic, and can hold (depending on the brand/type) both hot and cold liquids. Personally I prefer a glass bottle for cold drinks, but I’m also in a household with like 20 reusable tumblers and etc so there’s a lot of choices available.

Personally, I find this a necessity in a household or dorm but I guess a filter would be enough if your dorm has rules against certain appliances. While I know some would just fill up water from the tap without boiling or filtering it, I was kinda groomed from a young age to avoid it at all costs. 

Anyways, I hope this list will be useful for those who are doing college/university shopping early. It would help if you share this list with people who might need it! I also know I’m like 2 posts behind and honestly, it’s been a weird week so I’l work hard to bring the second post out ASAP on top of the scheduled one on Sunday.