5 New Semester Resolutions for Your Dorm Room

This is a guest post by Bryden McGrath.

After the parties, the stress of finals and those all-night Call of Duty marathons, some of the sparkle of your first semester dorm room is probably gone. That’s why this spring semester is exactly the right time to come up with some New Semester Resolutions for your dorm, and then come through on the improvements.

Try out a new arrangement

Ask your roommate(s) first. This is one of the best ways to make your dorm room feel new again – combine beds, move desks, replace pictures of Ryan Gosling with pictures of the Old Spice guy. There are tons of ways to go about rearranging, and it will feel like you just moved in.

Better pillow + throw blanket = quality sleep

Your bed should be your sanctuary. In college, you need every minute of that hour of sleep you’re getting after cramming for your 8:30 a.m. midterm. That’s why a couple great down pillows and throw blankets are an excellent trade for your ratty old pillow with the drool stains that you’re pretty sure your parents bought you in the sixth grade. Your body and brain will thank you.

Invest in a mini-fridge

So your parents said you won’t need a mini-fridge because the dining hall is a minute away from your dorm room. Well, after the first three days that dining hall food gets to be pretty repetitive. A mini-fridge lets you store beverages (non-alcoholic, of course) and snacks like yogurt. Plus, Frosted Flakes with some cold milk has never tasted better after the fourteenth straight day of having dining hall French toast for breakfast.

Guys, especially: Refill those Glade plug-ins

After an entire quarter or semester, there were bound to be some shenanigans going on in a dorm room shared by a couple guys. Be honest with yourself – it stinks. That funky smell from your Rock Band drum kit never went away. Plus, your roommate only showers on Tuesdays. Seriously, just go buy some air fresheners or Glade Plug-Ins. Girls might even come through your door again. Girls!

While you’re cleaning or rearranging, know where you put your stuff!

Write a list. Type it out on Word. Use Evernote. Make sure you know where you put your erasers and Wite-Out. That way, you won’t waste two hours looking when you have two finals and that 15-page research paper due the next day. In college, it’s survival of the fittest. And by fittest, I mean organized.

Photo courtesy of rich701 via Flickr (CC BY 2.0).