College Closet Essentials

Scared about slimming down your closet essentials when going off to college? Here are tips to help organize your dorm room closet.

Packing. UGH. The thought of packing up all my clothes into one tiny dorm closet gives me hives. How are you supposed to pack up 18 years of your life into one little, bitty space? The average dorm room closet is approximately 24” deep x 36” wide x 84” high. Now, I know what you are thinking and yes, it is tiny. That is why maximizing your space is key.

There are a lot of products out there, but we have curated the best of the best for you with this essential guide to your dorm room closet.

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Step 1

Get rid of things that you do not need (AKA all those clothes that are a bit too tight that you are holding on to until you lose a bit. You do not need that added stress).

Step 2

Only pack a few of everything. I know you are thinking – how am I going to live without my 15 pairs of yoga leggings? It’s a harsh reality to live, but it will save you the headache of trying to jam all those leggings into a drawer.

Step 3

Grab yourself some closet organizers to help divide up your tiny space to fit everything.


This small hanging organizer fits perfectly into small spaces and provides maximum storage. This organizer has seven hooks and ten storage sections to fit your leggings, tank tops, scarves, belts and more. Keep items organized, easy to find and wrinkle free.	Need more drawer space? Add this hanging drawer to your closet to maximize unused space and create additional storage drawers in your closet. The ideas for this guy are unlimited. Store clothing, accessories, purses, pashminas, and camisoles.	When space is limited, these hanging shelves is a way to customize your closet storage and keep all your belongings nice and neat. There are six open compartments that can store shoes, clothes, and accessories all while keeping your space tidy.

To help create even more space try this over the door closet storage organizer. This is perfect for your clutches, shoes, sunglasses and small accessories to get them off the floor of your closet to save space. The back of the door is one of the spaces in a dorm that is very useful and highly unthought of. Take advantage and gain valuable extra space! Plus, you can grab-and-go as you leave so you’ll never forgot your items. The organizer fits over interior doors up to 1.75”/4.4 cm thick. Organize all your small essentials in one place.	Remember when I said, you don’t need 15 pairs of leggings? Well, here comes another truth bomb - you probably don’t need 30 pairs of shoes either. I know, the insanity! Adding a shoe rack to the bottom of your closet will give you the extra space to squeeze in one or two additional pairs that you cannot live without. The vertical storage will make sure your shoes are not in one giant pile at the bottom of your closet and you can easily see what pair you need to grab if you overslept that alarm!	If there are clothes and shoes you cannot live without, the thought of going off to college without them just seems, well, impossible. Take your closet under your bed! These fabric under the bed storage organizers let you stretch your closet storage out. With the see-through lid that zippers shut, you’ll be able to stay organized and quickly find what you need. These fit under the bed and you can stack them! Plus, it keeps the bulky nonessentials out of the way but still convenient to grab when you need them.

Step 4

Take a deep breath, relax. It’s going to be fine. You can survive minimally, right? Well, just think of it this way. It’s only a year and then you can move off campus and find a giant closet and not even worry about this. HA! But seriously, organizing your closet effectively you can take way more than you think. With all of these organizational solutions, you won’t be saying goodbye to all 15 of your leggings, maybe just two of them?

Step 5

Set up your new space and enjoy yourself and maybe you won’t be embarrassed if your mom decides to stop by.

Check out our full Back to College blog series for more inspiration.

Laura Sirk is a Marketing Manager at mDesign
and loves all things organization and cats. She’s one cat away from being a cat lady. MEOW!

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