At home, I was always the friend with the messiest room ever. Clothes were piled in mountains all over the floor and nothing was ever in it's place. Moving into a dorm was a huge transition for me because I was forced to share a space with someone else. This meant I could not leave my stuff all over the place like usual. I did not want my roommate to hate how messy I was. I also did not want to be embarrassed to have people see my dorm. As a result, I learned how to keep my room neat from these tips.
1. Make your bed
The first thing I do when I wake up in the morning is make my bed. I know this may seem like a huge hassle; however, it is an easy way to make a huge difference in how clean your dorm looks. Also, people will actually be able to see what the cute bed spread you bought looks like.
2. Do your laundry
An overflowing laundry bin does not look very neat in a dorm. It is easier to do a small load of laundry weekly than having it pile up inside your room. Trust me, you do not want to spend an entire day having to do about four loads of laundry.
3. Put away your clothes
This goes along with doing your laundry. It may seem like a simple task, but every messy person knows it is even easier to just throw both clean and dirty clothes on the floor. In the dorm, this is asking for a disaster to happen. Not only could your clothes get mixed up with your roommate's, but it could make a small space look even smaller.
4. Throw away your trash
If not, your room will smell bad. No; Febreze air fresheners will not fix it. Not only does it smell bad when you leave trash in the room, but it looks horrible. No one wants to hang out in a room that reminds them of a dumpster.
5. Keep your stuff on your half of the room
Your roommate is not going to want you to take up the entire room with your excessive amount of stuff. They have one half, and you have one half. Keep it that way.
6. Take advantage of storage bins
I have extra bins, drawers, and other items to help me store all of my stuff in. This way, everything has a place and everything is stored in it's place. You won't lose anything and you will not have to throw your items in random places.
7. Keep a clear desk space
I personally do all of my school work at my desk in my dorm. This does not mean that I flood my desk space with papers. My desk is neat and tidy. Everything that I work on at my desk gets put away as soon as I am done with it.
8. Leave your old messy habits at home
A dorm is a way to start fresh. It is a new living space, so it is up to you how you choose to keep it. My suggestion is to leave the messy room you used to live in at home. Work on creating organization habits that work specifically for you.