Organizing Your Bedroom: Make Your Room Work For You

Is your personal space a disaster area? Does your bedroom look like a high pressure storm just passed by? This article will help you get ideas on the basics of organizing your bedroom, personalizing your space and making your room work for you. Specifics may vary from person to person; however, the following information includes helpful and important guidelines from which everyone can benefit.

Your bedroom is the center of your life. If you're like most teens, you organize your social life, hang out with friends, play music on your iPod, surf the Web, have quiet time and still find time to study... All within the confines of those four walls. But organizing your bedroom sometimes falls by the wayside.

The fact that your room serves many purposes makes it all the more important that you pay attention to how it's structured and organized. The ideal layout should reflect your personality and feature a smart layout that will help you juggle every part of your life.

The first step to organizing your bedroom is to designate different areas for various tasks. Think of areas you will need, such as space to entertain and relax, study, store personal items and get dressed. Once this has been decided, it will be easier for you to organize your school supplies, CDs, DVDs, clothes, accessories and everything else you need.

Take the time to add personal touches to your room, after all, this is your room and it should say something about who you are!

Organizing Your Bedroom: Fun and Function - Creating Your Living Space

Entertainment Area
Having a fun living area in your room is a great way to relax; this is where your entertainment system (including TV, DVD player, stereo, etc.) should go. If you don't have enough room for a beanbag chair, make sure you can see your TV from the bed (this will make it much easier to relax!).

When setting up your gadgets, keep in mind the different restrictions that you might have - not just space and outlets, but time management as well! That TV or video game system may not be such a great idea during finals! And, don't forget about chargers for cell phones, MP3 players and any other electronics you have. You'll need to keep those ready to go.

Remember, if you have a lot of gadgets, make it a point to stay safe! A surge-protected power strip is perfect for your computer (and all of its various parts, including printer and speakers), but be careful not to blow a fuse by plugging every electronic you own into the same outlet. The idea is to out spread all of your gadgets. In other words, keep your stereo and TV plugged into a different outlet than your computer.

Study Area
A designated study area is a must in every room. A desk is a great place to do school work or even surf the Internet. It's a good idea to position your desk (where you'll study and store all your school supplies) away from your bed, the place you go to relax. This might also help reduce the temptation to take that unplanned study break.

When deciding where to set up your desk, make sure that you have access to an electrical outlet. You'll also need plenty of room for power cords and connections to operate your computer and other equipment.

If you have a computer, whether it is a PC or laptop, you'll need to make room for it on your desk. If you have a laptop, ask your parents for a raised docking station this will give you room to store notepads, pens, calculators and anything else you need to tackle your homework. PCs are bulkier, but won't take up all of your desk space if you properly arrange your items. Put your printer and base unit on the floor, or even on a sturdy bookcase. This will clear plenty of space, and you'll still have easy access!

Don't forget about organizing your bedroom for all your school supplies. If you're like most students, you most likely have a large collection of supplies, such as highlighters, paper or binder clips, pens, pencils, paper, a stapler and a three-hole punch. If you can't fit all your supplies in your desk drawers, look for colorful and fun, small baskets, penholders and other desktop storage to help keep these small items in place and reduce clutter.

See our organized to learn article for more helpful tips on organizing your bedroom.

Shelves and Storage Solutions
Shelves, colorful crates, stackable bins, caddies, totes, hat boxes and pull-out organizers are just a few of the many items you can use to store and transport stuff. Use storing solutions, rather than wasting valuable desktop space or piling your stuff on tables or the floor. Stash away:

- Framed pictures, drawings and mementos
- Books and textbooks
- Notebooks, notepads and loose-leaf paper
- School supplies
- Small storage containers
- CDs and DVDs
- Toiletries

The great part about using storage products is you can place them exactly where you need them, and mix and match items to create a storage system that works for you.

Organizing Your Bedroom: Containing Clothing Chaos

As most teens have quite a bit of clothing (not to mention shoes and accessories), you'll need a dressing area, as well as a way to organize your closet and dresser.

Dressing Area
The easiest way to set up your own personal dressing area is to position your dresser by your closet! A must-have for every bedroom is a mirror, hang it over your dresser or lean it up against a wall. Having a mirror in your room lessens your morning time crunch by letting you accomplish many tasks at once, such as styling your hair, applying makeup and accessorizing.

Dresser
Try to make the most out of all the drawer space in your dresser which means neatly folding clothing and using dividers or small baskets to keep items (like socks) in their own area. Many space-savvy teens store makeup and hair accessories in their dresser. Store these items in trays, which will keep these small pieces from getting lost.

Closets
Bulky items, like jeans or sweatshirts, take up a lot of space, if you can, store them in the closet or under your bed. This will leave plenty of room for shirts, pants, underwear and other essentials.

Stackable shelving is great way to use the empty space at the bottom of the closet and is perfect for storing sweaters, jeans or even books. Another great idea for organizing your bedroom is an over-the-door shoe organizer. This inexpensive option is a great way to clear up floor space plus, you can store accessories or hairbrushes in unused pockets!

If you don't have a closet door (or don't want to use an over-the-door organizer), shoe shelves are a great solution. These free-standing shelves easily store and organize virtually any type of shoe.

If you don't have enough closet space, try raising your bed (with the help of your parents and some sturdy supports). You'll hardly notice your bed being six inches to a foot higher, but you'll immediately have a place for out-of-season clothes or even a rolling cabinet.

Organizing Your Bedroom: Personal Touches

The best part of your bedroom is that it's yours. This is your space, and the way you want to decorate it should be uniquely your own. If you don't already know what personal touches to add, try experimenting with these popular design elements (don't forget to get your parents permission first):

- Framed photos of your and your friends
- Posters
- Colorful tapestries
- Different colors of paint (try painting the walls one shade and the trim another)
- Pictures from magazines

Wow, we've covered a lot! From basics of room layout to organizing your bedroom, we hope you've picked up some useful tips for making your room work for you. The bottom line is that learning how to best manage your space and time is a skill that will last a lifetime!

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