This post is all about the best dorm desk essentials you need for college.
Find all the best dorm desk essentials I recommend to keep you organized and productive every semester!
Dorm Desk Essentials Every Student Needs
In your dorm room, the two most important pieces of furniture will be your bed and your desk.
While your bed will take on many important functions, including the place where you sleep, read, study, complete assignments, and watch Netflix.
Your desk, on the other hand, can easily help you perform these functions, plus more, except sleeping.
The desk in your dorm room can help you:
- Design a personalized workspace where you prepare for exams, read, plan, or complete class assignments.
- Create a mini kitchen where a quick sandwich, a bowl of cereal, or a mug cake can be prepared.
- Put together a temporary bar for the dorm room parties, you are probably not allowed to host (Yes, to these dorm room parties on Friday night!)
- Create your own beauty space where you can apply your makeup and style your hair comfortably.
So, overall, your dorm room desk will be just as important as your bed. Therefore, it must be arranged purposely to add value to your college lifestyle.
For instance, my roommate and I used our desk to create a workspace. However, a few of my college friends didn’t have the same vision.
Instead, some used their desk to create their own beauty space, or mud area, where they place their book bags or backpacks after class.
So, don’t be surprised if your roommate’s desk or your college friend’s desk setup is different from yours.
As long as your desk setup fits your college lifestyle, you are well on your way.
Now, if you intend to use your desk as a workspace, use these dorm desk essentials to help you create your own personalized, clutter-free workspace designed and organized to help you get stuff done and perform at your very best.
The Best Dorm Desk Essentials
1. Academic day planner
I can’t recommend an academic day planner enough on here.
In fact, using a day planner will help you stay on track in college. Furthermore, it is one of the items you will buy for college that’s guaranteed to have a positive impact on your college life when it is used consistently and correctly.
Now there are many academic planners with different designs – some are great and some not so much. However, I highly recommend this one for college students on a budget.
Overall, it’s an amazing budget-friendly planner – it has great, useful sections, it’s well-designed, and it’s not bulky.
It was my main planner before I switched to the Erin Condren planners.
Now, for the planner addicts out there, the Erin Condren planner needs no introduction.
Overall, this planner is amazing, and you get what you pay for.
For me, it’s the quality of the paper and planner layout that has me hooked.
I highly recommend the Erin Condren Horizontal Weekly Life Planner if you don’t mind splurging a little on a day planner for college.
2. Sticky notes
Where would we be without sticky notes?
Who would have thought something so simple would be so useful?
I have a confession, I am addicted to using sticky notes! These are a must-have study essential for me.
If you ever rent textbooks, from let’s say Amazon, you are not allowed to write in rented textbooks.
Personally, I rent a lot of my textbooks because they are cheaper to rent, and I use sticky notes to summarize paragraphs, as scrap paper for quick calculations, and even as bookmarks.
Now you’re maybe saying, girl, why don’t you use paper and call it a day?
Well, the thing, by using sticky notes, you can actually place notes or calculations next to the corresponding paragraph or question without having to mark the book.
Plus, you don’t have to worry about the notes or calculations being misplaced, unlike a loose sheet of paper.
Furthermore, at the end of the semester, all you have to do is remove the sticky notes and return the books unmarked.
Overall, a set of sticky notes can last you a whole semester, depending on how you use them. Plus, they are affordable.
If you rent your textbooks or don’t like writing in your textbooks, consider using sticky notes.
3. Desk lamp
Using an arm desk lamp with a clamp is a good way to keep your desk lamp out of sight and out of mind! This one is small yet powerful.
Overall, I like the design of the dimmable adjustable arm desk lamp with a clamp – it gets the job done, plus it saves you some space on your desk.
That was actually my first pick – it was affordable, and didn’t get in my way, so overall it served me well.
Now, if you want a desk lamp that can do other things like charging your cellphone, then this LED desk lamp with clock, alarm, and charging capabilities may impress you.
This little gadget will light up your world, charge your mobile phone, and still display the time.
Overall, not a bad deal.
Now, if you want to save some money and can do without the clock, then consider this LED desk lamp with charging capabilities.
One of the easiest ways to save money and space is to find items that are multi-functional.
This desk lamp with a pen holder and charging capabilities is a great example of that.
Now, my college roommate was a boujee one! LOL! Yes, so she wasn’t going to settle for a desk lamp with a clamp. Nope! She had this beautiful modern gold desk lamp, very similar to this one.
The main difference was that hers didn’t have charging capabilities. Now, I am sure she would have loved this one.
It would have matched her gold-themed perfectly.
So if you want to decorate your college desk with gold accessories, you should without a doubt consider this gold desk lamp with charging capabilities.
This black desk lamp with charging capabilities will also look great with a black and gold theme college desk decor.
4. Desk organizer
A desk organizer is a must-have if you want to keep your college desk clutter-free and organized.
5. Desk monitor stand
If you intend to use your college desk for long periods at a time, a desk monitor stand can make your experience more pleasing and comfortable.
This one has a few slots you can use to organize your desk as well.
Overall, it doesn’t take up too much space, and it’s affordable.
Plus, you can easily store a keyboard the length of the Apple Magic Keyboard and a mouse at the bottom.
I bought one a few months ago, and I have no regrets. I use mine as a laptop stand – I just place my laptop on it and I get to work.
6. Desk file organizer
A desk file organizer keeps copies of your syllabi and other documents organized for easy and quick access.
Now, I wish this desk hanging file organizer were a thing back then. I really like the added storage compartment below.
7. Stationery organizer
Keep things simple with a black stationery organizer or a rose gold stationery organizer.
These have different storage compartments to keep all your stationery and/or makeup organized.
Plus, it can also be used as a decorative piece.
My roommate got a black one, but she later spray-painted hers to match her theme.
8. Desk mat
A desk mat is a three-in-one product.
We used ours as a decorative piece to complement our desk, as a mouse pad, and to section our workspace on our desk.
Apple products rarely disappoint, so I wasn’t surprised by the quality of this Apple Magic Keyboard.
Clearly, Apple understood the assignment.
Now this keyboard is pricey. However, typing using this keyboard is amazing – strokes are precise, and no strain on the fingers.
I am not going back to using other keyboards for my Mac laptop.
9. Mouse
After splurging on the keyboard, I had to find a cheaper alternative to the Apple wireless mouse.
Thankfully, I found this ultra-slim wireless mouse – it looks great next to my Apple Magic Keyboard, and it works great.
10. Phone stand
This bunny phone stand is just the cutest! You can use it as a phone stand and as a headphone stand.
11. Over Desk Shelf
Our dorm room desk included an over-desk shelf, and it was so useful.
However, not all desks in dorm rooms include an over-desk shelf.
If your desk doesn’t include one, I highly recommend adding one to the desk.
Overall, it helps you expand your working space by adding an extra area you can use to store items like books and other personal items.
12. Drawer dividers organizer
These drawer dividers and organizers are a game changer!
I used these to store pens, pencils, makeup brushes, makeup foundations, kitchen utensils, and more.
If it fit, it was in there.
13. Ruled index cards
Studying in college is important if your goal is to maintain a very high GPA.
Now, while studying is not the only way to maintain a high GPA, it’s certainly one of the best ways to avoid failing classes miserably.
So get a set of ruled index cards before the semester starts to help you organize your study sessions and/or to help you study on the go.
14. Index cards organizer
Using index cards for studying is great!
However, using an index card organizer to keep all your index cards neat and organized for easy access is even better.
15. Power strip
A power strip will easily become one of the most-used items in your college dorm room, especially when you have friends over.
Imagine having two friends over and they both need to charge their laptops and/or cellphones, but your side of the room only has a double-wall socket, and your devices are currently plugged in.
Yes! Now they both want to unplug their devices to charge their devices!
Get a power strip and avoid these situations.
16. Cable holder clips
A set of cable holder clips will help you keep cable cords organized and in place.
Plus, it will help keep your desk area safer by lowering the chances of you tripping over cable cords.
That can be so annoying and dangerous, too.