white and blue designed student's room

8 Ways College Students Can Furnish Their Dorm Rooms on a Budget

Resuming college as a student means you have lots of expenses on your neck.

There is so much you need to buy or pay for that you don’t have much left to furnish or decorate your dorm room. However, this is also an important part of being a college student.

So, you must find a way to do it, even if it means doing it on a budget. Since you’ll be spending most of your time in your dorm room, it’s essential that you beautify it to your taste as much as the available funds allow you to. 

Thankfully, there are several ways to furnish your dorm room on a budget to make it more comfortable for you.

trendy college dorm room for student

This article discusses some of them:

  1. Get the dorm essentials first

Before you start decorating and exhaust any money left on decorator items, look around your room to see if you have the essential items. At least your room should have:

  • High-quality bed linens
  • Dirty laundry hamper
  • Clothes hangers
  • Dishes and utensils
  • Towels

If you have these essentials, then you can move on to decoration. 

  1. Buy secondhand décor

Buying secondhand material isn’t old school. It’s an important part of the college experience as you want to save as much money as possible. You can buy secondhand art, furniture, and decorations.

Secondhand furniture is usually cheaper than the new ones, and it’s more sustainable because it has a lower consumption. 

  1. Share the bill with your roommate

If you have a roommate, that gives you an advantage. It means you don’t have to furnish and decorate your dorm room single-handedly. Typically, you’ll need over $100 to furnish their apartments.

You may also need to spend over $900 to prepare for school resumption. So, you may not have much left for room décor. 

The easy way out is to divide these expenses with your roommate. For instance, furnishing your dorm room becomes easier if both of you figure out who buys the curtains, furniture, rugs, etc. This ensures that you both achieve your goal without burning your pocket completely. 

  1. Thrift store shopping

Many students don’t like DIY. They do the same with their essays, dissertations and assignments, outsourcing it to a top essay writing service or looking for the best dissertation writing service to help them.

If you also don’t like DIY and can’t do your room décor, you should consider shopping at thrift stores. This is cheaper to add more character to your room, with cute knick-knacks, retro artwork, and antique chairs. 

  1. Plan to shop during sales seasons

The goal is to save some money while spending on decorating your dorm room, and this is another way to do it. Not everyone likes secondhand materials, and that’s understandable, but you can decorate your dorm room on a budget by planning your shopping at specific times of the year. 

Some online retailers and stores have their “white sales” every January. This sale gives huge discounts on bedroom furniture, including linens and bedding. This allows you to buy more for less. 

In February, you also have Presidents’ Day, which is also for furniture sales. Other periods include Memorial Day and July 4th, three-day weekends for sales of large appliances.

During the year-end holidays, you can get cheaper sales for small appliances such as mini-fridges, blenders, and vacuums. 

  1. Buy versatile materials 

Depending on your budget, you should look to buy materials that can serve multiple uses. For instance, instead of buying seat cushions to make your visiting friends more comfortable, you can buy an ottoman, so it’ll also help store your knick-knacks in their absence.

You can also get more shelf space by buying lamps with shelves surrounding their base. Your wastebasket may be able to serve as a table if your flip it over. While a futon can serve as a bed and a couch, making it popular among college students. 

  1. Bring your materials 

You lived in a room in your home before leaving for college. Some items in your room would also be useful in your college dorm room. So, raid your house for some of this room décor or furniture that can be useful for you.

This would help you save money on lamps, rugs, and the like. So, you’ll have more money to do other things. 

  1. Ask around 

College students always need help from other people. You can get essay help by asking for the best essay writing service. You can get help understanding your courses by asking your classmates or senior colleagues.

You’ll always need help from others. Don’t shy away from asking. So, ask people around you if they have materials that can be useful for your room décor.

You might have people with little use of materials like blankets and sheets. Asking them for it wouldn’t be a bad idea. This allows you to save lots of money and put it to use in other ways. 

Conclusion 

I know how important it is to furnish your dorm room, but you don’t need to break the bank to achieve this. These are a few ways to do it on a budget.