Whether it is the hales, off-campus housing, or TVA, there never seems to be enough room for even the belongings students have. BYU-Hawaii students share some simple organizing hacks they use to create more space and keep away the clutter.Celeste Poisson, a senior elementary education major from Virginia, who has lived in the BYUH hales and off-campus, said every year she has to come up with new creative ways to make space and get organized. “Living here through the years, I’ve accumulated a lot of things, especially clothes. With limited closet space, I have to use soda can tabs on my hangers to have twice the room. ” Soda can tabs have two holes. You slide the tab onto one hanger, and hang the second hanger from the other hole, making you able to put two shirts in the space meant for one on a clothes rod.Poisson said she also stacks food containers inside each other so they’re neat and easy to find. She added when things are organized and have place to go, her room doesn’t seem so small. “Everything has a place. I try to use baskets or whatever to keep things neat and tidy. You feel better when your life is less cluttered, literally,” she said.Raena Lopez, a freshman elementary education major from Texas, said with the help of Pinterest, organization is about making her hale room look cute. “I use a toiletry travel caddy for my jewelry and school supplies. The caddy coordinates with the magnet boxes I have on the side of my wardrobe. I also have bins under my bed that I decorated with colored paper that goes along with my room.” Lopez said all of these efforts have made her room feel more “homey.”Chloe Dean, a junior psychology major from California, lives in TVA and said, “We use a little shelf to put our microwave on the little counter space we have, and I also put my rice cooker on it. It helps a lot.” To add some decoration, Dean said she has decorated some mason jars and other glass containers with colorful paint to put odds and ends.Megan Naidu, a senior accounting major from Idaho, who also lives in TVA, said with the limited space in TVA, she has a hard time finding a place for everything to go. “Avniel [her husband] makes a lot of shelves for our apartment so we can stack things have more space. It makes our apartment seem less cluttered. Also, my walls have become best friends with hooks and door knobs to hang things.” Naidu said that at the end of the day, “A happy home is a clean home.”
Writer: Jessica Tautfest
