My Desk Necessities

Jan 18, 2019 • Abby B.

One chipper Thursday afternoon I got out of class early and headed back to my East Campus dorm, happy to have an extra bit of time to hang out and catch up on some creative projects. I walked in the door and stopped dead in my tracks- our desk chairs littered the common area, and my roommate’s dresser blocked the doorway to our room. I peeked my head around the corner and there stood my roommate, twisting her desk around under her lofted bed and blaring Gospel music through her phone. Much to my surprise, she had decided to rearrange our room to create more “thinking space,” as she called it. Amused, I set to work shifting the room back to rights, but I wasn’t convinced this “thinking space” thing was worth wrecking the room and reassembling our furniture layout. However, when we arranged our picture frames and flower vases and put our desk chairs back in their respective places, I began to catch her vision; our 3-person room looked significantly larger and brighter.

I’ve never forgotten the feeling of seeing our room so uncluttered and spacious; I found myself excited to go back to the dorm each day and start working on projects because I had room to spread out and create. Now, a whole year later, I try to emulate that vibe every time I set up my areas of “thinking space,” especially around my desk. Here’s my five necessities for a perfect desk area!

1. Printer: I LOVE having a little personal printer. Liberty is the GREATEST and has printers everywhere for students to use, but I find it so helpful to be able to print out my projects late at night or early in the morning without ever leaving my room!

2. Scissors: I know we’re not in preschool anymore (can we suggest scheduled nap times to SGA though?), but keeping a pair of scissors handy is a desk necessity! You never know when you’ll need to cut the tags off a new sweater, prank your roommate by tying string everywhere, or open a carton of ramen for a late-night snack.

3. Organizer: If you’re the kind of person who likes everything in its proper place (or maybe you’re tired of digging through your abyss of a backpack), get a cute desk organizer from Target or TJ Maxx for all of your little desk things!

4. Lamp: dorm lights are super industrial and bright, so most gals like to soften their rooms with lamps or string lights. I have a little lamp that sits on my desk that I use for late-night reading and writing, and it makes my room feel so cozy!

5. Power Strip: You’ll have to check with the Office of Residential Life’s housing rules, but I believe you can use power strips in your dorm if they are surge-protected! I used a power strip for my lamp, my computer, and my cell phone charger; it makes plugging and unplugging my various cords so convenient when I needed to run out the door for class.