Wondering how to change clothes in college dorms? Dorm rooms are small, so having the privacy to dress may seem impossible, but it’s really not. One of the tricks you could do is wait for your roommates to leave before you change. If not, you could simply go to the communal bathroom to put on your clothes.
Discussed below are some tips for finding privacy, as well as in campus housing in general.
How to Change Clothes in College Dorms?
Yes, you might be living with 2-3 others. However, they won’t always be around. Their class schedules could mean that they’re in class when you’re not. You wouldn’t have to worry about not getting privacy to change at these times.
If you’re unlucky and your dorm mates are always around, you could find a spot in the room where you could get dressed without being noticed. Maybe there is a large closet?
Just like with a locker room, you could change in front of them. There is nothing shameful about this, as you would likely be living together until you graduate.
A trick to dressing without exposing yourself would be to use your towel to cover yourself as you put on your clothes. Also, you could ask your dorm mates to close their eyes or turn around as you change.
If you have a dorm suite and there is a bathroom attached, you could always go there and dress.
If you don’t mind going the extra mile, you could place a curtain around your bed. When you’re going to change your clothes, you could draw it to give you some privacy. You should also know the amount of clothes that you have to bring to college.
How Do You Improve Privacy in a College Dorm?
Sharing such a small space with others can be hard, but the below points would help improve privacy.
Make Inventory on Personal Belongings
You and your roommates likely brought many personal items from home. If there are a lot of trinkets and personal items around, it’s only a matter of time before one of them gets misplaced. It would be smart to make inventory of all your personal belongings. This would reduce the chances of anyone accidentally taking what doesn’t belong to them.
Also, you could keep your valuables locked away. This ensures that your roommates don’t accidentally find and take them.
Set Up Some Boundaries and Duties
Probably the best tip for improving privacy in campus housing would be to set boundaries with your roommates. You should sit down and discuss what each of you are comfortable with. If the people you’re sharing the dorm with haven’t initiated this conversation yet, you should.
While discussing boundaries, talk about each other’s duties. You may be living in a suite, so you would have an attached kitchen and bathroom. Discuss who would be doing what chores to make your lives easier. You could divide these duties and make sure everyone has something to take care of.
Once you’ve set up some rules, it would be a good idea to inform any friends that regularly visit you about these. They could include times when you or your roommates need the room to yourselves and so on. This would help them to not violate your roommates’ privacy.
Protect Computer Files
Protect your computer files. If one of your dormmates snoop through your computer, they wouldn’t be able to find any sensitive information. Be smart with the password for your encrypted files. If it’s easy to figure out, someone could successfully break in.
Of course, you should protect any accounts you may have on your desktop too. Most likely, your college email would be logged in on your PC. Make sure you’ve placed a hard to crack password on the email account, as if this falls into the wrong hands, it could cause quite a lot of issues.
Don’t forget to also use a VPN in college.
Section Off the Room
As college dorm rooms are so small, it would be smart to divide your room into equal pieces for you and your dormmates. If you want, you could place curtains in between each bed to increase privacy.
How do you make sure everyone gets an equal amount of space? You could use a measuring tape to measure and divide.
Final Thoughts
At first, it would be hard for you to get used to changing clothes with others around. However, you will soon get used to it. You can always find a spot where you can get dressed without being seen. If not for this, you could wait until you’re alone. Likely, your roommates will rarely be around, as they would be spending most of their time in classes.
If you’re lucky, you might live in a suite. There would be an attached bathroom that you can sneak into to dress. This would be the best course of action if you’re shy.