Lara Becker | Dorm & College Life

We laugh about our 2 “Dorm Labs”…but the testing part is actually very real! Our dorm room recommendations are based on feedback from thousands in our community and the hands-on testing in our Dorm Lab that includes: • Set it up (and see how complicated it actually is) • Test how it fits in a real dorm-sized space • Use it over time - not just once out of the box • Compare it to other options at different price points * Consider how well it will adhere to the varied dorm rules out there We’re looking for what is functional, practical, and helpful - not just what looks good online. Determining what holds up, what’s worth the price, and what ends up being a waste of money. Because most dorm items are only used for 8–9 months, they need to be simple, functional, and hopefully useful in the years after dorm life. And yes…having a dog around has been surprisingly helpful for testing a few things too, especially vacuums! 🐾 If you want to see how we choose what we recommend… 👉 Follow @thedormguide and comment LAB, and I’ll send it your way along with our FULL Dorm Essentials Guide - a shoppable list of all of our recommendations for college, all in one place. #dormessentials #collegemom #dormlife #dormchecklist

This is the one guide you need (plus a bonus chapter!) I wrote The Dorm Room Guide after years of helping families, testing dorm setups, and answering thousands of questions. I believe in affordable, non-toxic, and reusable dorm essentials (beyond dorm life). And now all of the most helpful ideas are in one place, so you have a clear, simple guide to dorm setup and college life. The overwhelm is out there. Overly designed rooms and lots of ‘buy this now’ dorm content - this book is the antidote to that. Reasonable, helpful, no selling. Just a logical walk-through to research your room, create a budget, build your OWN checklist, layer the dorm bed, maximize storage with clever solutions, work with your roommate, and plan for those long-distance moves. Plus so much more! Want the full chapter list? Let me know! The book launches May 5th, and I can’t wait for you to read it! If you pre-order now, you’ll also get a FREE bonus chapter focused on health and safety in college, including first-aid kit must-haves, wellness recommendations, campus safety tools, and dorm room safety tips. Comment BONUS for the pre-order link and bonus chapter details. Follow @thedormguide for dorm and college tips we share all year long - it’s all we do! #thedormroomguide #thedormguide #dormbook #dormessentials @tenspeedpress @penguinrandomhouse

Why did I build a real-life dorm room in my home? 🏠 Let me explain… When I started The Dorm Guide, I decided to be the helpful source for how-tos, affordable solutions, and vetted product recommendations, answering every question and continuously learning from our community. I was running around between colleges where my kids or their friends were, trying to test out products in dorm rooms using real dorm beds, but it was slow, and I wanted to be able to answer questions right away. So eventually, I decided it was time for a better solution. So I built The Dorm Lab, a full-sized dorm room right in my own home, including 2 adjustable Twin XL dorm beds (those were SO hard to find)! Now, I can test EVERYTHING. And I do. We do. The team does. Supporting all of the testing and our wonderful community takes a village. Jessica joined me almost 2 years ago and is now as deep into this as I am. We’re so lucky to have found amazing college students to work on the team, and bonus, I love helping them build their resumes, too What started in 2022 has now grown into a community of over 400,000 families navigating dorm and college life together, and I’ve stayed committed to being THE trustworthy source for realistic dorm planning. No over-the-top dorm rooms, no designers, and importantly, no toxins or low-quality dorm ‘essentials’. And as a mom of two boys, I even have a guide just for guys. If you don’t know where to start or need help narrowing down what your student needs for college, join us! Follow @TheDormGuide for more dorm & college life tips! It’s all we do! ➡️ Want a little help getting dorm ready affordably and realistically? Follow us first, and then comment GUIDE for our 3 key resources to help you get started. #dormtips #collegemom #momsofinstagram #momsoftiktok #collegefreshman

Get the idea + more details ⬇️ The “Fridge Bridge” was one of our most-shared dorm solutions last year after we created it in our dorm lab and shared the setup on Instagram, so we’re bringing it back again for 2026. You may have seen much more expensive furniture pieces designed to do something similar, but we’re always looking for practical, functional, and budget-friendly dorm solutions. This setup not only adds extra storage for snacks and kitchen essentials but also doubles as a nightstand for both roommates. To build “The Fridge Bridge,” all you need is: ✨ Two 13” 3-cube organizers (the 11” versions just aren’t sturdy enough) ✨ A closet shelf cut to size (we had ours cut at Lowe’s) That’s it. Comment BRIDGE below, and I’ll send you our full how-to guide with the measurements, products we used, and our complete Dorm Essentials guide. SHARE this with a friend who would love to see this idea! And give us a FOLLOW for more things dorm & college! #dormessentials #collegemom #dormlife #collegeparent #collegelife

Anyone who’s dealt with a lofted dorm bed knows how hard it can be to get airflow exactly where a student actually needs it. I’m always testing dorm products before I recommend them, which is exactly why I created the dorm room setup at my house in the first place. It’s become a year-round space where I can try out the products everyone is talking about - and somehow this is already my FIFTH season doing it! The FanShelfie is one product that’s come up quite a bit in our group, especially alongside the popular WOOZOO fan, but I hadn’t actually gotten a chance to test it myself until now. After trying it, I completely understood the appeal - especially for lofted beds where airflow never seems to hit the right spot. It clamps onto the bed frame (it comes with attachments for both metal and wooden frames) and lets you position the fan much closer to where you sleep, instead of taking up desk space or awkwardly balancing on a nightstand across the room. What surprised me most was how adjustable it is. You can move it closer or farther from the bed, depending on your mattress topper and bedding setup, and it felt much more secure than I expected once attached. I also appreciated that it didn’t require a complicated setup and only took a few minutes to put together! Is it something every student absolutely needs? Probably not. But for small dorm rooms, lofted beds, or students who sleep hot, I can definitely see why this accessory has gotten so popular. I’m curious, is this something your student would use in their dorm room? Comment SHELFIE for the link to the FanShelfie and my Full Dorm Essentials Guide - a shoppable list of recommended products for their dorm. #fanshelfie #woozoofan #dormessentials #dormchecklist #collegemom @thinksmallish

How many moving bags do you need for college moves? 👜 We are asked this all the time! Most students need 6–8 bags for a typical dorm move. You may need more than that if you are: 💃An overpacker or fashionista. ✈️ Flying to school? Consider a few more since you’ll want to double-bag heavier items. 🥘 Heading to an apartment-style dorm with a private bathroom and kitchen area. One bag alone can hold a comforter, blanket, two sets of sheets, a mattress pad, AND towels. Even more if you vacuum-pack the linens. They fold flat after move-in, hold up to 50 lbs, and double as storage year-round. They’re so great for transporting clothes on hangers too, just leave the hangers outside of the zipper (not for air travel). And yes, you can check them as luggage on flights. 💬 Comment BAGS, and I’ll send you the link to my favorite bags & more info on flying with moving bags. I love the bags with backpack straps, so you can carry one on your back and one over each arm. Game changer on move-in day. And move-out day. And for bringing laundry home on breaks, too. #CollegeMove #DormRoom #CollegePacking #MovingBags #MoveInDay CollegeMom FreshmanYear DormLife CollegePrep

Traditional headboards can absolutely work in dorm rooms - you just need the right setup. Headboards are a really popular way to make a dorm bed feel more finished and comfortable while also giving students a supportive place to lean when they’re hanging out, studying, or watching TV. Plus, they help keep pillows from constantly sliding behind the bed. But how do you attach a traditional headboard to a dorm bed? The answer is surprisingly simple: HEAVY DUTY zip ties. For this setup, I recommend using industrial zip ties with at least a 175 lb strength rating. You’ll want them to be at least 18” long, although 24” is often needed to get that heavier-duty support. The headboard legs attach directly to the dorm bed frame using the zip ties, ideally positioned just above the horizontal support slats for extra stability. And yes, even though the legs don’t touch the floor, that’s ok. The best part is that this works whether the bed is standard height, raised to captain height, or fully lofted. We’ve tested this method for years, and it’s one of the easiest ways to make a traditional headboard work in a dorm room. That said, this is just ONE headboard solution. Headboard pillows are another great option, and we’ve even seen students use a dog bed as a creative alternative. We’ve rounded up some of our favorite headboard ideas and recommendations for both girls’ and guys’ dorm rooms. Comment HEADBOARD below, and I’ll send you the full how-to for this setup, plus our other favorite dorm headboard solutions and recommendations. #dormessentials #collegemom #dormlife #collegeparent #collegelife

If your college move includes long-distance travel or summer storage, this is for you. For many college families, move-out isn’t just about getting your student home. It’s about what to do with the nightstand, the underbed storage, the mattress topper, and the organizers they used all year and will need again in the fall. If you want to make it easy on yourself, Storage Scholars handles the whole thing. And we just secured a $25 discount for our followers. They send free packing supplies right to your student’s door, pick everything up on the day you request, store it in a climate-controlled facility over the summer, and deliver it directly to wherever your student lands next - dorm, off-campus apartment, or anywhere in between. No van rental, no cross-country trip, no moving items to a storage unit yourself. And definitely no starting from scratch every fall. Founded by college students who lived this problem themselves, they serve hundreds of schools nationwide, and we love that for our community. Comment SCHOLAR below and I’ll send you two things: our complete move-out guide with tips for making the end-of-year transition as smooth as possible, and a link to learn more about Storage Scholars’ services and The Dorm Guide discount. #dormessentials #collegemom #dormlife #collegeparent #collegelife

But we ❤️ that they are home! It’ll be a little different around here. A little more noise, a little more laundry, and A LOT more groceries… Has your student made their way home yet? How did they make their presence known in your house? #collegemoveout #collegemom #collegeparent #dormmoveout

Think you need deep-pocket sheets for a dorm bed? Don’t miss 👀 slide 5! Bedding sounds simple. But, boy, it’s easy for it to seem complex when you start thinking about outfitting a dorm! It shouldn’t have to be! After years of seeing the same dorm shopping questions pop up season after season in our Dorm Shopping Facebook group (shoutout to our amazing 140K+ parent crew 💛), I knew it was time to put it all in one place. 👉 That’s how our bedding series was born, packed with the FAQs we see every season, plus what I learned from moving my two boys into college and 5 years of hands-on product testing and researching (I ❤️ to research!). Comment BEDDING to receive the link to our bedding series to get the answers to questions like: ➡️ What is the best dorm mattress topper? (The #1 FAQ!) Learn not only why students choose to get a mattress topper but also what to look for and recommendations on what to buy. ➡️ What size mattress pad will fit a dorm bed? What even is a mattress pad? ➡️ What is the best size comforter for a dorm bed? There are some really great pros & cons to consider when deciding between a Twin/Twin XL or a Full/Queen comforter for your Twin/Twin XL dorm bed. We cover it all. PLUS: How do I loft a dorm room bed? Gone are the days when your dad could come in and build a loft with 2’x4’s! Learn the in’s and out’s of lofting! Know someone with a student heading to college this year? We’d love for you to send this to them too! Questions? Let me know and follow along for more dorm & college tips - it’s all we do! #dormbedding #dormbedheight #dormcomforter #mattresspad dormessentials

Don’t know what laundry basket or bag your student will need? A backpack-style bag can be a great option, especially if your student has to go up and down stairs or walk to another building. But before you buy, take a minute to check a few things: • Where are the laundry rooms located? • Stairs or elevator? • How far will they be carrying it? The “best” option really depends on your student’s setup, and getting this right makes laundry a whole lot easier. ➡️Comment LAUNDRY, and I’ll send you our Dorm Laundry 101 guide along with a link to this collapsible laundry bag. #dormessentials #collegemom #dormlife #collegeparent #collegelife

Dorm walls don’t always cooperate... No matter how you hang decor - strips, hooks, pins - things can fall. That is exactly why this type of poster frame is my absolute favorite for college. Oh, and they are BOGO 50% off through May 9th! These particular frames from Target are very, very lightweight (clearly!), and have plexiglass panes, so even if they fall off the wall (which happens alllll the time), they won’t break! Dorm walls can be a little unpredictable, so choosing a lightweight frame with plexiglass gives you the peace of mind that if it inevitably takes a tumble, you will not be dealing with shattered glass all over your dorm room floor. Comment FRAME and I’ll send you the link to these frames plus our collection of digitally downloadable artwork - designed by college students! #dormessentials #collegemom #dormlife #collegeparent #collegelife