Student Hostel Hacks

Over the time period of living in this hostel in a very tiny room and barley enough space to breath, I’ve learnt a few hacks to make life just a little bit easier with slight extra comfort.

Here is 13 Random hostel hacks!

Eye mask. Get yourself an eye mask to wear when you want to sleep and the lights can’t be switched off because one of your roomies is doing some late-night homework or reading. It’s also a sign for them that you would like to sleep so if they don’t want to switch off the lights, they should at least know to keep their voices down.
Shower flip flops ( “plakkies” ) and basket. Going to shared showers, is just more sanitary when everyone wears shoes…shower flip flops. Also, if you don’t want to learn the art of juggling all your shower products like shampoo and conditioner, soap, razor etc. in your hands while throwing your towel over your shoulders, get a little plastic shower basket to put it all in. Remember it’s going to get wet so a fancy shower bag might get ruined.
Use hooks everywhere. Use hooks to hang your towels, robe, in the kitchen area for your cloths etc. I bought hooks and use them for all of the above mentioned and more! There is no shelf or extra cupboard to store toilet paper, so in the closet I placed a hook and used a shopping bag to hold the extra toilet paper. In our little “kitchen” area, which is not the actual kitchen where we cook because every floor shares a kitchen with stoves, in your room is only a fridge and a cupboard. On the side of the big cupboard I have hooks which holds my cloths as well as hack number 4.
Get use out of shopping bags. Because our actual kitchen where we can cook is not in our room and at the other end of the hall, it can be difficult to take everything you need all the way over there. I use a strong shopping bag with all my necessary spices and matches and then I put my prepared food, which is all cut up and ready to be cooked in little containers, put that all inside my cooking pot or pan, grab the bag and head out to the kitchen.
Take away containers. When you buy food and they come in containers with lids, save them for these occasions. Preparing food to cook, or saving leftovers etc. They could also be used as little lunchboxes depending on the size.
Talking about saving the containers…. When you buy your meat or any other food that you want to freeze and they also come in containers (without lids) use them in the freezer to hold your frozen foods. This is also a way to separate your food from your roommates. And now you’re looking at me weirdly and asking, but if they come in a container they obviously already hold the food, it’s very logical. Read hack 7 and you’ll understand what I mean.*Use a container like in this picture.
Pre-prepare food you want to freeze. When buying the food you want to freeze, like meat, pre-prepare the amount you will use, put it in little sandwich bags and but all your packages in those containers in the freezer. Then when you want to cook your piece of chicken or mince, you can just take out one bag that morning or the night before and let it defrost during the day or night. Never worry about defrosting and refreezing your food and risking it going bad and it’s also easier than standing there with a knife and trying to butcher a piece off.
Water up! Because it’s not sanitary or really clean water coming out of the taps, avoid buying water bottle after water bottle by buying one big water bottle, like a five liter, and refill your smaller one for class. When the five liters are finished just refill it at a water shop or at a water point. Luckily for me, here is one right outside my hostel, so unlike other locals that have to walk far or drive to one, I can just step outside my hostel.*The water tank is the gray one where people are lined up.
Learn the art of stacking. Having no space for my clothes besides a bedside table, I bought two stands with drawers for my clothes and stacked the two stands on top of each other to create one big stand with drawers. (There is no space to put two separate stands in the room, not even next to one another, so stacking was the only option) Also stacking your pots in one another to save space in the cupboards and other random things like your tuna cans and any other stackable thing. You’ll quickly realize what can be stacked and how to make space.
Shopping bags, again! Don’t just throw away your shopping bags, like we already figured that they can be useful. Another use for them, really obvious actually, in the trashcan. If your budget is tight, don’t spend money on separate bags for your trash just to throw away the shopping bag in that new trash bag you just bought. Save some money as well and re-use where you can.
Sleeping comfortably is a luxury. If your hostel provides really thin mattresses to sleep on, ask for an extra mattress and if that still doesn’t do the trick, put a blanket in-between the two to add just a little extra “padding”.
Shoe box. If there is no space in the fridge for your eggs, or you’re scared someone will either use some or brake some, use a shoe box to store your eggs and put it away in a save place. I put mine on a little top shelf in the closet because there is no space in the fridge or the cupboard where all my other food/cooking related things are stored. Eggs don’t have to be kept in the fridge but I won’t recommend storing them in a stuffy, overheated place and forgetting about them. Good luck if you did!
Use a pot! Don’t have an iron for those wrinkling clothes? Use a pot with boiling water in it. Then go over your clothes with it and you should be ready to go. Just a tip, use a surface that’s smooth and won’t cause more wrinkles. A bed is not really the ideal place, but it can work.