The best college hacks from upperclassmen

College is rough. Each day we all struggle with the fact that we’re broke and living in a space with limiting resources.

I figured that instead of sitting around, wasting my precious money and feeling like I’m losing in life, I should ask my elders for some college hacks. So that’s what I did.

I asked a bunch of upperclassmen for their best college lifestyle tips.

The results were pretty unsatisfying. I was hoping for some mind-blowing ideas that would help me not only survive, but thrive, living in my small dorm room.

Instead, I got weird responses like “buy a drying rack and use that instead of wasting money on dry cycles” and “use people’s guest swipes to get into the dining hall, then steal as much food as you can.”

Disappointed and curious, I took matters into my own hands and looked up some crafty tips and tricks.

They say if you want something done right, do it yourself.

What I found can be described as interesting and just plain stupid.

So for both entertainment and knowledge, here are the most unique college hacks.

1. Need a colander to drain your noodles but don’t have one? No problem, use a tennis racket.
2. Turn a stool upside down and you have a makeshift trash can! Use the legs to hold open a trash bag and you’re good to go.
3. To increase space on your clothing rack, take the tab off of a beverage can and put one side on a hanger. Then, loop the second hanger through the other side of the tab. Now you have two hangers taking up the space of just one on the rack. Magic. 
4. If you need to iron your clothes but don’t have an iron, no worries! Boil a pot of water (or two) and use the hot pot bottoms to iron the wrinkles out of your clothes. Or use a hair straightener.
5. Use half of a pizza box as a makeshift dust pan.
6. Need to boil something but you don’t have a stove? All you need is a coffee maker. Stick anything in the pot of water and it’ll boil within minutes. Seriously, anything.
7. Bring a big jug of water to the water fountain so you can get as much water as you can in one trip. Then, you’ll have a bunch of water available so you don’t need to walk to a water fountain or sink.
8. If you don’t have hooks and you need to hang your shower curtain up, use plastic hangers.
9. If for some reason your shower head goes AWOL, you can make one out of a soda bottle. Cut thick slits into the bottom of the bottle and attach the top of the bottle to the water spigot. Bam
10. It snows in Boston a lot, so use the outdoors as your own personal fridge/freezer. Beats spending $200 on a micro-fridge.
11. If you don’t have speakers and don’t feel like just putting your phone into a cup, all you need are two jugs and a paper towel holder. Cut a slit into the center of the paper towel holder that’s big enough to fit the bottom of your phone. Then, attach each end of the paper towel roll to the two jugs. Cut off the bottom of the jugs and you’ve made yourself some rad new speakers.
12. If you’re extremely lazy/don’t want to do the dishes (it wastes water and soap so I feel you), put plastic wrap on your plate and then pile it high with food. Delicious.
13. If you want to microwave two bowls of food at once, saving time and energy, put one bowl in the microwave and then put in a cup that can hold another bowl. Additional height allows for more to fit in the tiny machine. Boom.
14. You can use a cup holder from a fast food restaurant to serve as a laptop table or to just  prop up an iPad. No need to buy expensive holders.
15. Don’t have a pizza slicer? No biggie. Tape the top of a can to a ruler and the problem is solved.
16. Bring your milk/orange juice/apple juice jugs to the dining hall and fill them up there.

So, these hacks are pretty pointless too. BUT some of them actually really do help.

Basically what I’ve learned throughout this experience is that upperclassmen give crappy advice and the internet gives weird advice.

For real though, I have no idea why you would have a stool and not a trashcan, but whatever.