1. Ditch the cubby furniture

You’ll be hard-pressed to find a younger individual that hasn’t used those little stackable pieces of cube-shaped, plywood-ish material to store some stuff. Yeah, they’re good to organize some of your things or display some of your other things for guests to see, but nowadays there’s a taboo surrounding them that they’re cheap options. Upgrade to actual bookshelves and other, less tacky-looking pieces.

2. Invest in a desk

Most college-age students don’t want to deal with the hassle of moving a desk every time there’s an apartment change or having to work with a small amount of space in a roommate-filled world. A desk can class up your workspace and keep you organized, though. Even after college I guarantee you’ll be using your desk a lot more than you would think.

3. Stop putting posters on your walls

And if you can’t lose your favorite ones, at least put them in some frames. Movie, music and quote posters tend to look pretty tacky and cheap, but sometimes they can be a cool piece, so be smart about it.

4. Replace the plastic with the real deal

Plastic-rimmed floor mirrors, plastic eating utensils, plastic chairs, plastic picture frames, plastic whatever. Just lose it. Well cheap plastic, that is. Cheap stuff looks cheap, so get rid of it and invest in some upgrades to swank up your pad.

5. Skip the stereotypical college decorations

Sure, you might be proud of your liquor bottle collection or you don’t feel like buying yourself a new lamp, so you’ll stick to cheap-o one from the dollar store, but it’ll pay off to lose the stereotypes. Amping up your room décor can greatly improve your mood and get you in the right adult mindset. No more lava lamps, bean bag chairs or piles of Cosmo magazines; say “hello” to accent pillows, decorative vases and artful candles.