Fall is vastly approaching bringing with it an end to the carefree days of summer and your do nothing attitude. Before you know it, ads will be dominating the media with “back to school” lures hoping to get your minds and your pocketbooks into the preparation mode for another school year. If you’re heading off to college for the first time and you’re going to be living in a dorm, you have to start thinking about what necessary items you’re going to need to bring with you and what items you should leave behind.
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I’m going to try to make this as simple and painless as possible. Believe me I talk from experience. The biggest way to avoid World War III with your parents is to be one step ahead of them and I promise, they’ll be impressed. To give you a step-up, I’m going to give you a list of items that you must bring with you as well as a list of items that you will be kissing the ground someday for including them.
First off, let’s get a grasp of the big picture. If you haven’t realized it already, you’re going to be moving into a dorm space about as big as a large walk in closet. That being said, what you end up bringing with you to college must absolutely either fall into the “essential items” column or the “save the day items” column. What you can be proactive about right now is contacting your soon-to-be roommate to break down these lists together. Not only will it save you time but it will also save you money if your roommate has items that you don’t happen to have and vice versa.
Essential Items
- Sheets – before buying sheets, many dorm rooms come with extra long twin mattresses. Be sure and check to see if yours is one of them.
- Towels – bath towels, hand towels and washcloths
- Laundry Detergent/Dryer Sheets – you can now find all-in-one detergent/dryer sheets. You just move the sheet from the washing machine into the dryer with the clothes. They come in a box just like regular dryer sheets and weigh so much less than a jug of liquid detergent.
- Quarters – take a couple of rolls with you and don’t be tempted to spend them on the soda machine.
- Laundry Basket – much easier to carry your clean, folded clothes back to your dorm room than a laundry bag.
- Shower Caddy – if your bathroom is a few doors down the hall, you’ll be glad you’ve got something to carry your soap, shampoo, conditioner and other toiletries in.
- Shower Shoes – these can even be flip-flops. Just something to keep you from getting athletes foot or something worse.
- Robe – if you don’t want to walk from the shower back to your room in only a towel.
- Power strip with surge protector – you can never find enough electrical outlets in a dorm room.
- Mini Fridge/Microwave– there are usually restrictions regarding the size. You may have use of a microwave in the student kitchen. Ask your dorm for specifics.
- Flash/Jump Drive – Use to save your work and/or print it out; take to class for presentations.
- Laptop – I know, it’s a no-brainer.
- Printer – Again, dorm rooms are small and you may have access to a printer in your residence hall computer lab.
“Save The Day” Items
- Mattress Pad/Topper – a lifesaver for dorm mattresses, which, in all likelihood, tend to lean towards being fairly uncomfortable.
- Extension Cords – so you can space your electrical items in the room exactly where you want them.
- Umbrella – you’ll be happy you remembered an umbrella when you’ve got class and it’s pouring outside.
- Small Fan – if your dorm room doesn’t have air conditioning, and some actually don’t, you’ll be so glad you brought a fan.
- Cleaning Supplies – you won’t think about it until a mess happens to have paper towels and Clorox wipes handy. Added bonus: if your roommate is sick you can use the Clorox wipes to disinfect anything they touch or handle.
- Small cup, plate, fork, knife and spoon – these come in handy when someone walks in with a pizza and liter of soda.
What are you bringing to college? Let me know in the comments below!
5 Comments
As a Jr. in college I can tell you paper towels and Clorox wipes are a LIFE SAVER for cleaning up, well, anything and everything.
Other simple things like pens, spirals, books, and most importantly, a solid laptop. I know Dell makes some solid little machines and offer deals for students. Even a quick search gave me this “$50 off systems $699 and above with coupon code: WQQ$MQ0M4JNCWD. Or save $100 off systems $999 and above with coupon code: B980P775CS2Z02. Go to Dell.com/DellU”
Ohh, and clean those spills and messes up right away… Nothing sucks worse than a rank dorm
Nice list here Jay. All of these things are essential. It’s amazing how many of these item get overlooked on move-in day ( I forgot many of these items and had to take frequent trips to Target).
Those are some great things to remember to bring. Here are 10 things to remember to do before going to college http://therealcollegeguide.com/feature/lifestyle/college_checklist/index.html
Some great items on this list! Having a mini-fridge in my dorm room would have made my life so much easier.
Very useful tips for make your home more attractive with extra long twin sheets style. I think that is so great! Thanks for the information on topics.I was excited by this article.