With all the excitement of moving off to college, it is no surprise that items on your to-do list may get overlooked in the midst of the insanity. There are certain areas, however, where you really do not want this happen, such as buying and packing up specific items for your dorm room. The fact that dorms provide minimal space for students often leads to a lack of over-packing. This is certainly a good practice – but at the same time, it is vital that you do not write off the thought that goes into packing completely. You may also want to check out this information on how to adjust to dorm life as well.
You will be provided with a twin bed, a desk, and a closet/dresser combination of some sort. – it’s the hundreds of extra things you have to think about. Decorative objects, practical objects, forms of entertainment; there is no stopping this train of thought. Save yourself major stress and time by first checking off some key items that you most definitely do not want to forget.
Comfortable Form of Seating: Everybody knows to bring a futon and/or large plushy chair, but you should really put some extra time into this particular shopping effort. While you may just want to get the pre-college errands over with and settle for the same Target futon everyone else gets, it’s important to seriously get a feel for how comfortable this form of seating is. Keep in mind that this will be the only place for you to sit down and relax other than your bed, which may be lofted and inconvenient to get to at a moment’s notice. You’ll be kicking yourself later if the only seating you own is awkward and uncomfortable. For instance, a giant bean bag chair may seem cool at first, but its lack of back support may bother you as time goes on. Avoid future frustration and just think about all aspects of this furniture beforehand. Here is some great tips tip help you fear not the dorm!
Headphones: When you are in this kind of close quarters with a roommate, you are bound to need some peace every now and then. The two of you are not always going to be on the same schedule, meaning sometimes when they’ll want nothing but to watch TV after a long day, you’ll have a huge paper due in the morning that you’ll need to stay up late working on. You won’t always have the energy to change locale and head to the library, so a pair of headphones to drown out the noise might be just what you need. Don’t always rely on the small, delicate headphones you probably use for your iPod. A larger and more powerful set might be more useful for this purpose.
Desk Lamp: Going off of the point that you and your roommate will not always be on the same schedule, one of you might want to go to sleep early while the other is determined to stay up and get some homework done. This is where a small and flexible desk lamp comes in handy. It’s easy to forget about since we’re used to having rooms to ourselves and turning the overhead lights on or off as we please, but this item is likely to be used fairly often in this sort of co-habitation.
Multiple Power Strips: You can never have too many of these. First off, you’ll have no idea how many outlets will be engraved in the dorm walls nor will you be able to control where they are. They aren’t always placed conveniently amongst your furniture set-up, and there certainly aren’t always enough – especially for both you and your roommate. Power strips will eliminate that annoyance and also give you the freedom to charge items like your computer and phone wherever you like, rather than being confined to one spot. This will also eliminate the need to choose between various electronics at one time.
Shower Caddy: This item is more for your dorm life rather than your dorm room, but it is still just as important. Unless you are one of those lucky students who lands a dorm suite that includes a bathroom to share with a few other roommates, you will be forced to make a trip down the hall to the community bathroom every time you intend to take a shower. Having a caddy that is easy to transport and that has no problem holding all of your shower items in an organized fashion is so important. You certainly don’t want showering to be a chore by having to reassemble your accessories every time; make the trip down the hall as little of an inconvenience as possible.
TV and DVD Player: This shouldn’t need much explanation and is most likely near the top of your list anyway – but it is worth mentioning. Make sure you coordinate with your roommate about this beforehand so you don’t end up with two televisions you don’t have room for. Additionally, make sure it is a TV that will fit adequately and that works well. You don’t want to be the one student on the dorm floor that can only watch their DVD’s on their computer or after begging a neighbor to lend their TV and dorm space for a viewing.
Mini Fridge and Microwave: These are additional items that you definitely want to make sure you communicate with your roommate about before move-in day. Although you won’t be doing much cooking in your dorm, it is very comforting to have these contraptions around for storing sodas and heating up Easy Mac. You don’t want to have to rely on the cafeteria and fast food take-out alone for your calorie intake. Plus, abnormal college schedules mean you’ll get hungry at the oddest of times, so having snacks on hand is a big reassurance. You may want to also check out this info on the anatomy of a college dorm room to help you prepare yourself!
Extra Shelving/Storage Crates: You never know when you’re going to run out of room to store things, so it is the safe thing to do to have these units available. Most of these are easy to fold up and put away if not needed, so don’t worry about them unnecessarily taking up space – that exact problem is what you are going to avoid by having these items.
