We are all guilty of overpacking. Even as a sophomore, I brought many frivolous items back to school this year. Here is a list of things that I’ve found to be particularly unnecessary:
1. A Fancy Party Dress
That dress you wore to your high school homecoming dance? It’ll hang in your closet all year, untouched. I don’t care how good you looked while wearing it. The reality is that you will NEVER wear it to a party on campus.
2. Iron/Ironing Board
If you’re really worried about your clothes having wrinkles, bring a spray bottle of wrinkle releaser. I guarantee it’ll take up much less space and will still be very effective.
3. Dishwasher-safe Dishes and/or Metal Silverware
Because paper plates that you don’t have to wash are SO much more appealing than those cute plates that go with the color scheme in your room.
4. Daily Vitamins
I figured that moving into my freshman dorm would be a good time to start taking daily vitamins. The vitamins sat on my desk, unopened, for the entire year. In other words, if you don’t already take vitamins religiously, you won’t magically start taking them when you come to college.
5. Your Entire Wardrobe
As much as you’re going to want to bring every article of clothing you own, you’ll only end up using a portion of it. Save yourself some space and try to limit yourself to essential and favorite outfits. You can always shop online for new things or have your parents ship you clothes you don’t end up bringing with you.
6. Multiple Pairs of Heels
When you go out on weekends, I promise that a pair of Converse sneakers or cute booties will be far more appealing than any pair of heels.
7. Sweatshirts Advertising Other Colleges or Universities
There is an unspoken rule that you can only wear apparel from your college or university when you are on campus. Leave all of the other sweatshirts and t-shirts from college tours and/or siblings at home. If you need more apparel that is specific to your school, check out the bookstore on campus for cute and functional attire.
8. Fabric Softener
To be quite honest, I’m still not entirely sure what fabric softener does. I can infer from the name that it does soften fabrics, but let’s be real… you’ll see a lot of people in the laundry rooms who aren’t even using dryer sheets. In other words, it’s ok to skip the fabric softener. I guarantee you won’t be using it too often.
9. Excess School Supplies
For some bizarre reason, I brought dozens of notebooks, folders, highlighters, and pens to school with me as a freshman. By the end of the year, I still had plenty of supplies remaining. Only get what you absolutely need!
10. Scummy High School Boyfriends
Don’t get me wrong, a lot of my friends have boyfriends from high school who are wonderful, nice guys and I could not be more supportive of my friends. However, if your boyfriend or significant other does not treat you the way you should be treated, think about ending things before you get to college so that you can have a fresh and healthy start to your collegiate career.
Sources:
http://www.thecollegehelper.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/DormChecklist1.jpg
https://commfashionblogg.files.wordpress.com/2014/06/cinderellaredesign-1.png
http://img.memecdn.com/i-always-end-up-sweating-when-im-done-ironing_o_849602.jpg
http://www.youareherestories.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/dirty-dishes-resized-600.png
https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/564x/c0/a3/4d/c0a34d519579f591475c291dbadb8f16.jpg
http://www.collegemagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/tumblr_inline_msk8cbRBCP1qz4rgp.jpg
http://mallimages.mallfinder.com/events/faneuil/BostonCampus.JPG
http://media.treehugger.com/assets/images/2011/10/downy.jpg
http://p10cdn4static.sharpschool.com/UserFiles/Servers/Server_193858/Image/News/school-supplies.jpg
http://www.careerconferences.com/file/2015/07/exboyfriend.png