When I was dragging bags and bags of belongs back to my dorm after spring break, I was reminiscent of move in day when I had every item on every ‘college packing list’ for my dorm. So when I unpacked I took inventory of all of the things family, friends and internet experts advised me to bring to college. Some of the things I actually use… and some things that I don’t. So if you are a current collegiette trying to do some spring cleaning or an incoming freshman trying to get ahead of the game, here is what I’ve found.
What I’m glad I brought:
1. Command strips and hooks: These are gold. I have dozens of posters hanging in my room with Command strips and they are easy to stick and unstick. I have a couple of friends with horror stories of posters held up with tack or tape falling down in the middle of the night. Don’t put yourself through that, just buy some poster strips. The hooks are convenient to hold my towels, purses and coats.
2. A first aid kit: This is something I luckily don’t have to use often but I’m glad to have it. The important thing to keep in mind is to keep it somewhere that is easy to get to and to know where it is. Preferably keep it in plain sight because digging through all of your under-the-bed bins trying to find your first aid kit is not what you want to be doing when you need a first aid kit.
3. Comfortable shoes: This was an item I didn’t value enough until I got to college. Something I didn’t realize before coming to college was how much college kids have to walk. On my first day of classes, I wore a cute pair of flats and got blisters that lasted the whole week. I learned my lesson and switched to sneakers.
4. Cute sweatpants and lounge clothes: You wear sweatpants a lot in college — to sleep in, hang out with your friends in and yes occasionally to go to those 8 a.m. classes in. So, later in your college career when you make your “throwback Thursday” picture a picture of you and your best friends from freshman year hanging out in the rec room, you’ll be glad you wore some cute sweatpants and not some old stained ones from high school.
5. A real winter coat: This was especially essential for this winter. It didn’t matter what coat I was wearing in high school when the only time I had to spend outside was walking from my house to my car and my car into school but when you walk about ten minutes to each class, a North Face doesn’t always cut it. When there’s a lot if snow with he wind chill as -10 degrees and it’s and Millersville for some reason hasn’t cancelled class, you’ll be thankful for your big snow coat.
6. An extra phone charger: This might be just a laziness thing, but I find it really useful to keep two phone chargers in my dorm room. I usually keep one at my desk and one next to my bed so I can charge my phone at my desk during the day and not have to remember to unplug and move it at night. It’s also nice to keep one of them in your bag if you are going back and forth to the library or a friend’s dorm. It’s also a quick way to make friends if someone breaks or loses their charger and needs one to borrow.
Things I regret bringing:
1. So many snacks: I brought an entire bin of snacks and although it’s nice to have some food on hand, you really don’t need that much. With a full meal plan and money on flex, you will get plenty to eat on campus.
2. Most of my clothes: Depending on what your room at home is like, you will probably be downgrading on storage space when you get to college. So even though you have three drawers at home just for tee shirts that you barely even wear, it’s best to leave what you can at home. You only have so many drawers to fill.
3. All of my nail polish: It’s fun to have a couple of colors on hand but I really didn’t need as many colors as I brought. Plus it’s fun to share colors with your friends and hall mates and is a good way to bond.