What Should You Buy for the Dorm?

Here’s the List! And I am sorry my room was messy.

   My sister is on her way to community college at the end of the month. She’s moving west to get her basics done and by the time she gets them done, she will also have earned residence status and will get in-state tuition at an university. (I think she is a genius!) She will be living in an apartment with someone but I would like to focus on the things everyone will need for living in the dorms. (Aside from the obvious: toothbrush, undies, socks, hair dryer, brush….)

FOR FOOD

Mini Fridge- You will get bored of cafeteria food. Trust me. By the end of the semester, ramen was tasting extraordinarily delicious. My roommate and I were resorting to picking up apples and bananas then going back to the dorms for ramen.

Microwave- Some roommates collaborate, one will buy the microwave while the other will buy the mini-fridge. I personally would advise against that, roommate assignments change; they leave you, and then you have to find another one. I changed schools at the end of the semester and I also had three roommate assignments, two of which I actually lived with. I would like to just have both in my opinion. I had matching ones, and I stacked them; if you’re a coffee addict you can put all your stuff in one place. If you aren’t, then you can still have an electric kettle for tea, ramen, hot dogs… etc. .

A Few Dishes- Like I said, food will get sickening sometimes at a university at one point. And you could even get a cold or something. I recommend 3 plates, bowls and I brought a few mugs- I love tea and coffee so I just brought all of them. AND EATING UTENSILS! It isn’t bad for when you have guests. There are some plates, bowls and tumblers, try to stay away from the plastic ones, while they are good, some could are not microwave safe, while you can just get a couple plate sets.

FOR THE BATHROOM

Bath Caddy- Yes, I am sure we’ve all seen the keychain trick (and it’s not a bad idea!). But I enjoy keeping everything in a cute, sturdy caddy. I keep my razor, loofa, shampoo, conditioner and body wash in that cute drainable box ALL THE TIME. Confession: I also turn it upside down and sit on it to shave or just relax after a long day without being afraid of all the bacteria in that shower from all the other people .

Shower Shoes- You can just get these at the dollar store, walk in them to the shower…..sometimes I wouldn’t wear them but I always scrub my feet afterwards.

A LIGHTWEIGHT Robe- My first week at the university, I made the mistake to wear my heavy, poofy robe that I wear when it’s freezing. In August, that was a mistake. The dorms didn’t have much of an AC. A Target was super close to the university so my then-boyfriend and I just headed there and got a lightweight robe that made things MUCH easier….Maybe this is just a duh thing to everyone else, but it didn’t occur to me.

Towels- Since it will be just you doing your laundry every once to two weeks, I recommend you only bring 1-3 towels. There isn’t enough room in your dorm to store a lot of them and it will be a pain to wash like 5+ towels when you finally get around to it.

FOR ORGANIZATION

Choose any from the following options, and other things that you can think of for cute and double duty type storage, (PS: share in the comments if you have more ideas! PLEASE! And thank you in advance.

Ottoman- They can serve as organization and extra seating! I stuff my shoes that I don’t regularly use in there, I also stored the books that we were were gonna read later in the semester.

Laundry Basket, Detergent & Dryer Sheets- I think it’s a good idea to keep your big bottle of detergent in the basket, that way you can have smaller loads of laundry. OR you can put a small amount of detergent in a body wash bottle to have a smaller amount with you.  (I used an empty one from Bath and Body Works). A short, wide basket would be best so you can keep it under the clothes in your closet. (Which I will be publishing later in the day)

Closet Storage- You can get one with six squares in a column that can also velcro for two rows of three. (In the dorm I stick to the column, it’s easier and some closets are tiny!) You can also buy some for shoes, they are pretty simple structures and don’t take all that much space.

Cubby Shelves & Box Cubbies I use these to store random things: books, notebooks, loose leaf paper, pens… 

My first semester I kept my Chemistry textbook in the last shelf, waiting to actually need it, but I had taken general Chemistry and AP Chemistry at my high school. The teacher at my high school apparently taught the general Chem at the AP level and speed, and taught the AP class like a 300-level Chem college course. I was really bored in Chem-121. I cracked that book open once. At the end of the semester. And I still didn’t need it. It was a brand new textbook, I had to buy it and I still didn’t even open it… AND it’s edition the edition specially designed for just my college. (I am still trying to sell it as a bundle with all my notes from high school- that will be an awesome bundle to buy!)

HINT HINT: Go to some some of your classes on the first day BEFORE you buy textbooks and ask the professors or look at the syllabi. If you are in a LIT or ENG class, buy the books (used) and just keep them all in one place. Additionally! KEEP your syllabi, they will be like the Bible to you at the end of the semester.

Stock Box- My Nana and I call them stock boxes, but they are basically just thinner, storage boxes. We call them stock boxes because we bought a TON of tampons, the big sized version of my shampoo, conditioner and body wash. You can also get another or use the same stock box and just store dry and canned foods in there and keep it under your bed or in the closet.

Click HERE to see if you want to buy it :)

FOR CAMPUS

Water! Sometimes campus water tastes a little funny, so I bought a water bottle with a built in filter! It was awesome, until it dropped off my bed, which was lofted… But I had other ones, Camelback is Kat-Accident Proof :) I have to buy a lot of things like that that are  Kat-Accident Proof….ALSO, get a carabiner (you can get them at the dollar store) and hook your water bottle hookie thing and you can go through campus without having to balance textbooks, binders without having to also worry about dropping your water bottle. But you have to stay hydrated!!

A good backpack is awesome too. During the summer before I set off for school, I found a sale at Staples and got like a $80(or $100? that was one of those expensive backpacks that I never had in high school) backpack for maybe $15-20. AND I still have it! It is sturdy, with a built in laptop case, two layers for books and random stuff and on the sides it has tiny side pockets to store phones, pencils, tabbies, sticky notes and lipgloss!

That’s all for now...Hope you liked what I had to offer. The next article that will be posted in a bit will be about the clothes, I couldn’t add it to here because this article seems long enough….Again, if you have any other ideas about what you did to maximize the space you have in the dorms, go ahead and share it with me!