With your freshman move just around the corner, you’re probably starting to decide what to pack.
To help you think of everything you may need for college, these recent freshmen share the key items they wished they’d packed for their move to campus.
1. Extra-Long Charging Cables
So many things crucial to student life need to be charged like phones, computers, speakers, and tablets. While it’s unlikely that any modern student will forget their charging cables, Katie Capen from the University of Florida really wished she had some extra-long cords. Her dorm room didn’t have a lot of power outlets, and the ones that were there weren’t in convenient locations. A few extra feet of charging cable would have given her a lot more flexibility.
2. A Foldable Stool
While normally furnished, dorm rooms don’t generally come with an abundance of seating options. A small, foldable stool is a great multi-tasker. It can give you a boost to reach a tall shelf or for hanging that string of lights while also providing extra seating that doesn’t take up your limited floor space when it’s not in use.
3. Adjustable Bed Risers
This cannot be stated often enough: Dorm rooms are tiny. Many students raise their beds—also known as lofting—to gain some extra storage space beneath it. Brandon Wilcox at the University of Central Florida laments the fact that he didn’t bring bed risers with him when he moved in. He would have used them to loft his bed and create some storage for his suitcases and off-season clothes.
4. Noise-Canceling Headphones
Dorms aren’t known for being quiet. It can be frustrating trying to focus on schoolwork when you have to share your space with a roommate who’s not on the same study schedule. Gillian Muller from Florida State University wishes she packed noise-canceling headphones instead of her small earbuds. Had she brought them, she says they would have helped her focus on her homework earlier in the school year.
5. Food Storage Containers
Many students buy or rent mini fridges for their dorm rooms, but they often forget to bring anything to store food in. Leftovers can be a real lifesaver during your freshman year. You just need something airtight to store them in. Muller says she could have saved herself some trips to the dining hall and avoided some pretty icky things that grew in her fridge if she realized that earlier. Look for food storage sets with interchangeable lids and containers that collapse to save as much space as possible.
6. Toilet Paper
Dorm bathrooms technically should be maintained by the school and should have toilet paper, but that’s not always the case. One late-night toilet paper vandal or a long weekend without custodial staff and you’ll wish you had an emergency stock of toilet paper. It’s better to be safe than sorry.
7. Stain-Remover Sticks
Because accidents are bound to happen and laundry’s bound to be put off, Alyssa Cuccurullo from Saint Joseph’s University in Pennsylvania recommends coming to school with stain-remover sticks. She says they could have saved a few of her favorite items of clothing. All you have to do is pretreat the stain and then it’s fine to let it sit in your hamper until you’re ready to do laundry.
8. Cheap Sweatshirts
Cuccurullo also lost some of her favorite items of clothing to, well, losing them. She says that with transitional fall weather, it’s tough to always hold on to your sweatshirts. It often warmed up in the middle of the day and she’d just forget her sweatshirt in a classroom or the dining hall. She also lost a few at social events. Quickly, she realized she needed some cheap sweatshirts that she didn’t mind losing to wear during the times when the weather was more unpredictable.
Of course, if you forget anything on this list or otherwise, it’s not the end of the world. Your family can send you packages, and you can buy new and used things around campus or online. But, if you want your move to be smooth sailing from the start, consider adding these items to your packing list.
