It’s that time of year to col­lect the essen­tial items for col­lege.  Find out the lay­out of the room and what items are approved by the col­lege to bring into the dorm. Some schools allow small refrig­er­a­tors, but not microwaves.  It’s never too early to start shop­ping for the essen­tials. Con­tact your room­mate ahead of time so you don’t dupli­cate items. If you have the space, buy in bulk when you can. Save on costs by bring­ing your own “munchies”.

What to Take…

• Sheets, mat­tress pad, tow­els, pil­low, and comforters
• Bath­room supplies—shampoo, deodor­ant, soap, tooth­paste and brush, flip-flops, other per­sonal toi­letries, and clean­ing supplies
• Bean bags, futons, rug, cur­tains, light­ing and bulbs, alarm clock
• Small stor­age con­tain­ers, bed ris­ers, back­pack, bucket, bul­letin board with pins; desk items — sta­pler, pens, pen­cils, paper, binders, paper clips; mes­sage board, ruler, note­books, trash can, binders, book ends, cal­cu­la­tor, index cards
• First aid kit, med­i­cines, “munchies”, cof­fee cups, travel mugs
• Laun­dry bas­ket, laun­dry deter­gent, stain remover, fab­ric soft­ener, Goo-Gone, rolls of quar­ters, sewing kit, portable vac­uum, iron and board, and lint brush
• Com­puter, TV, microwave, small refrig­er­a­tors, bat­ter­ies, iron, flash­light, din­ner­ware, cups, glasses and uten­sils, fan
• Tool kit – duct tape, flash­light, flat head screw­driver, ham­mer with claw, nails, Philip’s head screw­driver, pli­ers, wire cut­ters, putty knife, screws, tape mea­sure, util­ity knife, poster gum
• Cell phones and call­ing cards to keep in con­tact with friends and family
• Clothes for all sea­sons— if you don’t have room, switch them out over the hol­i­days on your vis­its home— appro­pri­ate shoes and boots as needed.
• Fam­ily and friends con­tact list for emergencies