Freshman headed off to college, you want to know the college dorm room essentials you need to grab right now to make your dorm room as comfortable as possible so you can relax while you are in your room and get your work done!
While you might currently be in a frenzy packing everything you think you need and all the stuff your college told you, it’s easy to room essentials for your dorm that make life a lot better!
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Why You’ll Love This Simple College Essentials List For Your Dorm Room
Colleges supply freshmen with college packing lists, which are great for your dorm room basics, but a packing list for college is pretty generic and blankets anyone living in a dorm with the basics.
First, room essentials for dorms are often different for guys than for girls.
Second, we are all creatures of comfort, so an essential supply list that is pretty much one size fits all kinds of sucks because it does not consider your interests and hobbies and anything that makes you, you.
So you’ll love this simple college essentials list for your dorm room because it should spark a few personal ideas that you might not have had to help you personalize your college essentials for your dorm room list.
Help Your Student Develop Good Study Habits With The Right College Dorm Room Essentials
Parents can help their children develop good study habits by setting expectations and providing the college essentials for the dorm room.
Also, encourage your student to keep a consistent schedule and have them click here to find online resources they can use at home to help them study.
Finally, encourage your children to plan by setting short-term goals they need to achieve to reach their long-term goal of graduating from college.
What Room Essentials For Your Dorm Are You Forgetting?
The best way to figure out what room essentials are necessary for your dorm outside of that basic freshman college packing list the university supplied is to work with each part of the room.
- your dorm room desk
- the dorm room bed
- your closet space (or lack of) in the college dorms
- the provided storage drawers in the college dorm room
- the space under your bed in the dormitory
Once you focus on each of your spaces, your room essentials for your dorm list will practically write itself, and at the same time, you will be personalizing that generic freshman dorm packing list everyone gets because you are not everyone. You are YOU!
What College Dorm room Essentials Have You Overlooked?
Here are the things you might overlook and don’t want to!
Any of these should immediately be added to your personalized college packing list before you leave next week!
Where can you grab any of these from? No worries, I’ll leave links below and a quick find list here!
- Amazon ships things lightning fast or send them to your college dorm (wherever you decide to receive your college essentials!) Now is a great time to take advantage of Amazon Prime Student!
- Walmart is also a great resource, both in-store and online, and they ship quickly.
- Target has an incredible resource pool, so check out the store online and see where you can pick up your items or ship them to your dorm room!
Your Dorm Desk And What Essentials For College Does It Need To Have?
Plenty of late nights and long days will be spent at the desk in your dorm room, so it better be comfortable.
Most schools don’t have steadfast rules that you have to keep the horrid hard chairs that go with the less-than-ergonomic desks, so bring your favorite chair for your desk(#1), from a gaming chair with all great padding to a simple chair with a cushion, a pink colorful chair for a pop of color or a blue chair? Ask your RA where to stash the other chair, and they will probably be able to tell you where to store the chair somewhere in the dormitory (we did) and then bring it back in at the end of the year!
Don’t forget the following items for your desk, as they may not be dorm room necessities previously mentioned by the school; they will be needed and used!
- a USB (USB-C) charger (2)
- an organizational bin for your pens and pencils, etc. (3)
- The lighting will be awful in your campus dorm room, so grab a desk lamp and see if you can find one with built-in pen and pencil holders and a USB/USB-C Charger to make the most of your limited workspace! This particular college dorm desk lamp is amazing because it offers a lot of it great customer reviews! (4)
- A file holder for any papers you might have to keep at your fingertips because even though life is pretty digital, important papers are still handed out! (5)
- A safe like this one (it’s one of our personal favorites), some sort that can be attached to the closet bar or wherever you decide so you have your valuables locked up when they are not on you. (6)
- a minimum extension cord that is a surge protector and hosts both charging ports for your phone and laptop, traditional plugs for your lights, and anything else that needs to be plugged in! (7)
College Essentials For Your Dorm Room Includes Making Your Dorm Bed A Second Seat!
While I have already covered the basics of making a dorm room bed comfortable, there are a few other essentials for that dorm bedroom you can use to help make the most of the little space and make it comfy at the same time so it can be like a couch.
- Get a side shelf for your bed so you can place your drinks on the side or snacks, and they won’t spill on your bed; this is one of our newest faves! (8)
- An over-the-bed shelf is a great place to store hoodies and your favorite grab-and-go sweats and to hang your backpack. The increased storage space is a must and a definite college essential for your dorm room component if you like to be organized! (9)
- This is a non-negotiable college dorm room essential for those sound sleepers: an alarm clock that vibrates and makes noise is a must because Alexa is not enough! (10)
What Other College Dorm Room Essentials Do I Need For My Closet and Under My Bed?
You’ll want to maximize space because that is one thing you will not have, from those Twin XL beds to the small room size, so every inch counts. Let’s use it!
College dorm room essentials that will help you stay organized and have what you need close by are so important; here are a few more ideas!
- A large hook to go over your closet door or room door to hang your coat quickly and your towel (11)
- Over-the-door compartmentalized bag with hooks and clear compartments that can store toiletries or snacks instead of shoes! (12)
- Under the bed storage such as a footlocker that can double as a seat or drawers on casters to pull in and out (13)
- If you want to keep your dorm room closet organized, these organizers with drawers and storage are great! (14)
- Strip Lighting creates a vibe to keep you in the mood to study or rest! (15)
Misc. Other Extra College Essentials For Your Dorm Room
College dorm room essentials include things you might be using at home, and you’ll also use at school, but you might forget those room essentials for your dorm because they are not on those fabulous freshman dorm room lists of what to bring with you!
- A collapsible dish drainer so that when you do your dishes, once you toss them back in the storage bin, the drainer folds flat too, and you can leave them dry overnight on a rack instead of the dirty windowsills and desk areas!
- A portable electric shake mixer for your smoothies and powder protein mixes,
- bring plenty of 3M strips with you so you can decorate and redecorate all year long.
- Don’t forget to bring a towel and a bathing suit to have some fun.
- Swiffer or a small stick vacuum
- old-school TV trays can hold a laptop, a meal, or a bedside table; when you don’t need it, they fold flat!
- Collapsible laundry baskets
Pro Tip For Helping Your Student Adjust
Encourage your student to gain valuable work experience on campus that will help pay a few bills and could actually be helpful later on.
Don’t forget To Come Back And Tell Me What College Dorm Room Essentials You Added To This List!
Good luck at school! You got this. ~ Dana XO
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