Dorm room shopping. For many, those three words mean months of planning — picking out color schemes, pinning thousands of ideas on "college bound!" Pinterest boards, coordinating decor with roommates and taking endless trips to Target. For others, shopping for dorm rooms means last minute errands, carelessly picking out the first items on display and not thinking twice about "matching with your roommate." Regardless of the approach, most do get stressed, at some point, about what exactly they need to bring to comfortably live in a dorm.
My freshman year of college, I lived in a room that was around 12 ft x 12 ft. When you live in a space equivalent to the size of a shoe box, it's critical to only bring the essentials, and boy, do I wish I learned that before I moved in. After finishing my year in the dorm, I can easily list 5 things that take up significant amounts of space--things that you will convince yourself that you need, that, in reality, you will never use.
1. Iron and Ironing Board: This pair is hands down the biggest waste of space in a dorm room. While ironed clothes may look nicer, the majority of college kids 1) are too lazy to press their outfits and 2) would rather just spray a little wrinkle spray on them. I myself purchased both items, did not use them once and still wonder why I bought — college is too short to spend 15 minutes on an activity to get tiny wrinkles out of your garments, right?
2. Drying Rack: Continuing with the theme of clothing upkeep, you may think you need a clothes rack to dry your washed garments. However, I can guarantee that you will never actually use one. They take up way too much space when there is barely any to spare, so save money and either dry your clothes in the dryer or hang them on various random places in your room (I have found door knobs and the ends of beds to work the best).
3. Television: Many convince themselves that they will in fact use a TV--hall movie nights, Bachelor viewings and football watch parties in the room could serve as great sources of entertainment, right? Wrong. I turned my T.V. on a total of one time all year. You will be too busy to sit back and watch T.V., and if you do end up watching something, you will most likely resort to Netflix on your laptop.
4. A Plethora of Decorative Pillows: Pinterest dorm pics constantly display the most lavishly decorated beds. Pillows of all shapes, sizes and colors piled up on top of one another may seem like a cute statement, but when its 3 A.M. and all you want to do is hop into your bed, you will not want to move a thousand pillows onto the ground and then put them all back in morning before your 8 A.M.
5. Water Filters: Yes, the majority of water in college dorm rooms does not taste good; however, you will be a lazy college student, you will not want to spend time changing out water filters and filling the pitchers with H2O, but instead will spend a few bucks on a case of water bottles from your local grocery store.
Ultimately, if you can handle some wrinkles in your clothes, drying garments on your door knobs, watching T.V. on your lap top, only buying one or 2 pillows and drinking out of water bottles, I would save money and not bring these five things to your shoe box on move in day!
