I remember packing for college being extremely stressful because I was attempting to prepare for every hypothetical situation.
I had no idea what I would want to wear, how my room would end up looking, or what I would want to do in my free time, so I packed for each possibility so as not to forget anything.
As it turns out, I didn't end up using a lot of the items that I thought were going to be essential.
1. Most of my books
Fun fact: college students don't have a lot of free time for light reading. In my defense, when I did need to read something, I had a lovely range of options.
2. Honestly, my textbooks too
Professors tend to assign a lot of "required reading" that doesn't actually end up impacting the material on the tests. I ended up mainly studying my notes and hardly glancing at the textbooks in classes like these.
3. The sweaters that I didn't like but brought anyway because I thought I'd wear them
I did not wear them. Most likely because I did not like them. No one is surprised.
4. Actually, most of my clothes
I ended up wearing two pairs of jeans and about three sweatshirts regularly. Most other things in my closet were, sadly, neglected.
5. The vast majority of the school supplies I bought
I didn't need the binders, hole puncher, notecards, colored pencils… I could go on. My classes generally only required a laptop, a notebook, and a pen.
6. Throw pillows
Don't get me wrong, they looked fabulous for the first week.
But sometime around week two I stopped making my bed and my cute throw pillows started living on the floor.
7. A clock
I was certain that I'd need a clock to keep by my bed, but in reality, I just used my phone to check the time and set alarms. Now I have an unplugged digital clock that just sits on top of my drawers.
