I remember packing for my freshman year of college. I had just moved from a house in Newport into a condo building in Southgate and two weeks later I left for Bowling Green. I had no idea what I would actually need for college, so I packed basically everything but the kitchen sink.
My freshman year I lived in Pearce Ford Tower, which later became known as estrogen tower within my friend group. I was lucky enough to live on the third floor, but that meant on move in day many people expected me to just carry everything up the stairs. Needless to say, that didn't happen.
It took me forever to actually move all of my stuff into my room and even longer to unpack everything. As an only child, I had never shared a room so I wasn't prepared for this new experience.
Once I had everything unpacked I realized just how much stuff I brought with me. My family and I rented a mini van to bring everything down and I had it packed to the brim. We joked that our Tetris skills were put to the test when we packed the van.
I packed in mostly paper boxes, so I could throw them away once I finished unpacking. I brought knick-nacks from home that I thought would make my dorm feel more homey, and I brought tons of books because I thought I would have tons of time to read.
I ended up packing way too much. With the exception of the clothes that I brought, I didn't touch a lot of the stuff I brought with me. By the time I moved out in May, I had vowed to bring less stuff the next year.
I did bring less stuff my sophomore year, but I still brought too much stuff. I took way too many tshirts, half of them I never wore, and way too many knick-nacks. I lived in North East Hall my sophomore year, which was amazing because my roommate and I had a private bathroom. The downside was that there isn't an elevator.
We learned just how much stuff I had brought while we carried it all up the stairs. I had toned it back a lot but by the time I moved out this past May, I knew I still needed to bring less.
This year, I am on the first floor in North East, which means I won't have to carry all of my stuff up two flights of stairs again, but I have been much more careful about what I need.
From my experience, there are only a handful of things you really need for your dorm in college.
1. Bedding
Having bedding is an obvious essential. Sleeping in a dorm bed can be uncomfortable at first but you can add padding to the mattresses to make them more comfortable. Having two sets of sheets is also a good idea because you will always have a clean set of sheets if you do laundry on a regular basis.
2. Clothing
Another obvious essential. What clothes you need will partially depend on what you do on campus. If you plan to join either a sorority or a fraternity, you will need a certain amount of dressier clothes. If you plan to exercise a lot, you will need workout clothes. And honestly, you do not need as many clothes as you think. I end up wearing the same 15 or so shirts and I wear shorts or jeans almost every day. As long as you do laundry on a regular basis, you don't need as many clothes as you think you will.
3. Laundry Supplies and Cleaning Supplies
Hopefully by freshman year you know how to do your own laundry; if not, it's important to start now. If you live close enough to campus, you could take your laundry home but it is much easier to be able to do laundry whenever you need to. From my experience, the laundry rooms are empty (or relatively empty) during the day on Tuesdays and in the mornings during the weekend. It will also help if you bring basic cleaning supplies because your room could get dirty. There WILL be lady bugs if you live in PFT.
4. Minimal Knick-Nacks
It can be comforting to have some knick-nacks that remind you of home, the important thing is making sure that you don't take too many. It's easy to think that you need every memento from high school or a ton of stuffed animals that have lived on your bed since you were three, but dorms have minimal space and you don't want to crowd your room with them. You will pick up things here and there throughout the year.
5. Kitchen Type Stuff
It's awesome to have a mini-fridge and a microwave in your room if there are certain things that you are used to eating or drinking on a regular basis. I personally suggest a mini-fridge that has a separate freezer because ice-cream lasts way longer that way. Also, the dining options on campus have specific hours and without a doubt, you will get hungry when nothing is open. If you're used to having coffee every morning, I would suggest a Keurig so you can have coffee without spending tons of money on Starbucks every day.
6. Money
There are organizations on campus, like Redwave, who have a fee that you pay to join the organization (for example, Redwave costs $5 for the year to join and you get a t-shirt). There are also some places, like Einsteins and Starbucks, that don't take meal plans. You can use meal plan dollars, dining dollars or big red dollars there but it can be helpful to have money too. There's also a chance that you will want to stop at a vending machine and most of the machines only take cash.
7. Quarters
Trust me. I go through at least 20 bucks in quarters a year.
8. A Positive Attitude
Okay I know how cliche this sounds. If you, like me, picked a school where you don't know anyone or only know one or two other people, it is so important to have a positive attitude about things. Yes, walking up the hill sucks - consider it your leg workout for the day. Yes, it will rain, snow, hail - you name it; it happens. In the long run you will be much happier if you try to look on the bright side.
It doesn't sound like much, but you really don't need anything else. If there's other things that you want, that's completely up to you. I don't know everything, but this is what I have learned in my two years at WKU.
