College is expensive, there is no sugarcoating it. You have to get so many new things before you start in the fall, such as cute dorm decorations, new bedding, clothes, textbooks, school supplies and more. While that sounds overwhelming it can be done without breaking your budget. First, you need to know where to shop, here are some stores that you need to make your new best friend while your college shopping:
1. Bed Bath and Beyond
Bed Bath and Beyond has amazing back to school deals, but on top of that, they have special offers for college students. You can sign up for their College Savings Pass, which gets you 20% off your entire purchase as well as free shipping on all online purchases. All you have to do is go on to their website and sign up for this coupon using your school email. After that, you will receive an email containing a barcode that you have the cashier scan every time you shop and a code for online purchases. Another good thing Bed Bath and Beyond does is you can shop in-store or online and have them send whatever you buy down to the closest Bed Bath and Beyond to your school, this comes in handy especially if you are traveling from far away to get to your new school. Also, use all of those paper coupons that your mom gets sent in the mail frequently, they work with the College Savings Pass!
2. Target
Target has great every day low prices, and they have lots of cute room decor. You can find pretty string lights, wall decor, adorable throw pillows, fuzzy blankets and school supplies all in one place. Target offers on its app, Cartwheel offers which are coupons that you can use in store, these offers are constantly changing but you can almost always find that applies to what you are looking to buy. Also, check out Target's weekly circular to find out what is on sale that week and when to get the best deals when college shopping.
3. Marshalls
Marshalls is a fantastic store you can find name brand items for amazingly low prices. I got a 25 pack of really nice felt hangers for only six dollars. Marshalls is one of those stores where you are surprised to find so many great things due to their wide variety of products. At Marshalls, I found so many great things for less, such as tiny decorative plants, cute mugs, awesome planners, great room organizers I got one for my jewelry and I absolutely love it! They also have a great selection of throw pillows and bedding accessories.
4. Five Below
Five Below is an underrated store when some of my friends took me there for the first time I was pleasantly surprised by the good quality of their products as well as the large selection of products that they offer. The beauty of this store is everything is five dollars or less, which for me is an amazing price range. There I got a couple fuzzy blankets that I have been using all the time, I also found a great set of mini drawers to help organize my makeup and school supplies for the desk in my dorm room. I also got a couple reusable water bottles there, as well as some beauty products like face masks for when I get stressed and those awesome Turbie Twisty Hair Towels for post-shower. If you have a Five Below near you I seriously consider checking it out for your college essentials you will be surprised at what you might find.
5. Amazon
Everyone loves Amazon, they have everything. Amazon was my go to when I was looking for some specific, for example, I wanted a tapestry in my room. It had to be a certain size, so it wouldn't be too big and I also wanted to pay under 20 dollars for it. I found a great one to hang up in my dorm room as well as one for the living room in my suite. Amazon also has this great thing that they do called Prime Day which is offered to Amazon Prime members and it has some of the best deals of the year.
These stores helped me create my perfect dorm room while staying in my budget, its all about knowing where to shop, knowing when sales are happening and using tons of coupons.
