As the summer draws to a close and the impending doom of going to back to school nears closer, college students around the country are faced with one daunting task: packing. Getting ready to leave the comfort of your fully stocked home and re-hauling your stuff to settle back into campus life can be a hassle. This is especially stressful if you are a first year student. So, after experiencing my first year, here are some things that you can skip when packing up for the coming school year!
1. Tool Box
This is something I have seen on countless college shopping lists and it is probably the most useless item I can thing of. Its only purpose on those lists is to trick frantic students and parents into buying something they don’t need. Let's be real, what are you ever going to do with a screw driver? A hammer? Unless you are taking some type of home improvement elective, you will likely never use it. After all, you're not Bob the Builder and if you have a problem with broken items in your dorm, the school is going to fix it.
2. Dishes and Silverware
When you are a freshman or even into your senior year, you will most likely not be living on campus and will still be tied into your school meal plan. That means that you will not have easy access to a kitchen so cooking will not really be an option. If you are going to be using something like the microwave to make your own food, then paper or plastic dishware will work just fine! Also, if you do decide to bring to some kitchenware, you will most likely have to clean them in the bathroom and no one wants to have their forks and knives in the same place people brush their teeth.
3.Extra Furniture
It may be tempting to fill up your room with those cute fabric ottomans and bungee chairs, especially since they are ALWAYS on sale at Target. However, what most first-year students do not realize is that they are most likely not even allowed in the dormitory. This can be frustrating, but it's all for fire codes and safety reasons. Having less furniture, or just stuff in general, in the room keeps the already small room from feeling even smaller.
4. Winter Wardrobe
Unless you go to school in a naturally cold climate, or are in a position where traveling back to your home base is not an option throughout the year, bringing cold weather clothes is unnecessary. Since school starts around August/September, you will most likely be able to wear your summer clothes for at least a month or so. That means that you save lugging your heavy coats and sweaters to campus at a later date like Thanksgiving break. It will save you stress and closet space in the long run.
5. A TV
This idea that you will not need a TV in college seems crazy, after all how will you survive without those lazy weekend morning spent watching Law and Order and Friends re-runs? However, surprisingly, most students do not have their own personal televisions in their dorm and do not miss it. I for one found that I had no time to even breath between classes, let alone watch TV. And any down time I had was spent socializing with my friends, which I found to be much more entertaining than any TV show. Without having television as a security blanket, it forces students to go out, meet new people, and get involved in other activities on their campus.
