Dorm Room Storage

Heading off to college for the first time can make your head spin in happy anticipation and a small dose of anxiety. If you are a parent with kids heading off to college, you might actually feel exactly the same way. One way to alleviate anxiety and ride the waves of happy anticipation a bit more is to feel prepared for this next journey of your life. A step in the right direction towards preparedness is to pack items for yourself, if you are the college bound kid, or suggest these items to your college bound child, in order to have items on hand that make living in a dorm a bit easier. Below is a college dorm preparedness plan outlined with items helpful to take and why they could be a great help. It is, of course, up to you to decide which ones you think you would get the most benefit out of.

Get ready for dorm room life by making sure to pack up some of your old life and some new things to help you towards success with your new life. Pack it all into the Sterilite plastic camp footlocker or pack it all into two of them. These make great dorm room trunks. They have a 92 quart capacity with metal hinge latches and yes, the trunk can be padlocked. (Padlock not included.) It comes with a lifting handle and can be wheeled to and fro with the built in wheels. This is great for packing up the family car, your car – if you are headed off to college by yourself- or it can be taken on a plane. The dimensions fit most airline requirements for checked luggage.

In order to make the most of the space in your footlocker, your footlocker needs a laundry buddy and that would be your new laundry bag. Get a mesh laundry bag (to decrease trapped odors – I mean, who knows how long it will be until you get around to doing laundry again or see your mom again.) or you can get a collapsible mesh bag. It takes up very little room when not in use, which is ideal for small spaces like a dorm. The mesh material means no trapped funky odors. It doubles up as a luggage container for your clean clothes when you are on the way to living your dorm life or as a suitcase full of dirty laundry to be done when you go home on the weekends.

Now that you have your dynamic duo of the footlocker (or two) and your new mesh laundry bag, you are ready to pack! Pack your laundry bag full of the clothes you want to take. If you are a clothes horse, then, you will only want to pack seasonal clothing, with just a few out of season options, as long as you think you will be going home before the change of seasons to swap out your wardrobe. This seasonal clothing swap idea only works if you can make it home before the change of seasons. It helps reduce the amount of crowded closet space you will have at school. It shrinks down the amount of “stuff” you have to bring.

Now, for your footlocker. You should pack the following items: cell phone charger (Do you use it as your wake up alarm? If not, bring an alarm.), laptop, laptop carrying bag, laptop cord organizer and laptop safe. Bring a cube safe, available at SpaceSavers, to store your valuables, like your electronic devices, such as your I-pod or MP3 player. Bring a dorm caddy to hold all of your shower supplies. It makes it easier to carry everything down the hall to the shower. Shoes, boots, winter coat (if you think you will need one), gloves, hats, and other similar items. Don’t forget a backpack or anything else you think you need. You can probably hold off on buying folders, notebooks, binders, until you arrive on campus.

Now, you have your dorm room preparedness plan enabled and you are ready to get moving. Have fun, play it safe, and study hard. And, Mom, try not to worry so much. Junior or Juniorette will be bringing home their dirty laundry for you sooner than you think.

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