I’m typing this mainly because I googled it while packing my clothing for college. I wanted to make sure I wasn’t going too over board (which I likely am doing still). So this is a reference for anyone anal enough to care this much and can’t bare to only have “two weeks worth of clothing”. Also if you manage to live with two weeks worth of clothing you can judge me and feel really good about yourself.
warning–it doesn’t get much higher than 70 ever where I’m going and I really dislike rewearing the same top within two weeks so I go a bit extreme there.
Shirts (35)
7 tanks
8 t-shirts
14 long sleeved tops
5 sweaters
Bottoms (16)
5 pairs of jeans
7 pairs of leggings
3 pairs of short
1 pair of dress pants
Full body (2)
2 dresses
Outerwear (10)
5 cardigans
3 hoodies
bomber jacket
rain coat
Pajamas (7)
7 tops
7 bottoms
Underwear
7 bras
3 sports bras
4 bra cover things
30 pairs of underwear
25 pairs of socks
3 pairs of tights
Swim
1 bikini
Shoes (5)
1 pair of converse
1 pair of tennis shoes
1 pair of flip flops
1 pair of heels
1 pair of ballet flats
Bags
duffle bag for travel
book bag
handbag
clutch
beach tote
Holy hell in a hand basket. I mean I LOVE my clothes, but I can’t see you having room for all this! I’d try and go through and slim it down a little. It’s a biiit excessive.
Personally I live by the philosophy of “if it can’t fit in a trash bag, it probably won’t fit in my dorm closet”
That is way, way, way too much.
You will need to rent a storage unit off campus for most of that stuff.
Also, instead of bringing 35 shirts…learn to do laundry.
It obviously depends on the storage capacity of your dorm room, but I don’t think that’s really over-the-top. I fit at least that much stuff in my freshman dorm.
Start with less…you start in the summer. Start with what you need for summer plus a light jacket. at Thanksgiving go get more if you need it
LOL…you have just made me feel much better about my daughter’s packing list (she can toss in another 20 shirts!)
Lol I don’t even own 35 shirts.
Honestly, I probably brought more than that both years I’ve lived on campus and had no problems fitting it all. Probably something like 50 tops and dresses, 30 bottoms, 20 pairs of shoes, etc. Wouldn’t say it’s “way, way, way” too much if you can make it fit comfortably in your room (which I did) and actually wear it all (again, did).
Some of us just like clothes lol
The 35 shirts includes base layers, top layers, and sweaters so isn’t so crazy as it seems, but it’s still too much. Why not pull out roughly a third of this and pack it in a box. If you have room and not enough clothes, it can be mailed.
I would also put everything out and make sure it coordinates. You’ll have many more outfits that way. If you have enough clothes for two weeks and a couple of extra undies, you’ll be fine. Plus you’ll be able to find things and they won’t be a wrinkled mess.
And here’s a hint… when you get your schedule, plan a laundry time during the week during the day and make it part of your routine. It won’t be crowded then, and you won’t need to have enough clothes for a month.
Lastly, bonus! When you go home, you can swap out clothes, and it’ll feel like you have a new wardrobe.
You certainly won’t need 30 pairs of underwear unless you plan to do laundry only once per month.
Just to throw it out there, I have a LOTTTTTT of clothes. Most of what I brought to college was definitely clothes. I like having tons of options to wear, I like knowing that if I want to wear a certain thing, it’s here in my dorm, and I hate the feeling of “ughh why did I not bring this cardigan because it would’ve been perfect tonight” Pretty sure I brought way more than you did, because I have tons of dresses in addition to my shirts. If I got to college and it didn’t all fit in the dorm, then so be it, but I was happy that I made it work.
I’m with @bopper in that you should plan on packing a little “lighter” and get more (if necessary) when you go home for Thanksgiving Break. That is A LOT of clothes, even for a female.
Ok, in her defense, some dorm rooms only let you do one load of laundry once a week. You should know what I mean, @TomSrOfBoston
If she’s wise about packing, then she can avoid being an outfit repeater. I suggest buying cascading hangers. And with all those clothes, she could save up her laundry washes, and do separate loads for whites and colors.
You’ll have to do lots of planning about where you’ll put the clothes. You should get two bins, again, one for colors and one for whites. That way, your clothes are already separated.
Being an outfit repeater is a cardinal sin.
Oh boy…that looks like my D’s list. I don’t know how she manages to store it all but she does. She also took a shoe rack that fits 30 pairs and fills it, ouch!
I have 2 girls…I actually don’t think OP has too much, too little in my opinion. I think 2 dresses are not enough. My girls had over 10 dresses per season (they swapped out when they came home). They often had semi-dressed up events to go to on weekends (mixers, semi-formals). They had 20+ sweaters from cashmere to wool. They also had multiple winter coats (down, wool), rain coats, quilted spring/fall jackets, etc. 5 pair of shoes? Try 20+ for my kids - rain boots, winter boots (dressy and everyday, pumps, flats, sneakers, flip flops)
OP - what about other accessories (scarves, belts…)? You only going to bring one bag? How many do you use at home?
We double hung their closets and got under bed storage for sweaters and shirts.
D1 under packed freshman year. I had to drive up after few weeks to bring up additional stuff for her. They were her nicer bags and shoes. She was going to a lot of fraternity parties that required her to get dressed up. With D2, she just brought up everything she need for the fall and she swapped her clothes when she came home for her breaks.
I think a lot does depend upon the culture at the school - some schools have lots of events where kids traditionally dress a little nicer which opens up a whole genre of clothes that would be needed whereas other schools don’t. I had to have my parents come up after the first week to bring me some dressier cloths for a weekly event that our school held during the fall.
But right now I’m facing the opposite problem as I believe my DS is bringing way too little and he will be 7 hours away so driving him up extra stuff won’t be an option. Our activity for today is to wash all of his clothes, put them in piles in his room so he can visually see everything he’d be thinking about bringing. That way he can figure out, for example, if his pile of underwear is big enough to match his desired frequency of doing laundry.