<p>I want to know exactly what I should get for college. Aside from the obvious stuff such as bedding, underbed storage, lamp, hamper. I don't plan on buying my microwave,fridge, and rug until I meet/speak with my roommate and we decide who will bring what. I'm going to be honest here and say I am very very poor. I'm searching for a summer job now and I have one back up but I really can't afford to go crazy with my purchases. I need to know a good affordable place to purchase these items. I found dormco.com but are they trust worthy? My grandparents offered to purchase my bedding and they may get me a fridge so that covers the two most expensive items. What things do I absolutely need on my first day?</p>
<p>Why don’t you just buy your stuff from Walmart/Target/etc? You don’t need a rug by the way, and your dorm will almost certainly have a microwave and a stove available.</p>
<p>I do need a rug. More out of habit than anything else. I’m probably not getting a microwave but I am considering it because only certain dorms have kitchens available. The dorm I am in advised me to bring my own microwave if I need it. I might buy some things at target but I don’t have a car so lugging things from the store to my house is pretty horrible. I live in NYC so it’s not easy getting on the train with tons of bags. I will have someone drive me to campus though so I’d rather have my stuff shipped to my home and then I can just pack it into my sister’s car when she picks me up.</p>
<p>You want a rung, a need is something you have to have for basic nesessity. You want a rug to remain constant.</p>
<p>Start a medication kit (pain reliever, bandaids, etc). Sewing kit (some needles and thread)…</p>
<p>I bought a small rug from Target for $15 to put in front of my bed. I hate cold, bare tiles and wanted a rug. It was a smart choice.</p>
<p>Can you rent a microwave or fridge from the school? I rented a fridge so I wouldn’t have to lug it to and from and my roommate already had a microwave. Because schools only allow low watt microwaves, they tend to be fairly inexpensive. But wait on that.</p>
<p>Your school should have a recommended list of what you might need. You can distill that down to the essentials/what you can afford and take a trip to Walmart or Target.</p>
<p>I got the best prices at walmart, target, and amazon. You don’t NEED very much, though it all adds up very quickly. We spent three or four times what I thought we would on my dorm stuff… but I had a LOT of extras. If I’d kept it reasonable like it sounds like you will, it shouldn’t be too bad. You have a few months to shop, so watch out for sales.</p>
<p>Thanks for the responses! I guess I’m going to take a trip to target! :)</p>
<p>Give it a few weeks. All of the good sales don’t really start until August. They also have special aisles for college dorm “needs” to make things easier to find.</p>
<p>Ross stores have some great bargains</p>
<p>Sent from my DROIDX using CC</p>
<p>I would think that getting stuff shipped as much as possible would be very helpful in your situation. There are so many places now that will ship stuff without charging much for the shipping charge. I have found some fun stuff online at overstock.com. They only charge a tiny amount for shipping. Sometimes they have sales too on stuff that would be what you will need. You could find lamps, and rugs, or even luggage on there.</p>
<p>I like shopping online just because you can compare products and prices so easily. Instead of having to fight through tons of students looking for stuff at walmart(I have done that, it was like everyone waited until super late to go and all wound up together) </p>
<p>Amazon will have some good deals and sometimes has sales on stuff too. I would think that sams club might be a good place to get a mini fridge or microwave and stuff like that. They will ship to store, so if you have one close to school it would help. Some places will do a combo of a lot of the things you need. RHL has some excellent deals on their linen, towels, and all the bedding stuff that you could possibly need in the beginning even rugs. They will ship straight to school and that makes things so easy too.</p>
<p>You need sheets, blankets, pillows, towels, toiletries, school supplies and important documents and medications. The rest is up to you. Look on your school’s housing website to see what is provided in the dorms. Coordinate with your roommate on the things you will share.</p>
<p>try places like tj maxx and target and look for sale or clearance items. It wouldn’t hurt to check out garage sales, and keep an eye out for hand-me-downs from older family members. I got all of my college stuff for around $200 and i purchased a lot of things that I didn’t <em>really</em> need but were nice to have.</p>
<p>The stores won’t have their entire selection of college thing out until late july or august. Even so, I bought my stuff throughout the summer just to be able to pay for everything.</p>
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<p>Yeah, they’re legit, they’re located about 20 minutes from me and I’ve actually stopped by there to pick up orders before. No storefront, but they do have a big warehouse with a large inventory, and full time staff.</p>
<p>Not sure how their prices compare though…always should look out for the best deal.</p>
<p>Remember that you will have stores to shop from when you get to school. So, don’t use all your suitcase packing area for loads of toiletries and stuff. Shampoos and soaps can be very heavy. I still say it helps to have things shipped when possible. </p>
<p>You can probably buy a lot of stuff from one of the campus stores or even get together with some other kids in your dorm and take a trip to some place like Target or Walmart to get some of the things that you will need in your first few weeks of school. </p>
<p>When you first get there you will need to have those things, say for the first week or so. That will mean having a small travel size toothpaste and shampoos and other small supplies of toiletries. You will also at least need a fitted sheet and a blanket/pillow. If there is no way that you can bring or send that stuff from home then go to the school website to see who they recommend to buy from. rhl can get you set up, at a low cost with some bedding and bathroom stuff. It can be sent to school. You would probably be happier bringing more cute clothes to school instead of packing your suitcases or boxes with bedding and towels.</p>
<p>^Why bump an old topic when there is a full list pinned…?</p>