<p>Here are some things I disagree with:</p>
<p>I brought a small trashcan even though my room already had one. I fought my mom on it (I thought it was stupid) but she won out in the end. So glad. I used it for recycling, and it was a lot better than the giant bins that would have taken up too much space that the school provided. I now use it in my apartment obviously where trash cans are not included.</p>
<p>I brought 30-40 pairs of shoes. I had an over the door organizer which made it easy to see and find the ones I wanted, and then I upgraded (sort of… it was cheap) to a target stand up organizer. I put it by my door and when my door was open people would always stop and comment on cute shoes (ie great conversation starter). My roommate and I were the same size so she would borrow them if she needed them. I worked and sang in concerts frequently so I liked having a lot of pairs of shoes (clearly I bought more when I was there).</p>
<p>Most dorms don’t provide drying racks or ironing boards and irons… You’ll need your own if you want one. You could definitely but it after moving in though.</p>
<p>TV - especially flatscreens are easy to put up on top of a desk hutch.</p>
<p>Curtains - okay they’re always a fire hazard, BUT I didn’t have them until my 4th year and they made SUCH a difference in making it feel homey. They won’t clash with your roommate’s taste if you just get neutral ones…</p>
<p>Collapsible hamper – sounds good in practice but you’ll always have dirty clothes, and honestly you’ll always wait too long to do laundry and you’ll end up breaking your hamper. Trust me I did it. Haha. I switched to a regular $5 walmart laundry basket and it still has not broken 3 years later (same dorm for 4 years so similar wear and tear). It was worth the floor space it took up.</p>
<p>Some other things I found extremely useful to bring:
-Buy some folding chairs once you’ve moved in. They’re great for extra seating and stepstools (everyone uses a chair for a stepstool) that fold away well.
-While you’re at target, buying a compact shelving unit or side table might be worth your while if you need those things. They’re kind of a buy-as-you-need type of thing.
-Make sure your minifridge has a freezer section for ice, popsicles, ice cream, etc.
-An alarm clock with giant glowing numbers for quick glancing when waking up to see if you are late for class or how much time is left for sleeping. Small numbers or ones that don’t glow just don’t cut it.
-Little bins for holding things like food, etc. Especially great if you have a shelf to put them on, better than crates because crates are flimsy and you can’t just pull the one on the bottom out to look at it (so you basically emulate drawers that can also just come completely out). It really helps eliminate clutter and things falling off of the shelf (again trust me here).</p>
<p>Some other things to leave home:
Docking station - such a pain, not worth the convenience of not having to unplug and replug things because you have to maneuver the computer just as much to get it out of the thing. When they get those powermats for laptops like they have for iphones that will be the day.
Collapsible shelves – I thought these would be good (bought them once I was there) but when you think about it, either they are always filled so they don’t need to be collapsed, or they are always collapsed which means you don’t use them. It didn’t really make it any easier to move them either, just easier for them to fall apart… I duct taped them and they stay together permanently now. But I wish I just had regular shelves.
Printer - the campus will have one, and you’ll spend just as much on cartridges as you do paying per page, plus factor in the time to get the ink and the moment when it is out and you have to go print on a public printer anyways… I lived 4 years in dorms without a printer and it was great.</p>