The Freshman Experience: 5 Dorm Room Shopping Tips
August 13, 2011 by
Filed under Beauty
Editor’s note: This is part three in our series, “The Freshman Experience”, where our very own incoming freshman Sarah has been documenting her experiences navigating her freshman year at Northeastern University in style. In case you missed them, see The Freshman Experience: 8 Week Countdown, The Freshman Experience: College Orientation, and The Freshman Experience: Tips & Tricks for Meeting the Roommate.
Hi, my name is Sarah and I am a procrastinator. Anybody else out there? Normally, the only downside of procrastination is the added stress you force upon yourself. However, when it comes to dorm room shopping, there is another consequence: things are beginning to sell out!
Before I get into the rest of my dorm room shopping tips, let me give you the ultimate advice: DO NOT wait until last minute to buy your sheets/duvet covers/decorations. DO NOT be a procrastinator! PLAN AHEAD!
Seriously. It gets stressful. Around this time of year, college girls around the country begin to realize that they have only a few weeks until move-in! Everyone races to the nearest Target or Bed, Bath, & Beyond to scour the aisles. Displays are knocked over, bedding gets inspected, items are haphazardly thrown about – it’s a shopping nightmare.
To help you combat these problems, I’m outlining my own freshman dorm room shopping tips. We’ve already covered the specifics of buying your bedding, furnishings, storage, and decorations, and creating a dorm room layout and color scheme, so, using my own experience, I’ll be discussing the shopping experience itself. Follow these tips, DO NOT procrastinate, and your dorm room shopping experience will be a breeze!
1. Make a list
This seems like common sense, right? Wrong! Surprisingly, many college-aged girls skip this step. It’s so important to write down what you will be needing before you leave the house! Once you start throwing items in your cart and getting excited over cute pillows, it is really easy to forget about the necessities. When you make your dorm room shopping list, make sure you:
- Visit nearby stores. During the summer, many stores like Bed, Bath, & Beyond and Target come out with their various college-themed marketing materials. When you walk into a Target store, you immediately spot the “RE: Room Essentials” signs. On their website, you can find their College Checklist. At Bed, Bath, & Beyond, handy lists are available for you online and in-stores to use while shopping. As you compile your personalized list, take a look at these helpful handouts.
- Talk to your friends. Growing up, most of my best friends were a year older than me. While I used to be annoyed about being the youngest, I realized that older friends definitely have their benefits: they’ve been to college and know what they are talking about! When I went on my first round of dorm room shopping, I brought along my best friend who had just finished her freshman year at UW-Madison. She and I consulted our lists and discussed what was actually necessary. She had great tips! I needed a laundry basket of some kind, so I asked her, pop-up or bag? I asked her how she stored items and how her friends organized their rooms. Talking to people that know you and that know college is incredibly helpful in the dorm room shopping process!
- Consult your college. Before you shop, check out your college’s dorm specifications. Can you loft your beds? If not, that will affect the kind of storage you get. Can you bring in furniture? If not, check that futon off your list. Are those cute pineapple-shaped string lights allowed? By checking online or, better yet, calling someone that is familiar with your specific dorm, you will save yourself a lot of stress (and money!) as you narrow down your list.
2. Bring a friend
I already outlined the benefits of having a seasoned friend help you make your list, but I’ll reiterate a few here. Trust me on this: You’ll want a second opinion on that cheetah print duvet cover, advice on which shower caddy will be the most helpful, and, lastly, someone with whom to share this incredibly fun experience! As you push around your overloaded cart and chat about the year ahead, you’ll be so glad that you have your best sidekick there with you.
3. Go a few times
It’s time to face an ugly truth here: shopping for college can be really expensive. As exciting as it is to cruise around the store and pick out your new room essentials, there is always that moment of dread when you get up to the cashier.
In order to help lessen the financial burden, try to space out your shopping into multiple trips. On one trip, tackle everything you’ll need for your desk and for studying. On the next, buy stuff for bed and sleep. Follow these with storage, bath, decorations, and closet. Although you won’t necessarily be spending less, you won’t burn a huge hole in your pocket by buying everything on the same trip. Also, by spreading out your shopping by specifics, you’ll make sure that you are getting everything you need.
4. Think about transportation
How are you getting to school with all your stuff? For me, this answer has changed more times this summer than Nicki Minaj’s hairstyles. Drive or fly? Fly? Drive? Ship things? It’s definitely a process to bring everything to your new school.
To make this a little easier, as you shop, think about how you’ll be moving all of your stuff into your dorm. If you’re driving, you don’t need to worry as much about making things fit than, say, the girl who’s flying from California to New York. If you’re flying to school, bring as much as you can, but don’t be afraid to buy things once you get there. I’m flying into Boston two days before I actually move in. During that time I’ll be visiting the nearest Target to buy that adorable storage ottoman that would be impossible to fit on a plane.
5. Talk to your roommate
If you have already met your roommate, make sure you talk to her about your future living space! Are you bringing a mini-fridge? What colors will her side of the room be? Does she have a TV? Plan it out before you get there.
For example, my roommate and I both love the color purple, so we decided that we would try to have at least a little purple on both sides of the room. She ordered a microfridge for us (through our school), and together we’re shopping for an area rug when we get to Boston. By talking to your roommate, you’ll have a better idea of what the entire room will look like – not just half.
Your turn!
I hope you guys haven’t fallen victim to the same procrastination bug: I’ve been shopping up a storm the last few days. Incoming freshman, how has your dorm room shopping process been going? Do you feel confident that you’ve gotten everything you need? Where have you been shopping and what has worked for you? Tell us below!
Veteran girls, what advice do you have for us? If you could go back, what would you have brought that you had forgotten? Tell us what essentials are on your checklist by leaving a comment.
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I ordered bedding online and shipped it to my new address in college – more options and less hassle!
I’m an incoming freshman; would you reccommend plastic laundry baskets, or pop up hampers? baskets seem better for carrying laundry etc.
I am a fan of this list. I’m now a senior, and I’m that girl flying from the west coast to the east coast. My advice if you’re flying–yes, you can wait until you get there to buy things, but it’s really been helpful to ship things you buy online (esp. when there’s free shipping; jump on that!). Of course, your school mailroom would have to be open before school in order for you to go pick them up.
Also: SPACE BAGS. Buy tons for your clothes you’ll be carrying in your luggage, and ROLL THEM UP. I can fit four space bags in each 50lb bag I check.
I would definitely recommend bring a few lamps, both desk and floor. Depending on where your room is located you might not have a lot of sunlight coming in, and dorm lighting tends to be florescent and not very nice. Having lamps made my room feel so much cozier and made it easier to read/see/etc. Plus they add some fun colors to your decor
One thing I LOVED having while I lived in the dorms (and really regretted not having come in with) was an electric teakettle (hot water heater) — and also a French press (if you drink coffee). Then, I could buy a few breakfast things in advance and have breakfast in my room (and being able to have coffee any time is really nice when you have a lot of early classes!). Some dorms don’t allow automatic coffee makers, but most do, I think, allow the electric teakettle and definitely the French press.
I really recommend going to big thrift stores like Savers or Goodwill to get good dorm things if money is an issue. I purchased 2 comforters, 2 pillowcases, curtains and maybe 10 pieces of decor at Savers today for a total of $48.
Most people think that thrift stores sell dirty items but I have never had any issues with the Savers and Goodwills in my area.
My best advice (especially for girls moving far away or flying to school) is to just buy most of the stuff once you get there. I pretty much just bought a comforter about a week before move-in at home because I found a cute cheap one and arrived at college a few days early and went shopping for the rest of the stuff. Its so much easier to shop once you’ve seen the room and you don’t have to worry about the entire transportation issue! And I wouldn’t even bother with most school supplies until you’ve been to a class or two.
One good thing about procrastination is that if you wait to see other people’s rooms before you buy your decorations, it will mean you can get more unique stuff. Once you see everyone else’s rooms all look the same, it will make you go out of your way to be different!
I’m moving in in nineteen days and I haven’t bought a thing yet
I’m going out shopping this weekend hopefully, but I thought that it might work for me to not buy as much till I move in, because my dorm is REALLY small and I don’t know what I will and won’t need. So I’m getting sheets, towels, a desk lamp, and a few decorations, but overall I’m gonna wait.
Here’s a bit of advise from a long ago dorm girl. If you aren’t too picky about your area rug (and don’t be – dorm rooms can have a fair number of floor-related disasters), go to a carpet store and look at remnants. They have lots of dorm-sized chunks of carpet for cheap. My dorm floor was hard and cold and I just wanted something to cover it up. My dad had the great idea of looking at remnants. It made my room so much cozier!