College Packing List

I am so excited for today's blog as I am sharing *drumroll please* my complete college packing list! I remember being completely overwhelmed this time last year in what exactly I needed to be bringing with me to college. I'm the oldest child in my family so I didn't have an older sibling to look up to in the dorm preparation process so I read a lot of packing list posts on other blogs as well as on Pinterest.

For a bit of background, I am a rising sophomore at Clemson University where I am an Elementary Education major and a Kappa Alpha Theta. At Clemson, we are required to live on campus our freshman year so I lived in an all-girls building that had hall-style bathrooms (meaning I shared a common bathroom with other girls who lived on my floor). I absolutely loved it as it provided such a sense of community and made my dorm feel more like a home! If you're looking at Clemson for college and want to chat more specifically about dorms/where to live on campus, feel free to reach out to me at chicincarolina@gmail.com. I will be living on campus again this year as I'm living in my sorority hall so I will be reusing the majority of my freshman dorm room and using this packing list!

After many Target runs last summer, I feel like I was pretty prepared for dorm life so I wanted to share my complete college packing list (excluding clothes, which will be another post!) of items that I actually used in my freshman dorm!

Creating your perfect dorm can be pretty overwhelming so I recommend starting early and going slowly rather than buying everything and anything you need in one afternoon. This way too you can plan out your purchases based off of when they go on sale (I would look around this week for Fourth of July Sales!). I also used Pinterest (be sure to follow me here) to help me plan out what I wanted to buy and see how well it meshes together.

Freshman dorms tend to be on the smaller side so definitely talk to your roommate about your vision for the room. I wanted to have a typical "Pinterest dorm" so it was important to let my roommate know that so we were on the same page. Picking a few colors for your room is a great way to coordinate but not 100% match as you can have different pieces that still complement the room really well.

Making your dorm feel like home can be hard to do but trust me, decorating it helps so much. When I was packing everything up on move out day, it was strange to see my room without all my stuff in it as it truly did feel like a home away from home! Also, having a comfy bed makes a busy day of classes and studying so much easier- a good mattress topper is a must!

Are you moving into your freshman dorm this fall? Did I miss any items that you loved for your dorm? Let me know in the comments!