10 Dorm Room Essentials | August 2014
As a recent college graduate and have lived in college dorms all four years; I would like to give my opinion on the some of the important things to have in your dorm.
1. A Fan – Most dorms don’t have air conditioning or they turn it on a little to late in the season. When you are in a shared space you have to take into account how the other person feels about different temperatures. It is easier to put on more layers though. When picking a fan make sure you know how loud or quite it gets to not disturb other people in the room.
2. A Shower Caddy – Even if you have a suite style bathroom (sharing it with 3 or so other girls instead of an entire hall), it is nice to have all your things in one area. This way instead of taking up all the floor space in the shower, you have everything you need in one designated area. This means that the other people you are sharing with has room for their things too. Plus if you have to share with a hall, it means you can just grab it and go instead of trying to balance everything in your hands.
3. Under Bed Storage – This is easily over looked. Most dorms don’t have a lot of storage space and instead of throwing everything into a giant pile under your bed, have containers. This way you can designate ones for food, clothing, extra toiletries, etc. You will know where everything is when you need it.
4. An Agenda – Yes we have our phones and computers but an agenda is always nice to have. You can color code it, decorate it, and make sure your remember everything you need to do. Write down your college assignments, meetings, club activities, school football games, etc.
5. Headphones – Your roommate may like complete silence when studying or sleeping. Or you may like to have your music turned all the way up. Either way it is nice to have headphones just in case you need them.
6. TV and Movie Collection – Whether your dorm room has a rec room or not its nice to have a TV for yourself. This way you can invite people to watch your favorite TV shows with you or have movie nights with friends.
7. Healthy Snacks – Most colleges have set meal times for their cafeterias or their alternatives are more fast food style dining. Healthy snacks likes fruits and veggies are always good to have in the room in case you get caught up in homework and can’t make it to the dining hall or you’ve had to much fried food and not enough veggies that week.
8. A Printer – Yes colleges have printers in their computer labs and libraries. You get a set amount of money to use them have to add to that amount whenever you use up what they give you. It is always handy to have your own printer incase you forgot to print out an assignment and don’t have enough time to log onto the school computers. School printers are also known to break down at the worst time (especially during midterms and finals).
9. An Alarm Clock – People are known to use their phones now for alarms but sometimes that doesn’t cut it. You could have stayed up until 4am and have an 8am class. It is nice to have a loud alarm to wake you up or even just a back up alarm in case you don’t hear your phone go off.
10. Mini Fridge and Microwave – You can rent these from the college or buy your own but that are great to have in dorms. If you want to store those healthy snacks or pop some popcorn for your movie night. They are an essential part of a dorm that a lot of people over look.
What is something that you think is essential to a college dorm?
