We’re sure you’re aware that appliances, furniture, school supplies, and all the possible items that you would need for your dorm or apartment are essential during the college season. However, are all these “essentials” truly essential when you move into your dorm or apartment for college? Will you consistently use them? Well quite frankly, not all the items you might presume you’ll need for your dorm/apartment is necessary, and that’s okay! With this in mind, lets highlight the items you wouldn’t necessarily need to buy.
- Cups
When you need a method of transporting a liquid, whether it be water/soda/tea, from your apartment kitchen or dorm lounge to your room, you would probably think of buying a water bottle or stocks of cups. Now, if you were purchasing cups for a party, then that would be reasonable. Generally, you would throw away a cup the day you’ve used it or a few days after, which would take a hefty tow on your finances in the long run since you’ll have to continuously buy cups. Thus, on a daily basis, having a water bottle that is reusable is much more convenient and financially efficient since it’s extremely sustainable for any liquid that you would possibly want to carry around with you!
- Highlighters, Pencils, Notebooks, Physical Planners/Calendars
School supplies are most likely imperative items that students might think of when they’re moving into their dorm/apartment for college. To be honest, physical supplies such as, highlighters, pencils, notebooks, and physical planners/calendars can come in handy, but you’ll eventually realize that you wouldn’t utilize them as much as you anticipate. Nowadays, technology is a necessity when it comes to surviving in today’s society; hence, a lot of your notes and academic material will be digitally embedded in your devices (e.g. laptops). With that in mind, technology is becoming ever more eminent and accessible, which means that physical school supplies aren’t as practical anymore in college unless for personal reasons.
- New Furniture
During your college move in, it generally won’t be necessary purchase a desk or bed since dorm rooms usually come furnished with them. In addition to this, dorm rooms have an extremely miniscule amounts of space for you to plant new furniture here and there to your liking; hence, it isn’t realistically feasible to add more furniture to your dorm. Furthermore, if you were living off-campus, furnished apartments may be an option you have since it’ll be easier to pack your items when you go home over the summer.
- TV
Moving forward, you might want to consider rethinking of bringing or purchasing a TV to your dorm/apartment if that was an item you wanted to bring. You might ask, why should I reconsider bring my TV? Well quite frankly, most dorms come with an area within it that has a TV which you could use if you wanted to watch a show. Additionally, you could save money from purchasing a TV or paying monthly cable bills by streaming your shows on your computer via Netflix (or other streaming options). In the long-run, paying for monthly subscription expenses will cost much less than your monthly cable bills.
- Printers
Similar to the reason for not buying physical school supplies, in contemporary times–students turn in their assignments/papers online now. Additionally, if you happen to find yourself in a situation where you do need a printer, most schools have central printers available for students to use. If you’re still considering to purchase a printer, keep in mind that you might not find a convenient area in your dorm (since it’s extremely limited in space) to place it, which will cause it to accumulate dust, becoming a hassle to clean.
- Dorm-restricted items
Furthermore, if you’re moving into a dorm for college, make sure you’re aware of the items you’re prohibited to bring to campus. Stay vigilant as the items allowed on your friend/cousin’s campus will not be identical to your college’s since it varies relative to your college. Thus, there are items you don’t need to buy due to dorm restrictions.
- Fancy Dishes & Cutlery
Full sets of extravagant dishes and cutlery won’t be necessary when you’re heading to college even though you’ll be eating loads of food. As you’re constantly overloaded with assignments and responsibilities as a college student, you most likely won’t even have the time to wash your dishes everyday; hence, your utensils and dishes won’t be used as much as you would like. An alternative to this could be disposable/easy-to-rinse plastic plates and silverware.
- Ironing Board & New Attire
Last but not least, I’m certain a lot of us would like to present us in a neat and formal manner towards others. Unfortunately, your dorm will most likely not have the sufficient amount of space to fit an ironing board for you to iron your clothes. Likewise, your wardrobe in your dorm might be extremely cramped as well; hence, buying new apparel to wear won’t necessarily fit in your wardrobe with your other clothes that you’ll bring.
All in all, here are a select list of items that you won’t need to purchase due to a variety of reasons–we hope this helped!
References:
Buy This, Skip That: What You Really Need in Your College Dorm
College Spending Do’s and Dont’s
https://www.thebalance.com/college-spending-dos-and-don-ts-2386204
General Intelligences 