What We Bought for Alec's Dorm Room & Our Packing List

Alec and his roommate were thrilled to pick out a dorm with a private bath and air conditioning! Since he's already in his college's honor program he had priority picking over the rest of the Freshman class. 

They decided on a teal/aqua (for him), pink (for her), and gray/neutral color scheme for their room and we had lots of fun shopping. Him and his roommate talked on the phone and through Discord a few times picking out some of the stuff together like their TV cabinet, bathroom stuff, and shower curtain. I'm sure we overbought and over packed but Alec is my nester and loves creating cozy spaces for himself. We basically thought of his dorm room like a mini apartment and tried to make sure he'd have everything he'd ever want. 

Once we had an idea of who was going to bring what Alec and I settled down one week buying a bunch on Amazon and then going into a few stores in person. Most things were bought on Amazon or at Target but he did pick up a couple of plants locally and had some things gifted to him at graduation too. Since he's moving in 2 days earlier than his roommate (due to honor's events/meetings) we bought the bulk of the shared items and they just split expenses. 

I'll have pictures and details about move-in day up on the blog tomorrow (I HOPE!)

Twin XL Comforter-- It is SO Soft and it was only $40

Twin XL sheet and pillowcase

Twin XL mattress pad/pillow top-- we returned the first one we bought since it wasn't nearly plush enough. 

Hamper

This collapsible laundry basket for his clean clothes-- they are required to have clean, pressed culinary uniforms for their baking classes so each dorm has a laundry room on each floor complete with iron and ironing board though they are encouraged to bring their own. Alec is bringing our small ironing board and his roommate is bringing the iron. 

With only 3 large drawers for clothes Alec wanted some drawer dividers we figured these were the easiest to use without knowing the size of the drawers.

They have one small cabinet each for hanging clothes. My sister in law bought Alec these hangers, this pant hanger, and we added these space saving hangers (we picked out the black, white, gray, and teal ones for his room) even though I honestly think he's not going to have much to hang. 

2 Hand towels-- that match the bath towels below

2 XL Bath towels (He usually uses a beach towel at home & we couldn't find any in stores so we settled on this spa set- he's a big guy at nearly 6' 3")

They picked out this 4 piece shower curtain/rug set-- for $25 it seems like a really nice set!

Shower cady for inside the shower

He asked for a shaving mirror & a dixie cup holder

Bathroom storage bins-- the bathroom literally has a wall mounted sink, toilet and shower and that's it! So they wanted lots of storage options.

We also ordered this over the door storage unit.

Backpack (his one from high school had a huge rip in it); hopefully this one will last.

Trash can & trash bags

Desk organizer

This bulletin board

There is a rental company in the city that supplies minifridges and microwave oven sets to the college for a small fee each year but we bought this fridge caddy for storage of paper plates, plastic utensils, etc. 

Alec also wanted to try this magnetic storage kit for snacks/tea and paper towels

A Brita pitcher for filtering out the city water (the size the rental company recommended).

Bedside caddy- we actually bought this one for one of the grad parties we went to this summer and it turns out the boy isn't going to be going away to college I really wish we had bought the caddy in either teal or gray to go with his theme but it's navy... 

Clip on lamp

Clip on fan

Two of these power strips/chargers

first aid kit-- Alec typically keeps band aids in his wallet & the trunk of his car (a culinary thing!) but he wanted just a bit more selection in his room since he won't have his car with him. 

tool kit-- I'm sure he'll never use it but I thought this would come in handy with move in day. When we saw it was turquoise we just couldn't resist! 

Lamp-- We were both surprised at the size and quality of this lamp

TV stand (he's bringing his own TV and remote from home)

Just for fun Alec picked out some lights

This adorable do not disturb sign

2 plants (He even checked to see what direction the windows face to make sure his room has the right lighting for them).

I picked out this hand truck to help with transport-- it's fully collapsible so takes up hardly any room in the trunk and since Evan also plans to attend college I figure we'll get plenty of use out of it. 

We bought these plastic storage totes to transport some of his stuff while also hoping one or two would fit stacked under his bed for extra storage. We bought 4

These soft sided Ikea bags worked great for all the bedding and his clothes and they can be worn as a back pack!

We also scooped up lots of things from around the house like Windex to clean his kitchen shoes, Spray and wash to keep his culinary uniform white, Clorox wipes to keep the bathroom clean, various command hooks and velcro pieces, his magnetic picture, some throw blankets, toiletries, school supplies, his required laptop, etc. 

Here is an "essential packing list" for college I'm sharing since I'll want to refer back to that myself when it's Evan's turn in a couple of years. It'll be interesting to see what he thinks he needs next year... 

 

Linking up with: Thinking Out Loud, Spread the Kindness,