The Ultimate Guide to Packing for College

So, I’m sure that your mom has been on you since you graduated from high school about packing for college and making sure that you have everything that you need. And I’m sure that you’ve been listening to her and packing away a little bit all summer so that you aren’t super stressed out about having to pack right before you go to school, right? No? Can’t say I’m too surprised, that wasn’t me either. Anyway, now that you’re in frantic mode trying to figure out everything that you need for college, let me be your saving grace and save you from total madness. If you follow my tips and learn from the mistakes that I’m going to be mentioning later, you should be just fine. I’ll tell you how to pack, what to pack, and how you make sure that you don’t pack too much. I mean laundry is a thing people, you can wear a shirt more than one time.

Now let me tell you about my experience with packing for college. I am a sophomore now, so I have done this twice. The fact of the matter is that I think everyone over packs their freshmen year. Maybe not guys, but all the girls that I know did. My thought process packing for my freshmen year was that I was going to need to prepare for every scenario that I could possibly run into. Take it from me, don’t do this. You will end up with about 50% of what you bring never being worn. I found clothes that I loved and I ended up wearing the same things more often and having a lot of clothes that never got used. The other thing that you need to remember about college is that it is totally normal to have about 80% of your wardrobe consisting of t-shirts and comfy pants. By no means do you have to dress to impress every day.

When I packed for this year, I learned from my mistakes last year. That being said I also have a lot more space for clothes this year so it is okay that I brought more. I definitely still over packed, but it’s okay because I had room for all the clothes that I brought. I didn’t bring as many random t-shirts, though.

Okay, so to know how to pack for college the first thing you should think about is what season it is and what season it will be when you go home for the first time. It is always helpful to know how often you will be going home throughout the course of the year so that you can plan to bring different clothes for different seasons at scheduled times. It’s nice to know ahead of time when you will be able to go home and swap out clothes because then you can alleviate some of the clothes that you would otherwise probably plan on bringing. For example, I try to organize my clothes at home in a way that I will easily be able to bring the next seasons clothes the next time I go home. It also allows you to switch up some of the clothes that you are wearing on a regular basis. This could be the t-shirts that you brought, or sweatshirts, just swapping something out to make your wardrobe more diverse. Another thing that I do is if I buy new clothes sometimes, I try not to bring all of them to school at the same time because I want to have some new clothes to wear later on. Maybe it’s just me, but I love wearing clothes for the first time. I always plan the first day that I’m going to wear new clothes for a time that I think the most people will see it. I guess that’s just one of my quirks, or who knows maybe some of you guys do that too.

Another thing is that if it’s a piece of clothing that you don’t usually wear, you probably won’t magically start wearing it all the time in college so odds are you don’t need to pack it. It’s almost as hard to pack for college as it is to decide whether or not to donate/get rid of clothes. You never know when your going to wish that you had it, but there is always something else that you can wear, or there is probably someone that you know that has something that you can borrow.

So, first thing is first, the first season that you are going to encounter in college is summer transitioning into fall. This means that you won’t be needing your winter coat, snow boots, hats or gloves any time soon. I mean maybe if you live in like Colorado or something, but for the majority of us this rings true that you don’t need anything winter related when you first pack for school. Focus on packing for warm weather and the beginning of fall. You might want to bring a few jackets, pants, and maybe a couple of sweaters for when it starts to get brisk, but this should hold you over until you go home for fall break or Thanksgiving. Obviously, everyone has different breaks and might not be able to go home as often, but just pack accordingly and smartly and smart.

As a business major I also had to bring some business professional clothes to school. This is kind of difficult because you have to make sure that they stay wrinkle free and that the creases remain proper. If you have clothes that you need to keep wrinkle free, I recommend bringing a steamer to school with you, or finding a friend that has one. You might also want to invest in a nice travel bag for professional or special clothes to keep your clothes hanging in in your closet. Even if you aren’t a business major I would recommend bringing one business professional outfit to college because you never know when you might have a professional event to attend. Some other products that I recommend bringing in order to keep your clothes in the best condition are a lint roller and Downy Wrinkle Releaser Spray. You never know when your going to need to spiff up your clothes really fast.

Now that you have your clothes separated by season and know what you will need for your first installment, lets move on to the best way to pack your clothes. Obviously, you want everything packed in the most convenient way possible to be able to move your stuff into your dorm or house. Think about what you want to keep on hangers, how you want to store your shoes, and if your dresser will have enough space for everything else or if you will have to buy additional storage. If you need to buy additional storage, how much, and where will you be putting that. If it is going to be out in the open, think about what you want to store in that and whether you want people to be able to tell what is in it or not. I don’t know maybe it’s just me but if this extra storage were going to be in my room and holding my underwear and bras, I’d rather it not be clear and everyone able to see my undergarments. Wow, undergarments such an old person thing to say.

https://www.society19.com/dorm-hacks-youll-wish-knew-sooner/

When packing clothes that you want to keep on hangers, I recommend putting them in garbage bags and grouping 5-8 hangers together. Also, I would rubber band the hangers together so that it’s easier to grab them all together. I will put a picture of what I’m talking about in this blog so that you understand what I mean. Next, I would pack the rest of your clothes in bins, suitcase(s), or a duffel. If possible, make it something that you were planning on having with you at school anyway. For example, I pack some of my clothes in my duffel bag because I was bringing my duffel bag anyway to have for whenever I go home. If you don’t know what bags to bring with you to school check out you should check out my previous blog, Bags Galore. In that post I talk about the different bags that I recommend bringing and what occasions you might need bags for.

My freshman year my mom was the one who was on top of figuring out the best way to pack everything. I’m her oldest child so she had no previous knowledge about how to do any of this college stuff. Because of this, she looked up the best ways to pack for college online, and that’s how I got these tips and tricks to give you guys. I know that I was very overwhelmed with knowing whether or not to invest in ways to make the most of your storage space. My advice is to invest only in what you know you will for sure need. Before my freshman year I had bought cascading hooks for my closet that I didn’t use. All in all, try not to waste money. You probably have more storage than you originally may have thought before you got to school. Getting to school and realizing that you can’t fit all of the clothes that you brought into your storage spaces might also be a good indication that you packed way too much. If that’s the case, you could always go through your clothes again before your parents leave and have them bring anything that you decide that you don’t need, home.

Another recommendation that I have is to not bring all of your super nice, top of the line clothes with you to school. The basics will serve you just fine and you will get way more use out of them than you would anything else. If you feel like your wearing the same things all the time, you could try to change them up a little bit by accessorizing or layering your clothes so that it’s not the exact same look every time. For examples of some of the accessories that I recommend bringing to college you should check out my past blog, Accessories for Getting Degrees. I would like to take a quick moment to apologize for my cringy blog post titles. I try to be creative and sometimes it sounds good, but that one was brutal. Anyways, if you do plan on bringing jewelry remember that you will need somewhere to store that too. This could mean a jewelry box, a table mirror with an open bottom that holds jewelry, or a wall mounted jewelry holder. I personally use a small, travel size jewelry box/bag and I have a table mirror with a bottom that holds some of jewelry as well. My roommate though has a lot more jewelry than I do and she has a nice wall mounted jewelry holder that holds all her necklaces, earrings, etc.

Now that you have a little insight on how to pack for college, hopefully you can calm your mom’s nerves about you being unprepared to go off and live on your own. You can impress her with your knowledge on what to pack, how to pack, and how to ensure that you don’t over pack. Remember that less is more and that if you wouldn’t wear it at home, you probably won’t start wearing it at school. Also, you aren’t moving to the middle of nowhere. There will be some kind of store around where you can buy whatever you need to, or odds are that somebody you know has whatever you need and you can borrow it from them.

I know that I referenced a couple of my past blog posts in this blog, so be sure to check those out if you haven’t already. Also be sure to keep up with all of our latest posts. There will be new posts up weekly and these could take the form blogs, videos, or podcasts. Be sure to keep up with them all and also follow us on our social media accounts which are linked at the top of our website. Hopefully we can teach you something useful to help you be prepared for college fashion.