Your Ultimate Dorm Packing List

Packing up your old room and getting ready to head off to your next adventure is exciting! Do you have everything you need? Making sure you have all of the essentials can be a little stressful. So many different sources are telling you to get hundreds of different things, and it can be overwhelming. To help alleviate some of the stress of packing, I have compiled a list of some of the not-so-obvious packing essentials that I found super helpful.

Closet Needs

Whether you are familiar with Oregon weather or not, you will need clothing for various seasonal weather conditions. There are some weeks where it seems we experience every season, and it can be unpredictable. When packing, I’d encourage you to pack clothes for both warm and cold weather. In addition, a rain jacket and thick winter coat are both great to have on hand.

When it comes to organizing, I would suggest you have plastic bins to store under your bed so you can rotate out your seasonal clothing, leaving what is unnecessary in the bin and hanging in the closet what is currently needed. As well, space-saving hanger organizers are a great way to keep organized if you have a lot of clothes.

Making sure to take advantage of all allotted organizational space, a shoe rack to go at the bottom of your closet is super helpful in keeping your shoes or any other items off the ground.

Bathroom Needs

In addition to the typical toiletries, you will need additional items for dorm life. You will most definitely need a shower caddy so you can easily carry all of your toiletries to and from the bathroom. As well, lots of people will be using the showers, so shower shoes are a must! I have also found it super helpful to have a robe to wear to and from the shower.

When it comes to packing towels, I'd recommend bringing two so you always have one on hand. In addition, hand towels are great for when you are washing your face, so I'd recommend two of those as well.

Kitchen Needs

An item that is regularly debated as being necessary or not is a mini fridge. I had one my freshman year and loved it, so if you can, bring a fridge. I brought a Brita water pitcher to keep in my fridge so I always had cold water. I'd recommend that as well.

In addition, bringing a few utensils is always a good idea. I personally only brought one of each thing, so one fork, knife, spoon, bowl, plate, and cup. This not only ensured I wasn’t overpacking, but kept me accountable for cleaning my dishes!

Keep in mind that you will have kitchen areas accessible to you! Every dorm has a communal kitchen complete with a fridge, microwave, stove and oven, so you will always be able to cook your own meal!

Random Needs

Lastly, I wanted to include some of the other little things I brought to college. To start, I brought an oil diffuser to keep my dorm smelling nice. Since candles are not allowed, I wanted to find a different way to make my room smell good, and the oil diffuser was the perfect alternative.

Getting a fan is super important if you are living in a dorm, especially since you will not be able to control the room’s temperature. I used my fan all throughout the year and was definitely super glad I brought it.

As we all know, dorms can be relatively limited in their outlets, which is why a power strip is super helpful. You will likely have lots of things to plug in between chargers, fans, refrigerators and more, so definitely get one of those. I also discovered that extra long charging cords are a life-saver!

Depending on if you loft your bed or not, underbed storage is great to take advantage of if you are worried you have too much stuff. I brought a plastic drawer bin I got from Target, and that worked great! Any kind of rack or bin storage will be a great use of under-bed storage.

You will have to do your own laundry on campus, so in addition to laundry detergent, you will also need a laundry bag. I highly recommend one you can wear as a backpack so you can easily carry it up and down stairs.

You’ve Got This

Packing can be stressful, I know. Nevertheless, you can always get what you need later! If you forgot something or realized you needed more hangers, there are plenty of places near campus to grab what you need. We are so excited to welcome you on campus!