Your Ultimate Dorm Packing List

Packing up your old room and getting ready to head off to your next adventure is exciting! 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.

I'm a George Fox student who went through the process of moving here my freshman year, and I'm here to help alleviate some of the stress of packing. Read on to see my list of some of the not-so-obvious packing essentials that will set you up for success your first year at Fox.

Closet and Organizational Needs

Whether you’re familiar with Oregon weather or not, you will need clothing for various seasonal 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 temperatures.

In addition, a rain jacket and thick winter coat are both great to have on hand. These things can take up lots of space in your dorm closet, so I would recommend bringing some plastic storage bins that you can throw under your bed or inside a drawer.

There are a million different ways to store your clothes, but when it comes to dorm living you must prioritize convenience and space. I store all my jeans, skirts and jackets on space-saving hangers. This way all my clothes are visible and easy to access during my busy college mornings.

Something that seems unimportant but is surprisingly useful is a shoe rack you can fit inside your closet. I remember tripping over various shoes during my first few weeks at school before eventually caving and buying a storage rack.

You might be surprised by the amount of things you accumulate in your dorm room throughout the school year. That's why it is so important that you have a variety of ways to store your things. Make sure to take advantage of all allotted organizational space. Baskets, containers and shelving help move clutter out of the way and keep the space looking clean.

Bathroom Needs

In addition to the typical toiletries, you’ll need additional items for dorm life. You will most definitely need a shower caddy so you can easily carry all your toiletries to and from the bathroom. I would recommend buying a plastic one. It dries faster and does not mold if it gets wet. I keep basic shower items in it and other items in a portable bag I can take 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 and an additional hair towel. Hand towels are great for when you’re washing your face, so I’d recommend two of those as well. As a veteran dorm shower user, I highly recommend having towels to spare. Life gets busy and dorm showers can get gross. It always feels amazing to have a clean towel on hand, especially after a long day.

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 and two to three ice trays to keep in my fridge so I always had cold water and ice. Fridges can be hard to fit in a dorm room, so I would recommend lofting your bed and keeping it underneath. This not only adds extra storage space in your room but helps reduce the look of clutter.

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 with a fridge, microwave, stove and oven, so you will always be able to cook your own meal! If you are super into cooking and baking, I would definitely recommend bringing a basket you can easily carry your pots, pans, dishes, cooking ingredients and cleaning supplies in. This saved me so many trips walking back and forth from the kitchen to my dorm and kept everything organized.

Random Needs

Lastly, I wanted to mention 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’re 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 a charger, 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, under-bed 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’ll also need a laundry bag. I highly recommend one you can wear as a backpack or roll on wheels so you can easily carry it up and down stairs.

Last but not least, the one item I almost skipped on that quickly became my most used was my dorm bedside shelf. It's a small shelf that can be attached to the side of your dorm bed. Here I could put tissues, water bottles, books, phone, etc. It made things much more convenient and made up for the lack of a nightstand.

How to Hang Things

When it comes to decorating your room and hanging things on the walls, we need to be careful not to accidentally damage the room! Drilling holes or accidentally taking the paint off the walls could result in a fee at the end of the school year.

For this reason, I want to pass along how to correctly hang things in your dorm room. Each dorm comes with a cork board on each side. If you want to pin things to the walls, this is where you should do it. If you decide you would like another corkboard, you can purchase one from Amazon or get one from the local Fred Meyer and use glue dots to safely attach it to the wall. Glue dots and tape are a great alternative to screwing things into the wall. I find that posters I put up with glue dots stay on the walls all year long.

If you would like to add more hooks on to the walls to hang your things, Command Strips are the way to go. Avoid putting these on the wooden closet and furniture because it will damage it, but you can put it on the walls. These are a great alternative to drilling holes.

What to Leave at Home

Now that you know what things to bring to campus, let's talk about what you should actually leave behind. My golden rule for deciding what to leave at home is figuring out if an item is something that I'm actually going to use, or if it's just going to take up space.

The biggest offender of this rule is excessive decorative pillows and plushies. At a certain point in the semester you will find yourself throwing them off the bed or shoving them in your closet. Pillows are nice to decorate but more than one or two starts to become inconvenient.

I also understand the urge to bring your entire wardrobe with you to school; however, the reality is that if you rarely wear it at home, you will rarely wear it at college. If you have not worn it in a year, leave it at home! Closet space is limited, and throughout the semester you will find yourself acquiring random T-shirts and swag from school events. You can also swap out some of your wardrobe if you ever go home for breaks!

Lastly, leave candles and open flames at home! These are prohibited on campus, as they can start fires. Instead, I would recommend scents or room sprays. Student Housing has a more detailed list of what items are not allowed on campus.

You’ve Got This

Packing can be stressful, I know. Moving to college is a big milestone! George Fox has created a thorough What You Need to Bring to Campus list which you can use for additional help. Nevertheless, you can always get what you need later! If you forgot something or realize you need more hangers, there are plenty of places near campus to grab what you need.

We're so excited to welcome you to campus!