Top 10 Dorm Room Essentials

Dorm Room Essentials: My favorite summer of shopping to date. One thing I miss during this time of year is back to school shopping. I bought so much cute stuff and had such a great time in the dorms. Even when I ended up not going to my dream school last minute, I was paired with the most accommodating and sweet roommate there ever was to walk the earth. 

When I originally started shopping for college stuff, I was under the impression I would be living in an apartment. Therefore I didn’t buy any microwave, or coffee pot, or mini fridge. When I had to switch schools (you know, two weeks before school starts, no big deal) I said to my newly paired roommate, at said new school, “Welp…I have forks?” Praise the Lord it worked out like it did. She had everything short of a TV, which was an easy enough problem to fix.  I learned a lot in the year I spent in the dorms. (Like yes, the RA will take your microwave away in the last month of school when they finally check the wattage and see it’s over the allowed amount). So I figured I would share what my dorm room essentials were while I was in college.

My Dorm Room Essentials

Power Strip/Surge

Whether it’s for all those appliances you bring, or all the electronics you need to charge, you’ll want at least one power strip in your dorm. There’s nothing wrong with your typical industrial power surge, but for an already industrial looking dorm room, I like to spice it up. This swivel power strip can be molded into a square, a circle, or any other shape you can think of. I put mine in a circle shape and hung it on my lofted bed so that my phone charger could actually reach an outlet. I know they say don’t sleep with your phone and all that jazz, but I just can’t help it. Besides, your phone is the quickest way to check if your morning class got canceled. 

Bunk Bed Shelf

If you just have a raised bed you can use a dresser as a nightstand. But to save room, my roommate and I lofted our beds and put our desks underneath. The only way I’d be able to use a dresser as a nightstand is if I stacked them on top of each other! So I invested in this nifty little bed shelf. It held my phone at night and was the perfect place to put my coffee and remote control. They also have bed pockets that can be used for lofted or raised beds alike. I didn’t like the look of that option personally (especially since I went under my bed a lot). But it’s a cheaper alternative to the bed shelf. 

Easy Storage – Storage Cubes

Whether you get one or 9 storage cubes, I promise you’ll fill them with something. One thing to keep in mind when picking your storage cube is how much space it takes up when moving. This is one of the reasons why I chose this lightweight, packable storage set. Those “high quality”, particle board cubes are great too, but take up a lot more space and require a lot more assembly. The nice thing about the ones that I used is it requires no tools, and only took up a sliver of space. It’s all about preference though. My roommate had the high end cube storage. She bought it after moving in and it was a group effort to put together. Too each their own!

Rolling Cart

I majored in art, so I had more school supplies than your average joe. Paint brushes, 20 different types of pencils, 3 types of glue, paper, paper, and more paper. My desk drawers couldn’t fit it all. So I got a little rolling cart to put my art supplies on. If you’re not an art major, it’s a cute way to add storage, even if it does just keep your 10,000 k-cups in one area. 

Shower Caddy/Basket

I lived in a suite style dorm, which meant between two rooms was an adjoining bathroom. Therefore, I only shared a bathroom with 3 other girls, making for a total of 4 using the same bathroom. Even though I only walked maybe 10 steps to the shower, I still had a shower basket. Just because I wasn’t sharing a shower with 20+ people didn’t mean our shower was big. A small square shower doesn’t exactly have a lot of room for 4 girls shower stuff. So I used a waterproof basket to move all my stuff to and from the bathroom everyday. Besides, it’s easier having a new razor there whenever you need it. 

Door Hanger

This is a cheap investment that makes life so much easier. Whether you’re hanging up your towel, a coat, a bag, you name it, an over the door hanger doesn’t leave you hangin (pun intended). Do be careful though, some hangers are thick at the top and may keep your door from closing. The thinner the hanger, the better. Bonus points if you can test it on the exact dorm door before you buy it. 

Keruig 

This is a no brainer. Compared to what you could spend at Starbucks every day, a keruig will save you money (and time) in the long run. And you’ll most likely have it after college as well. Even if you drink a whole pot of coffee a day, a traditional coffee pot isn’t recommended. Often times these coffee pots go against many schools “no hot plate” rules. Trust me, getting your coffee confiscated by the RA is not a great start to your college career. 

Storage Ottoman 

This was a purchase I made when I thought I’d be living in an apartment. The storage ottoman I have is much larger than the standard ones you see stacked high in Targets college section right now. No matter the size, this is a great investment as it serves as extra storage and seating. Both of which, you can never have enough of in a college dorm. 

Closet Organizer

I’ve seen two forms of closet space in dorm rooms. I was lucky enough to actually have a closet. A long skinny one with two sliding doors. One door that led to my roommates closet, and the other that led to mine. But, I’ve also seen these strange cabinets that universities call “closets”. These cabinets could hardly fit a quarter of my closet! For those of you that have cabinets for closets, I am so sorry. I don’t know if this organizer would even be helpful in those cases, but in mine it was perfect.

There were no built ins in my closet, just a bar. I wanted some sort of shelving for a little extra storage besides my dresser. So I bought this closet organizer. Now I bought the type that wraps around a bar with Velcro to stay on. Thank god that worked for my dorm closet. Once I moved into an apartment, I had no such luck. Which is why I highly recommend getting the ones below that use hangers to connect to your closet. These organizers will be able to hook onto any closet type, not just one. 

Command Hooks

Or should I say holy grail? Ain’t no party like a command hook party cause a command hook party don’t stop! Ok seriously, I love these things. And let it be said, they don’t just make hooks! They make it easy to hang wall art (without nails), easy to string up lights or tapestries, and even have shelves! Ah! My heart is exploding! I’d buy at least a couple of hooks because they do come in handy. A quick note: don’t put a command hook up right against the ceiling or any kind of molding. You won’t be able to slide it off and remove the adhesive safely without damaging the wall or chipping the paint. Learn from my mistakes please…

It’s up to You…

Here are some dorm room essentials I brought, but have seen suggested you leave. These are kind of my personal preference items. You don’t need them, but I enjoyed having them. It’s completely up to you if you want to buy these things, but they aren’t a must for everyone. 

Pillows

I enjoyed having extra throw pillows. It made my bed feel homier and look nicer. When I ended up moving out of a dorm into an apartment I bought even more pillows because I just honestly think you can’t have enough. Please note, I only had 4 pillows total on my extra long twin bed. And they weren’t large ones. They did however, add the perfect amount of cushion for drinking coffee in bed. 

Extra Sheets

Again, you totally don’t need these. I promise you, you will do laundry in one day in the dorms. If you leave clothes in the washer & dryer for even half an hour after the cycle is done people will move it for you (and not tell you where they put it. You better hope it was a dryer or nearby chair and not the floor). When you finish washing your sheets the same day, there’s not really a need for an extra pair. I, however, am a diva and liked changing my sheets to make my room a little different every now and then. Yes, even just seeing my different sheets every night made me giddy. 

Dorm Room Essentials: Hoax

These items I bought but never used (and I doubt you will too). With all the items that I did use, there were also things I never took out of the box. Save yourself the money and don’t bother buying them. If you end up needing them in a month, there’s always Amazon. And honestly, a bunch of kids will probably just give it to you because they bought a useless item. 

Bed Risers

Whether you raise your bed, loft it, or bunk it, there’s no need for bed risers. I purchased a super cool set of bed risers that had a USB port so I could charge my phone. When I walked into my dorm and saw that my request for a raised bed wasn’t filled, it kinda threw me for a loop. There’s no point in putting bed risers on a lofted bed. Besides it not being safe, you need some room to sleep without touching the ceiling. Even if you do just get your bed raised, risers are kind of pointless. They’ll just make your bed more of an awkward height. So unless you plan on keeping your bed flat on the ground, I’d leave these at the store. 

Extra comforter 

A lot of dorms don’t have the best heating and cooling systems. Which is why I brought an extra comforter. Maybe my dorm had a really good thermostat or maybe an extra comforter is just completely unnecessary. It’s up for you to decide, but I never even took it out of the plastic. 

Best Stores to Shop for Dorm Room Essentials

There’s a lot of stores that will suck you into their perfect dorm shopping set up but my favorite ones are Target, Kohls, Bed, Bath & Beyond, and TJ Maxx. If one of these stores is sold out of something, the other one is bound to have it. And even though the mark ups at BB&B and Kohl’s make items more expensive than Target, you can always find a coupon to make it the same price. TJ Maxx is a place I feel like not many people shop for dorm room essentials.  But TJ Maxx has things like XL Twin sheets, desk accessories, carts, and well, really everything you need for a dorm. 

Target Deals & Coupons

Target is running a promotion to save $40 when you spend $100 on home, furniture and so much more! Use code “COLLEGE” at checkout. This deal only applies to online orders so shop online now! View all deals currently at Target here.

Kohls Deals & Coupons

Kohls is offering a couple deals that will be helpful to your dorm room essentials shopping trip. Until July 21st they are offering 15% off your entire purchase with code “JULY15”. Also until July 21st, they are offering $10 off your purchase of home items with code “HOMESAVE10“. Don’t worry if it’s July 22nd and you didn’t catch these deals though, all their current promotions can be found here.

Bed, Bath & Beyond Deals & Coupons

As always, Bed, Bath & Beyond offers 20% off one item when you sign up for their newsletter. Once you’ve signed up for their newsletter they will send you new deals and coupons monthly, if not more frequently. You may even be able to find these coupons in the mail, in the newspaper, and probably laying around at your parents or grandparents house. It seems like everywhere I go, Bed, Bath & Beyond follows.

My College Dorm Room

Here’s a little look into what my room set-up looked like with all my dorm room essentials. It certainly isn’t designer, but it left a lot of open space which was nice. The photos were taken on an iPhone 4 so please excuse the low quality and realness of it all. Fun fact: my freshman year in college I tried to start a blog with my roomie and we did a dorm tour. That blog didn’t last very long as we were having too much fun in college, but if you’d like to read the original silly post just let me know. Also, be on the lookout for even more dorm inspo coming your way soon. 

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Dorm Room Essentials Checklist

Disclosure: Some of the links in this post are affiliate links, meaning at no additional cost to you I may make a commission if you click through and purchase.