What should I bring to my college dorm?

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
41

Most dorms will accept an M C Escher print as a substitute.

What Blaspemy is this? Are you saying the the Baby food tool even comes close? Or on the other hand If you are saying don’t bring the Leatherman because it is so much better that someone will steal it, then I agree.

Which brings me to my biggest suggestion. Something that locks is good. A big locking truck is best(the kind you can put a real padlock on), but if you don’t have room, get something to put your important stuff in, that itself cannot easily be taken. And don’t bring anything that is irreplacable. Things will get stolen from your dorm room, expect it and prepare.

42

My college used to allow hot pots, hot plates, immersion heaters, coffee pots, etc. if they were used in the kitchenettes. Most people used them in the dormrooms, being to lazy to carry them to and from the kitchen, not to mention carrying a hot toaster oven was rather unsafe (and if you left it in the kitchen, it would get ‘adopted’). No real problems until one year when a student had a hotpot (full and hot) on the shelf above her, while she was sitting on the bed. She reached up for a book and knocked the pot on top of her, resulting in 2nd degree burns to her head and face. From that point, all electrical cooking appliances were banned and, if found, confiscated. It was a little sticky as far as legalities, but it was in the housing agreement contract, so the ban stood.

[I am not here to get into a discussion of search/seizure/personal freedoms; just telling you what happened at my college, since you asked about restricted items.]

You are allowed a microwave [we would have killed for a microwave - they were way too expensive back then!]; that should really be suficient for mini-meals or reheating leftovers from the food service and pizza delivery.

[sub]Okay, maybe the hotpot, but for goodnesssakes be careful!![/sub]

Yeah, I second the Escher print. I had ‘Metamorphosis’ (something like 16 feet long and 12 inches wide of changing images).

43

Well, you asked for those who had been busted for having hot plates/etc that were disallowed by campus housing policy.

When I went to school, halogen lamps were disallowed (after a campus apartment manager set his/her campus apartment on fire from one). Well, a few of the guys with whom I lived (and I) didn’t care. We had a few halogen lamps in the apartment. As a result, we were the first of the campus apartments to fail the health and safety inspection. Our compromise? We re-wired the lamps to accept incandescent bulbs, so they let us keep the lamps. (Which was probably a lot less safe than having the halogen bulbs in the first place. But aside from that, we didn’t get in trouble. In fact, I think we really cheesed off the apartment manager because we proudly hung our “You have failed the inspection” letters on our living room wall…and the head of Residence Life was one of our fraternity chapter advisors )

If they catch you, you’ll probably get a warning and you’ll figure out better ways to hide it. Just keep it hidden well because you can’t be sure when they’ll come by to inspect and you won’t be in. Can’t hide it when you’re not there, so have it done ahead of time. Just make sure it’s not hot before you stash it under the bed. Don’t need you to provide a case study for why they’re not allowed.

Tor

44

I don’t know if I’ve seent his mentioned yet or not, but…

Bring a good, loud alarm clock/clock radio. And place it somewhere that you actually have to get up out of bed to deal with. That way, when it goes off, you have no choice but to achieve verticality to deal with it. I did this, and it wasn’t because I wasn’t awake that I didn’t make the cut for my second year.

45

Y’all do know it’s a Federal crime to have a real milk crate, don’t you? At least that’s what it says on the side of the one in my bedroom… Get some Yaffa blocks instead.

46

CVS generously donates free, good-sized crates that hold lots of stuff and can also make impromptu bookshelves. Unlike milk crates, they have covers, are semi-waterproof, and can hold small items that might fall through the grating of crates.

Just drive around back of the store and you’ll see them sitting there, all stacked up next to the trash. CVS has never asked me to pay for these crates, although I usually acquire them late at night, well after closing time, when there are no police in the parking lot.

Come to think of it, they might not really be free, but they sure are useful.

47

Hey, if stealing milk crates is a crime, then let me be guilty.

Another tip, courtesy of my dear departed grandfather–the first week or two that you’re there, keep five or ten dollars sitting around relatively conspicuously. This is a fairly cheap way of determining whether or not you can trust your roommate.

Dr. J

48

Thanx for the tip. The alarm clock has been enemy number one since I started high school. There’s just something about getting up at the crack of dawn that doesn’t seem to agree with me. Every night before bed, I would dutifully set my alarm clock for 5:30 (I had to leave to catch the school bus by 6:30…yuk!) Then every morning, I would hit the snooze button so it would go off 10 minutes later, then 10 more minutes, then 10 more…you get the picture. Needless to say, I was late to school a lot.

I’ve managed to avoid having to see the sun rise next semester by scheduling my classes for later in the day. On Mon, Wed, and Fri, my classes start at 10, and on Tues and Thurs, they don’t start until 11…yippee!!

49

[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by Star Light Star Bright *
**

RA’s are that laid back: I had a puppy for a few weeks. The RA helped feed her.

Just be careful when breaking the rules: my roomie and I once blew the breakers for the entire floor by trying to do all at the same time:

  • run the fridge
  • cook with the hotpot, hot plate and a toaster oven at once
  • warm up the curling iron
  • listen to the radio

This was before that school put computers in all the dorm rooms.

Also, keep in mind your roomie(s) may be bringing all of the above too. Best rule of thumb: take the absolutely necessary stuff and pack the rest, ready to be shipped to you later. Then call home when you need it and ask the parental units to drop the “luxuries” box in the mail for ya.

Don’t forget the condoms!

50

When your beer goggles,
Get cloudy and thick…
Think with your head,
And not with your dick!

51

Here’s another no-no I’m wondering about. Has anyone ever had someone of the opposite sex stay over? Gotten caught?

How about your roomie? What should I do if say, my roomie has a guy over and they start to umm…do stuff? Is there any way to politely ask them to stop?

52

My thread made it to two pages! Woohoo!!

Just something mundane and pointless I just had to share.

Star Light

Ps. I know this is my third post in a row, but I just had to share my excitement

53

I’d also recommend bringing some sort of room deodorizer. Victoria’s Secret and Bath & Body Works both sell these jars with gel in them that let off a subtle (pretty) scent. Chances are that at some point, your room will smell of dirty clothing or Chinese food that someone forgot to throw-out; you’ll want something to cover the odor until you have a chance to do laundry or clean out the fridge.

54

Great idea, Serendipity. My dorm doesn’t allow candles either, for obvious reasons. The gel candles would be good though, as well as deoderizing sprays.

O how I will miss my candles… :frowning:

55

  1. If you do get a microwave and make popcorn, throw the bag into the garbage in the hall or the bathroom. You’d be surprised at how the smell of the empty bag can fill a dorm room. Yucky.

  2. Some say that you shouldn’t get the TV/VCR combo because if one breaks, whaddya gonna do then? Get a VCR, they’re less common. Your roomie will probably have a TV. Plus, you can take the VCR to another room someplace if you’re gonna watch movies over there. My freshman roommate did that all the time.

  3. Before you decide to break the rules (i.e., hotplates) find out how cool the RD’s/RA’s are.

  4. Quarters are your friend.

Cordially,

Myron M. Meyer
The Man Who

56

Get a computer, or bring your own. It is such a pain in the ass having to walk back and forth from your dorm to the lab, when all you need is a quick engineering spreadsheet.

Yeah it costs some cash, but bring your computer and don’t let anyone else use it. I’m very territorial :slight_smile:

Tripler

57

You’ll want some Febreeze or an equilvilant product for when you need to destinkify some clothes and you’re out of quarters.

I second anyone who mentioned carpet or a rug. The tile floor in my dorm room would generate dust bunnies the size of actual bunnies 3.5 seconds after sweeping. The carpet keeps them subdued these days. Since it sounds like your room will be pretty small, call up carpet stores and ask about remnants they might have that match the size of your room.

Garbage bags will always come in handy for something, and if you use them in the way they’re intended, you won’t have to haul your whole icky trashcan out to the dumpster.

Bring a mattress pad. Do you have any idea what people have done on that mattress in previous semesters? I do. You’ll want to cover it with something before you put your sheets on it.

There will always be little things you need but forgot to bring. You will need scissors, glue, scotch tape, duct tape, a stapler, staples, paperclips, white out, a 3-hole punch, pens, #2 pencils, markers, crayons (maybe not need, but they’ll come in handy), and hiliters.

As for overnight visitors, the best thing you can do is talk about this with your roomie the very first day. Work out a policy that is agreeable to both of you. I would suggest giving your roomie adequate time to find somewhere else to stay if you want to have privacy with an overnight guest. Work out a signal that means “I would prefer that you not enter the room right now.” Don’t use it too often, or roomie will cease to respect it. These things are VERY important. I lost a roommate (formerly a reasonably good friend) because we did not set up visitor ground rules.

Have a flip-n-fuck available for non-intimate (;)) overnight visitors. Be sure roomie knows when they’ll be coming as well.

Good luck. Be sure to post any other questions you might have. Those of us living the dorm life are always thrilled to spread our superior knowledge.

58

I agreed with most of my roommates to leave a certain color sock out in front of the door, and I would crash on the couch. Luckily, this only happened twice. Figure out a code or marker or something, that way you know when something is going on . . .

Tripler
Fresh out of college, and still pretty clueless.

59

A duffel bag of ramen noodles and a pyrex bowl from whence to eat them.

Not only will this give you sustenence and comfort at an affordable rate, it will help you put on the freshmen 15 PDQ.

60

The biggest mistake I made was to bring way, WAY too much stuff. The room was way too cramped, and some stuff almost never got used (or in some cases, even seen).

I like the idea of packing some stuff up and leaving it at home. If you do it right, you can even ask your parents to mail box number four, rather than explain why you want them to send you that particular item.