What Not to Forget When Moving Off-Campus

By Elizabeth Hilfrank on August 16, 2017

This article is brought to you by CORT Furniture Rental. We take the hassle out of furnishing your new place so you can do more important things like read this article. Learn more about why furniture rental is the best way to get a great looking apartment.

If you are headed back to school this semester and plan to live off campus, there are some things you should make sure to have in your car before you head out.

First, make sure you have all of the proper furnishings. Even if your house or apartment comes furnished, there are some things you may want to add to make the place your own. Consider bringing a few extra chairs for when you have guests over, a desk for doing work in your room, or a lap desk at the least.

Also, if you only have a closet, you may want to invest in some sort of dresser for all those t-shirts you’ll be getting from events throughout the year. Then, don’t forget a mirror so that you can see how your outfits come together in the end. It may be worthwhile to also look into lockable storage. It’s just one extra step you can take to ensure safety, especially if you ever have people you don’t know too well in the house.

Before leaving for school, look around your parents’ house and see what is in it that you would want/need for your own place. Doing so may make you realize there are some important items you had not thought about before. For example, you have a kitchen table, but do you have a table set? And do you have enough plates, forks, cups etc. for everyone in the house? Speaking of the kitchen, do you have a microwave? Toaster? Coffee maker or Keurig? We all get busy at school, and you’re not always going to have the time to make a big meal in the oven. Plus, college kids get tired, and coffee is a great answer.

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Other necessities that can make your place homier include area rugs and wall hangings. If you choose to hang things on the walls, however, make sure you use putty or removable hooks to avoid poking holes in your wall and losing your security deposit. Some houses can have very extreme overhead lights so it may be nice to purchase some lamps as well for an alternative light source, or as additional lighting if your home is in a shady area. A television would be a nice addition so that you don’t have to all look at individual laptops the whole time. A calendar is an easy way to keep track of where everyone will be when. Bring a rubber mat for the front door area so that people won’t track mud with wet shoes, and a coat rack would go nicely in the area as well.

After you have the big items taken care of, think about the small accessories for said large items. These include things like a mattress pad for your bed, hangers, cleaning supplies, toilet paper,  general toiletry needs (toothbrush, face wash, etc.) and a way to store these (especially if sharing a bathroom), enough groceries to get you started, a dehumidifier, fanmusic speakers, and Wi-Fi.

If you are within reasonable distance from campus, bring a bike. It will save you gas money from driving every day, and it will serve as a source of exercise without you having to think of it directly as exercise.

To give you additional help, I reached out to some of my friends who recently moved off-campus and asked what were some of their top items they didn’t go to school with initially but wished they had. Here’s a list so that you don’t have to be like them.

Ellie Lutes from James Madison University said that the biggest mistake of her apartment life has been forgetting to bring a snow shovel her first year off-campus. While the landlord plowed the parking lot, he was not responsible for the resident’s cars. Being shovel-less, it took Lutes and her apartmentmates three hours to dig out her roommate’s car using only Tupperware and pans.

Lutes and her friends also recommend reusable grocery bags to prevent a billion trips to the car … and to be eco-friendly. It’s better if you can start with a few instead of having to start your collection from nothing.

Make sure to bring along some carpet cleaner. The James Madison students ran into a problem where their carpet trapped the smell of anything they cooked. Prevent this with a little powder!

Katie Lukes from the University of Vermont said that she initially forgot a can opener. She and Northeastern University student Christina Allan both agree that general kitchen utensils are something easy to forget but important to bring. Besides a can opener, these can include things like pots, pans, a salad spinner, random spices, and a juicer.

Lukes also recommends bringing a strong vacuum cleaner.

The last thing you want is to get to school and be missing a bunch of the essentials. If you go prepared, it will be one less stress to worry about as the school year picks up. Living off-campus is exciting, but it also makes you realize that there are many more necessities you may have not realized back when a dorm room was your home. Check this list twice before the move.

Looking for an easy way to furnish your off-campus apartment? Renting furniture from CORT saves you time and money. See how easy it is to get great looking furniture without breaking the bank.

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