Packing for College: Introduction & Bedding

With just under a month left until I move back to college, I thought I'd share with you some of my tips for packing for college. 

My room had its own bathroom, but I had many friends who had to share a communal bathroom. Therefore, I'll be able to give you tips on what to do with both types of rooms.

What makes me qualified to tell you what you should do? Well, I'm a college student first of all, and I survived my first year. I was lucky to live within weekend-going-home distance of my family, so I was able to take stuff home and bring stuff back that I forgot. This is why I'm writing - so that if you're moving hundreds of miles away to college, you won't forget something extremely important!

This is just going to be a short "mini-series" dealing with what you should pack for different parts of your room. I'm going to be very detailed, and I'll probably have some pictures throughout, as well.

Disclaimer: I don't know the specific rules of your dorm halls, but I'm going to bet that they're probably very similar to mine (no candles, no extension cords, etc.), so feel free to alter my recommendations if you need to! Don't forget to talk to me in the comments!

Now, on to the main event:

Bedding

First of all, where's your college located? Is it in the South? In the North? Will you have easy access to a store where you can buy extra bedding if need be? (The winter gets extremely cold in the South, and the dorm halls aren't well-heated, as I found out.)

So, what should be the essentials for your bedding?

1. You're going to want a nice bedspread/quilt/comforter. 

I was able to get mine from Wal-Mart, and it's served me very well. It wasn't too hot in the summer, and it wasn't too cold in the winter.

I've rolled it into a ball here, because it's in storage for the summer. It opens up to a nice twin-sized comforter, though. It's a pretty aqua-teal color, with a design on one side. It's also very easy to clean, which is quite nice.

2. You're going to want some foam mattress pads.

I can't tell you how much of a lifesaver these were. The beds that we were given were covered with plastic (I guess to reduce costs if someone spilled some sort of bodily fluids on them), and they were very thin.

No matter! I simply pulled out my mattress pad and placed it on top of the bed. Then I put my mattress cover over that, and then I put on my sheets and bedspread and pillows.

These are my mattress pads. (I gave one to my room mate, but she didn't want to keep hers, so I took it back home with me.) They have ridges on the top, and the bottom is smooth. They look like they'd be weird to sleep on, but they're actually really comfy! And it makes the mattress a lot softer. You can get them at Wal-Mart, or bedding specialty stores.

3. You're going to want at least two sets of sheets.

Why two, you ask? Well, when you have to wash one set, you have another set all ready to put on the bed! I found it harder to wash my sheets when I knew I'd have to wait for them to get dry before putting them back on my bed. Once I had an extra set of sheets, I was ready for anything!

MAKE SURE YOU KNOW WHAT SIZE TWIN BED YOU HAVE. Some colleges have extra-long twin beds, while others have standard. My college had standard beds, so buying extra-long sheets would've been a waste of money. (My sheets were still a little big on my bed, actually.)

I bought my sheets from Target. They're jersey-knit (sort of like t-shirt material), and they're extremely soft.

4. You're going to want extra pillows.

Personally, I sleep with two pillows already. (I put the decorative cover from my bedspread over one of them, and that's the bottom pillow. The other one has my pillow case on it.) However, I really enjoyed having a few extra pillows on my bed, because it kept me from hitting the wall at night (the bed was actually narrower than my twin bed at home!). It was also a cute decorative thing whenever I made up my bed.

The pillows were also great just for sitting up against. (I sometimes put one on my desk chair so it wouldn't be so hard.)

5. Do you want to bring your stuffed animals from home?

I sleep with a lot of stuffed animals. However, I only brought one with me to college: my seal. I wouldn't have been able to sleep otherwise. A lot of people brought their stuffed animals, and my room mate never said anything to me about it. 

Bring them if you want.

***

That's just the basics of bedding. If you want to bring things like dust ruffles for your bed (my roomie just bought a cheap lace curtain and tucked it under her mattress to hide her storage space) or some kind of clip-on reading light, be my guest!

If you've got something else to add to this list, tell me in the comments!
What did you find that worked?
What didn't work?
Have I missed anything in this list?

Thank you!