Things to Pack & Buy!

Start by watching this great video on What to pack for college?- you don’t need to write anything down as these have fed into my suggested list below. Concentrate especially on the clothing section (at the end of the video). It was incredibly helpful in focusing us on what clothes to carry/buy. These all fed into my master shopping list – and which my son tells me- was perfect in terms of clothing.

We weren’t keen on packing any suits/formal shirt/ tie/ jackets or any special desi (Indian) clothing and felt we were overpacking. Finally, we sent him with just one suit and 1 Indian waistcoat. Big mistake! He used the suit a few times the first year (in a career fair, in the Honors College Spring Formal event, attending a formal ticketed Magic Show in Chicago etc) and he went to at least 4 Indian events (Garba/ Diwali event/ Indian Night etc) where he had to re-wear the same outfit or borrow from his friends.

For winter clothing– note most of the winter clothing you have at home will not be adequate for the freezing Mid-west winters. They can probably wear what they have over fall and then buy what they need after you land. A future post will talk about this in detail.

Inner-wear– give enough for at least 2 weeks as kid maybe too busy to do more than once every 8-12 days. (My son did his every 8 days or so)

International kids will miss their home food. Its therefore understandable for you to pack their favourite snacks/food from home which they may not get in West Lafayette. However, there is a danger of going overboard. So how much should they carry?

I would suggest you give no more than one cabin size bag worth of food/snacks/dehydrated stuff, if that.

The dining hall food is filling, and very calorie-rich, your kid will be having a spread of desserts apart from the food buffet- so they are not going to go hungry. Unless your kid is very very picky with their food, they will be fine. Your food from home should be just an occasional treat to remind them of home, or a quick bite when they don’t have the time to go to the dining courts. Students will be busy with classes, courses and other activities, and they will definitely have little time or energy to spare for cooking after getting exhausted with their normal routines.

Regarding Indian food and spices, you get most of the favourite food/ all the spices in West Lafayette (see my separate Indian focused post). There is no real reason to carry spices like haldi, jeera etc from home. Carrying packaged spices with you may also be a problem at US customs. The cooking facilities in the residence halls also vary. In the Honors college, there is one shared kitchen for each of the North & South Towers. But neither has a cooking stove- just an oven and microwave. It would be difficult to cook there. Other halls are fully equipped, for e.g. Hawkins has the best Industrial strength kitchen as it used to house a former dining hall! In some dorms, there are pots and pans that you can use in the kitchenettes. But space is SO tight in their dorm rooms, they will not have space if you send cooking utensils- Do not send anything extra until you know they absolutely will use it! For instance, my son and his friends cooked no more than 4-5 times in the entire first year, and a couple of times it was because they had brought along so much dehydrated food from home, that the parents were forcing them to use it before they returned home!

Your child will probably get the usual cold/flu once winter comes, and they will need some quick home remedies and OTC medication for common problems such as cough/ hay fever/allergies/ indigestion etc. It is definitely a good idea to pack a First Aid kit & a few strips of the usual OTC drugs. You may also want to include a course of antibiotics, which they can take after consulting PUSH or your family doctor on a telecall. Ayurvedic medicine (if you are used to that at home) is also something you may want to include. Generally US dont mind OTC herbal medicine as long as its professionally produced (i.e. with packing labels etc) – issue would be if you have unlabelled home made stuff.

Also your kid may have special medicines that they need (like insulin/ epipen etc) – please ensure you take your Doctor’s advice as to what and how much they should carry with, at least initially until they can get their prescriptions filled at PUSH Pharmacy.

I am attaching two lists; one for normal medicines and the other for Indian Ayurvedic medicines. Use these lists as a starting point- add or take away whatever you want. Remember to buy long expiry medicines!

For the first list, I have created four sections – “Muscle sprains”/ “Vitamins”/”Safe to Use” and “Use with Caution”. I recommend you physically pack them separately these ways so that your child does not take prescription medicines inadvertently.

Most of these items, you will purchase in the US (either online or in person). Get a bedside shelf – they are ideal to keep your alarm clock, specs, glass of water etc by you at night. A Bunk-side caddy, where you can slip in your phone/kindle/book etc for when you want to sleep. These two items are especially useful if you loft your bed so you don’t have to climb down. Get a small clip-on bed light so you can read without disturbing your roomie at night.

All Purdue beds are weird- bigger than Twin but smaller than a Twin XL- but just buy all your items for them in Twin XL size. You can apply for a longer mattress if your student is extra tall- which we did for my son. However, we found that we could not purchase any linens in that size, so we ended up downgrading to the standard size.

Many college students will find that their dorm mattresses are too firm for their liking. An easy and affordable way to address this conundrum is to invest in a mattress topper. Mattress toppers not only provide comfort, but they can also provide much-needed support. . We chose this in Twin XL Size (2 inches) as the discussions I read online said a 2″ is quite enough. You can opt for a 3″ too, but anything bigger would be overkill. You will most likely throw away the mattress topper after the first year as they are quite bulky to store. And if you are moving off-campus to an apartment, you will probably have a different-sized (queen) bed for which the topper will not be useful.

You should buy Twin XL fitted sheets, 2 pillows and 4 pillow cases (so you can wash them alternatively). An extra bed-rest pillow is useful for studying in bed or using a laptop

If you can get them cheap, buy a queen sized comforter instead of a Twin XL one- they are bigger and fit on the Twin XL easily and can be used for 2nd year even if you move off-campus to a queen sized bed. Ensure you get one that has tie-able corner straps so that you can tie the corners of the cover to the corners of the duvet so that nothing shifts. Its much easier to put into the cover. Target has a fairly priced Dorm bedding brand called Room essentials which we loved and ended up buying all our dorm stuff from them.

Again many of these items will be bought in the US.

Room Locker: Your child needs one to keep important items such as his passport etc. Although the dorms are safe, I would recommend you have one as losing a passport is too much of a hassle. You can buy this from Amazon- but the cheapest ones are $33 and honestly look really flimsy. After researching this extensively, what I found was best suited for us is to get a GUN locker. Being meant for Guns- they have to be super strong and safe and by law, made to certain standard. They serve our purpose beautifully. I found one that was a fab deal at Harborfreight for $22 only! (link in shopping list below) You can buy locally at their store on 2121 Sagamore Pkwy S, Lafayette, IN 47905, 765-446-1969 Store Hours:M-F: 8:00AM-8:00PM; Sat: 8:00AM-8:00PM; Sun: 9:00AM-6:00PM or order online.

Futon: You (or your roomie) can get this if at least one of your beds is lofted. My son loved having this, as that left the bed undisturbed during the day. Also it helps create the bed as a sleep zone with the bed not used for lounging.

Brita water filter: Your Residence Hall has a water fountain but you need to fill your water and bring it to the room. Instead of buying a jug, consider a water filter- to ensure that the water is further purified. It will also get rid of the hardness in the water.

Rug/carpet for dorm room: Cold tile floors are awesome if you want your room to feel like a prison. The rooms are not carpeted. Rugs are a dorm necessity, not a dorm accessory. Unless you vow to never actually walk on your white fluffy rug—opt for a dark, low pile rug. A dark colour rug will conceal dirt and buy you time between cleanings, and short fibres are easier to clean. College is an experience best spent not vacuuming every day.

However rugs are expensive especially if you go for a larger size to cover more of the room. So here is a Pro tip: Measure your room when you get there and then get cheap Carpet remnants (i.e. leftover rolls from large Carpet shops) that fit the room. I got a great deal from Carpet Warehouse (1505 Sagamore Pkwy S, Lafayette, IN 47905, Tel +1 765-447-5520) and I carpeted the whole room using double-sided carpet tape bought from Ace Hardware and a utility knife – my average roll was 7ft x 6ft for around $8 and the carpets cost me a total of $40 (actual value $250)…make sure you speak to the owner Richard, as the others don’t have the authority to deep discount. If you can’t get these remnants then here’s another hidden gem- a local shop Ollie’s Bargain Outlet (just past the Tippecanoe Mall at 2635 Maple Point Drive) is a great source of reasonably priced carpets- they sell overstock items- so they are cheaper than buying the same size rugs from Target or similar.

You will need a Laundry Bag to hold your clothes that need washing and to use to carry to the Laundry room and back. Make it easy on yourself by getting one with wheels for as you’ll probably be using the elevator down the hall to the communal laundry room. A collapsible drying rack is also good in case your laundry comes out still damp from the dryer or if you want to skip the dryer for your delicate items.

Foldable Stackable Storage Shelves: You will need to check your closet configuration once your room is allocated. We found our closet has just one rod for hanging clothes and just the one shelf on top of it. With so many different types of clothes (t shirts/trousers/ pullovers etc), we felt he needed some extra shelves. This took us a long time to decide! There are so many varieties of these darn things that we didn’t know what to get! Finally we decided on the ones linked on the shopping link as they are foldable making them easy to store over summer! They were ideal! Similarly, a foldable shoe rack is useful so that your shoes don’t take up precious floor space.

A full length over-the-door mirror is a space-saver since it doesn’t take up any precious floor space and is pretty useful.

Command Hooks These were new to me. You cannot use nails or screws or damage the dorm room walls in any way. So you need Command Hooks in a few different sizes where your kid can hang his jackets/ pullover/school bag/ mirror/ dorm decoration etc. With a little rubbing alcohol, you can ensure a tight grip without any damage.

For your closet, visit your hall information page after you get a housing allocation, and determine what style closet you have. Some will have doors, and some like in Honors are open. If so, put in an adjustable tension rod/ shower curtain to give privacy to your kids stuff. Also having a hanging closet organiser allows you to store all small items like socks/inner-wear etc in a vertical manner, saving space. The linked one on the sheet is not the one we got (we got them stitched from home), but similar.

You should get a shower caddy to hold all your shower-gel/ shaving cream/ shampoo etc makes trips to the common bathroom less of a juggle. Your flip flops used as shower shoes will protect against fungus and add slip-resistance in the shower.Devote a small area of closet space to store your caddy atop a drying mat. A portable bidet is useful for those Indian kids who are not used to just using toilet paper.

For move-in day and just generally, get a small Tool kit– with a tape measure, screwdriver, allen key, mallet etc. Leave it with your child once finished.

Most Electric appliances that are used overseas can’t be used in the US, due to differences in voltage (110V in US vs 220-240V elsewhere). So keep any purchases to be made in the US only.

Small electrical appliances, such as coffee makers and popcorn poppers, are allowed in student rooms as long as the heating element is completely enclosed.

Irons: Irons are not allowed. Steamers may be used but most kids will be too lazy to even use steamers. The dryers in the dorms are quite powerful that you can fold clothes neatly post drying while still warm. Also, since they will be wearing jackets most of the time, ironing/ steaming t shirts/tops becomes redundant. This will only be an occasional activity! Many of the laundry rooms have an iron you can borrow. Skip this item!

Fridge/ Microwave: Most of the dorms just have one fridge and microwave in a shared kitchenette for the whole building and it can be pretty annoying going down a few floors just to reheat something. The Fridges in the common kitchen are not useful as anything left there may “disappear” after a few hours! You can (and should) bring in a mini-fridge (max size 4 cu. ft allowed) and a microwave for your room. Both of these are pretty useful. Try to get a mini-fridge with a freezer compartment so that you can store some desserts/ice-creams. You can discuss who brings what with your room-mate. If the roomie is American, they might have a spare Micro or Fridge (or both) they could bring from home. My son bought the microwave while his roomie bought a mini-fridge. Although the guidelines say that the fridge can not be bigger than 4 cubic ft, no one actually measures it as far as I know. You should be able to put it a 4.3-4.5 cu ft (which is the more commonly available size at Walmart/Target) and it should not be a problem. Do NOT rent the Fridge/ Microwave from Bedloft as the rental cost (for a previously used set) is almost the same as buying them new!

Fridge Caddy: If you are getting a fridge, a fridge caddy is a great space saving item where you can store your forks knives and microwave proof dishes.

TVs: There are TVs in the shared common room, but one of you or your room mate can get your own TV. I would recommend this only if you or your room-mate is an avid gamer and has their personal Playstation/Xbox that they will be using regularly. I bought one for my son simply because his room-mate was bringing in a lot of stuff and I felt we should contribute. However, my son hardly used it a few times during the whole year. If you do decide to go ahead and buy one, I recommend a 32″ size which is ideal for the dorms. Check that the TV you get has a compatible QAM Tuner so that you can connect it to the BoilerTV channels. BoilerTV is available in most residence halls via traditional coaxial cable and includes premium sports and movie channels as well as the Campus Life Channel, the BoilerTV channel, and On Demand Movies.

Power strips: All dorms have different power plug position but a common complaint is that they are not conveniently placed on the walls. I suggest you get a couple of surge protected power strips (what some of us call an extension cord- but this name has a different meaning in the USA).. I recommend 1 pc each of 5ft and 25ft. These are useful for using hard-to-reach outlets, especially if you choose to loft your bed.

Fan: You may want to purchase a fan if you have got a non-A/C room. Placing the fan near an open window and leaving the door open helps circulate the air over the stuffy hot months.

Kettle: Quite useful, so you can make your own tea/coffee or just have warm water to drink in the winter cold!

Prohibited Items: Remember-the following commonly used appliances are not allowed in the rooms:

• steam/rice cookers/insta pots
• air fryers
• convection ovens
• crockpots
• electric grills
• electric mixers & electric blenders
• electric skillets/griddles
• fryers/deep fryers
• panini/press grills
• pressure cookers
• pressing irons
• toasters/toaster ovens

See SAFETY- ITEMS PROHIBITED at this link for a full list.

At this stage, you are ready to make your custom list for what you will take from home, and what you will get once you land in West Lafayette. Taking an initial list (from Archana Navle & friends) and adding items suggested by u/boilerbitch and others on Reddit and social media, I have developed (probably) the most exhaustive dorm shopping list you will find. Take it with a grain of salt – you do not need everything on this list – it’s meant to be a jumping off point.

Note that this is for a male (as I tailored it for my son) but you can easily modify it for a girl (see the video linked in the first section). Clicking on the items, where I have put hyperlinks, takes you to the items we bought and I recommend.

Use this list and add/ delete items that you find missing. Then start by classifying each item into one of the five columns below:

• Pack from Home– this is what you already have at your home. Its ready to go!
• Buy From Home– this is a shopping list of items you need to get locally from shops in your country before leaving.
• Order Online USA– these are items you want to order online (Amazon, online shops etc) and get delivered to your dorm.
• Buy In person USA– these you will mark for items that you want to buy in the US but rather wait till you get there to shop in person.
• Optional Purchase– these are items that you are unsure whether you will need. Maybe you want to wait a few days/weeks and then see if they are necessary.

Keep updating and using your list to pack – all the items in the first two columns should be in your bags at the end of your process.

Identify all your items for Online shopping for the US and prepare your order from home- see below!

1. I recommend you open an Amazon shopping account using the purdue.edu email while at home and keep adding items to your Wish List as you decide (from customising the list above) what you want to order online in the USA.
2. Amazon has a discounted prime membership for students. The offer is 6 months free Prime followed by $7 a month fee (50% off the normal rate). Don’t start the free trial for Prime Membership yet!
3. Around 2-3 days before you arrive in the US, start the Amazon Prime trial. You now have 6 months free if you used your .edu email to initially create the account.
4. Move everything from your Wish List to your cart and checkout your Amazon order. Choose to get stuff delivered either to:
   – your hotel front desk ( no more than 2-3 days before you arrive). We preferred this as we thought the Residence hall front desk may get overwhelmed during this time and may misplace our items OR
   – your dorm front desk (no more than 3-4 days before the move-in day). Check your hall address here.
5. There is an Amazon Pickup Hub at Purdue- located on campus at 1198 Third Street, Krach Leadership Center. To add it to your delivery addresses; just visit https://www.amazon.com/ulp and under Amazon Hub Locker+ (Purdue – KRCH) click ADD. But please note that the Hub will only keep your ordered items for around 3 days if not picked up (before returning them for a full refund)….so wait for ordering until you are almost there this August!
6. If you complete the above, once you are ready to leave for the US, you can filter your packing list and print the last two columns (“Shop In Person USA” and “Optional”)- and you have a ready made in-person shopping list for the USA for when you land!