How to Pack For College Without Losing Your Mind – Checklist

In just a few short days my daughter will be heading home after completing her first semester of vet school. It will be so good to have her around for a few weeks, I haven’t seen her since April! She has already told me to prepare myself for shopping, she has a long list of supplies she needs to bring back with her.

I remember shopping the summer before her freshman year of undergrad, we were so overwhelmed with gathering all of the things she would need to move out and on her own. By now, we’ve done it so many times I would say we are pros at preparing to go away to college.

 

Inevitably,  when preparing for your child’s first time away emotions get involved and you tend to want to send with them every single thing you can possibly think of so they won’t have to do without or worry about finding supplies once at school. I thought since we are seasoned packers for college, I would share a printable checklist to help anyone who may be dealing with this right now.

My daughter attends vet school outside of the US, so we were limited on what we could reasonably send with her without spending a fortune on luggage. One major thing I forgot to send with her was a filtered water pitcher. Once she got to school she quickly found out the water wasn’t safe for drinking. She had to boil all of her water for two weeks before she found a filter for her sink. This was not something she wanted to be dealing with while making such a huge transition to her new surroundings.

This time around, I’ll definitely be sending her back with a water pitcher. I’ve already picked up the Brita Pacifica Water Filtration Pitcher. It comes with a standard filter that lasts for 2 months, but you can also purchase Longlast Filters that will last for 6 months. My daughter will have a full-size refrigerator when she goes back, but if you’ll have a mini fridge, you can get a space-saving pitcher instead.

 

 

While we can’t provide all the comforts of home, we can make sure they have the important ones so they can focus on their studies.

 

Now that we know how to pack for college without losing our minds, I’ve put together a printable checklist with the essentials you will need when heading off to college. Just right click the photo to save and print.

 

 

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