Dorm Essentials

The college dorm checklist and packing list for parents AND students. Use it every August, every January, and every May.

Every dorm list online says your kid needs a hundred and seventeen things. Maggie Hartley bought most of them. She spent more than $2,300 on her daughter's freshman year. About half of it got used.

Dorm Essentials is the honest version, written by a mom who overspent and the daughter who did the actual living. Maggie tells parents what to buy, what to skip, and what each thing should cost. Ellie, now a college junior, writes directly to the student: the first night, the first load of laundry, the first text to a roommate, and the October slump nobody warns you about.

Inside you'll find:

• A five-week move-in countdown, one chapter per week: bedding, storage, study and tech, the bathroom and health kit, the mini-kitchen, decor, and move-in day.
• Three complete budgets: a $500 list, a $1,000 list, and the itemized $2,308 the author actually spent, so you can see the mistakes before you make them.
• The rules that get things confiscated: surge protectors, microwaves, kettles, string lights, and how to read your own school's housing email.
• Every semester after the first: the spring reset, move-out and summer storage, suite bathrooms, first apartments, leases, and renters insurance.
• The paperwork nobody mentions: immunization forms, FERPA releases, health privacy after 18, and whether your insurance covers the dorm.
• A plan for flying in: what to ship, what to buy near campus, and what fits in two bags.
• Master checklists, worksheets, a roommate agreement, and eight Semester Log pages, one for every term of college.

It's for moms, dads, grandparents, and the student. It's for the first August and every one after. It's also for the second Sunday after drop-off, when the house goes quiet.

Scroll up and grab your copy before the housing email arrives.