How to Pick the Right Boxes for Your College Move

By Shop4Boxes.com Staff

Bringing the right sized bed sheets to your new dorm, along with the right curtains to match your rugs, an adequate amount of dishware for you and guests and having the right kind of boxes to store it all in are so important. Having these things will make moving day to college—perhaps, far away from home—the least of your worries. We would recommend buying cardboard boxes that you can fold, stack and reuse for the four years you are there. We saved money and time by purchasing the right moving box packages before we went away for good. Being the college moving expert on staff with extensive experience moving myself, my friends, my neighbors and my little sister as recently as this week, Shop4.Boxes.com and I will give you all the tips to getting the right moving boxes just in time for back to school.

If you are going away to school, you will want to make sure your favorite home stores are available—for example, we didn’t do our research before moving to Upstate New York where there was a shortage of Crate and Barrel, IKEA and Fishs Eddy. The lack of our favorite home furnishing stores in the area of the state we were going away for school made it all the more important to buy everything we needed beforehand. So let’s go down the list and tally up how many boxes you need.

Two for Kitchenware (we recommend the smaller moving boxes because you don’t want everything knocking together with too much space in the box):

- utensils
- plates
- knives
- cutting board
- bowls
- favorite mug(s) [we would recommend saving room… you will not believe how many cups you will accumulate during your college years.]
- baking trays
- casserole dishes

One large moving box for appliances: (large boxes are ideal for bulky items)

- coffee maker (big money saver if you make your own joe)
- blender (for morning smoothies and nighttime daiquiris)
- water filter (good for the environment and your wallet)
- indoor grills (great for burgers, grilled cheese sandwiches and more... you will not believe what yummy creations you can cook with this thing)

One large moving box for bedding (so bedding will stay fluffed and shapely during the trip):

- comforter set
- pillows
- favorite teddy bear/stuffed seal/otter/unicorn
- mattress pad

[We would advise you to wait to buy rugs, wall décor, decals unless you have seen how much space you have, if you have a roommate whether he/she has preferences for decorations and how long you will be staying in one place (lots of people change their rooms in the first week due to overbooking, roommate changes and after finding better spaces.]

One small moving box for bath accessories:

- towels
- hand towels
- hair dryer/electric straightener/ curler
- toothbrush
- loofah
- candles (if permitted)
- soap, lotion, etc.

[You will most likely not need to buy a rug, toilet paper, soap dispensers, toothbrush holders, or curtains if you will be living in the dorms. Only buy décor or basic functional things if you will be living in a space that will be bare and permissible for decoration.]

One box for miscellaneous college must-haves:

- alarm clock
- iPod deck or radio
- laundry hamper
- corkboard
- Tupperware
- power strip
- fan
- picture frames
- First Aid kit

College will be one of the best experiences of your life. Make sure you have everything you need for moving day with Shop4.Boxes.com. Some of the moving accessories we would recommend to make your move easier and stress-free are packing tape, bubble wrap, moving straps, marking pens and moving labels.

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