New York or Bust!—The Minimal Life, Part 2: Bare Essential Dwelling Accoutrement

In this post, I will share some tips on creating a minimal life, including the items you need to just get by with and still have maximum convenience. 

In my May 26th post, The Minimal Life: Part One, I discussed the general usefulness of living a minimally materialistic life. I emphasized this in the areas of wardrobe, accessories, shoes and cosmetics/personal care items. This is especially handy when you are a woman moving to a place that is likely to be a temporary home such as college, study abroad or programs such as Americorp. 

But having a minimal amount of stuff is not always a no-brainer for people and for me it wasn't either. Even though I was advised not to collect lots of stuff, I didn’t listen! I had casually amassed tons of items, especially books and magazines, by the end of my first year of college in New York City. I thought nothing of it until it was time to pack and head home. 

Even before the end of that year came, I had already decided that I was not going to toss out all my stuff like many students are famous for doing. But I did have to leave behind a few favorite things just because I couldn't fit them into my suitcase and I didn't have time to send the remaining items home. 

After looking back at my time of living in New York City for 2 years for college (minus summer breaks) and experiencing owning too much stuff, I can attest to the fact that living minimally is a more ideal option than having tons of stuff that you think you will need. I believe it is better to live minimally during these transitional periods just to help save peace of mind and your pocket book when it's time to move. 

So with that said, below I've included the bare essential dwelling accoutrement that I've found helpful during college. After reflecting over time about my first two years away at college there are certain things I came to realize about myself. One being that I didn't use 80% of the stuff that I had and two, there was no justifying why I had all that stuff just going to waste.

Below is one list with multiple categories. This list encompasses both a minimum and maximum amount of items you'll need to survive and thrive in college. The reason why I say minimum and maximum is because it's both the least amount of stuff you'll actually need AND truly all you need. Of course, some items here are optional and can vary depending of personal needs/preferences and if you can get by on much less that would be awesome! 

Bare Essential Dwelling Accoutrement  

School Supplies

Laptop + cord (the lighter the computer is, the better)

1 high capacity flash drive (4 GB or higher)
  

Small agenda planner

1 large multi-subject notebook (for one consolidated place to keep all class notes)

1 small personal notebook (to keep track of ideas, misc. information)

1 small notebook (For journalism, media and communications students like me)

Small pencil pouch with the following: 3 black, 3 blue and 3 red pens, 3 mechanical pencils, 2 skinny highlighters, 1 fine point & 1 regular felt tip permanent Sharpies, White Out, colored pencils (optional), mini Scotch tape, mini stapler, mini staple refills, book of stamps, Post It flags, small stack of Post It notes.

Desk Organization/Personal Items

1 accordion folder + extra dividers (for storing homework, term papers and important school documents)

1 foldable stacking shelf (for textbooks, books, magazines & accordion folder)

1 all purpose desk organizing tray or small supply box

Small business card folder (you should collect important ones and keep them organized)

Light weight photo album

5 small/or light weight items that help decorate, add color and personality to your space

2-3 personal books that are indispensable to you wherever you go

Electronics

Cell phone + charger (instruction manual if needed)    

IPod Touch + ear buds + USB cord for charging (optional)  

Travel size surge protector (I recommend Belkin Mini Surge Protector with USB Changer) 

Digital point and shoot camera + 1, 4 GB or higher memory card (for pics and descent video) + manuals if needed

1 extra rechargeable battery set and charger (for camera)

Mini memory card reader

Small, inexpensive MP3 player + USB cord for charging (must have audio recording capabilities for recording lectures, speakers at events and interviewing for journalism, media and communications students) 

Small case to consolidate all electronics

Kitchen Supplies

1 microwave safe glass mug

1 microwave safe glass bowl

1 microwave safe glass plate

1 plastic plate to use as cutting board

1 shallow baking pan or small cookie sheet (optional)

Silverware set: 1 fork, 1 knife and 1 spoon

Misc. kitchen tools: 1 all purpose sharp knife, 1 large cooking/serving spoon, 1 compact spatula, 1 heat proof silicone pan mat, 1 oven glove, 1-2 small kitchen towels (optional: depending on your needs and kitchen or lack there of)

Electric skillet or medium frying pan + medium pot (optional: depending on dorm rules for electric cookware, your needs and kitchen or lack there of)

Hot pot (optional: depending on dorm rules for electric cookware, your needs and kitchen or lack there of)

Bed, Bath and Closet

Plastic fitted twin mattress protector + water proof pillow protector(s) with zip closure

Twin sheet set: 1 fitted sheet, flat sheet, pillow case (compatible with both a standard or long mattress)

1-2 comfy pillows (required)

1 warm plush fleece blanket

1 multi pants hanger

Set of skinny hangers covered in flocking (strong and you can hang pants, shirts and jackets on them)

1 vertical multi-shirt hanger

1 belt loop hanger (serves double duty to stores belts and scarves)


1 narrow hanging sweater organizer (can double as dresser in a pinch)

Shower organizer/caddy with handle (for community bathrooms outside your room)

Turbie Twist Hair Towel

Towel wrap   

NOTE: Special considerations for communications, film, journalism and other media students.

You may need to bring your own camcorder depending on a few factors:

1.) Your school's policy on borrowing cameras, which can be a very short length of time, maybe one-three days (even when you have an important project). Generally, the more flexibility you have on time using the camera, the better off you are for completing your video taped projects in a timely and unrushed manner.

2.) Also, you are probably going to want to go around the city shooting video in your off time to get as much practice as possible. That is where having your own cam is very important.

You may need to bring your own large external hard drive (with spinning parts and firewire cable) depending on a few factors:

1.) How many video projects you will need to do and how important are they going to be to you? If you'll only be doing less than four videos for the sake of class requirements there is probably no need to invest in a large external hard drive to store your footage. In this case, saving the orginal tapes on which you filmed the project and a few DVD copies of your finished project should be sufficient.  But if you know you will be doing projects that mean a lot to you during school AND you will be doing more than say 6 major video projects you may want to consider investing in a good large external hard drive to store the footage on, in addition to saving to footage in its orgininal medium such as mini DV tapes.

2.) Consider your school's storage resources and data security. Depending on your school's loan policy of hard drives during the semester and what options they have to store your work on computers securely, you may find this option better and more cost effective than buying a large external hard drive.

The camera and the external hard drive for footage storage are two major parts of many media student's daily equipment repertoir, so investing in them can be very important but not essential since the school can usually loan these items to students.

Both years in college, I took my own camcorder, which is an old bare-bones Canon ZR40 from 2002, I believe. The second year of school I bought a large Western Digital "My Book Home Edition" External Hard Drive with 1TB (terabyte) storage capacity, which should be sufficient for a film student, broadcast journalism or TV production students who do a lot of on-location shoots.      

I would also suggest a sturdy, light weight tripod plus optional monopod and mini tripod for desk-mounting, shotgun mic and lavelier mic set for the serious students who know they will be using the equipment a lot and plan to do independent personal projects and maybe a little freelance work on the side.

A few options to secure data and belongings include investing in an online data backup service, a portable dorm room safe that locks onto the bed or desk and having your equipment, computer and all other belongings insured before you leave home (you can insure all your stuff for one flat rate with special dorm insurance policies).

But again this is optional depending on budget, space constraints and if the dorm has built in options to lock up your stuff in your dorm room. However, because roommates and/or friends can and will steal your equipment if they are thieves, you must think about these things before bringing all this to school.

I hope this post has provided some useful ideas and options on what to bring to college. If you have more suggestions please add them in the comments below. Thanks for reading!