The campus housing specialists at Rutgers University have seen and heard it all. Through years of helping students settle into residence halls, the staff has developed a keen sense for what is and is not needed for on-campus living.

To help students and their parents avoid packing the contents of their homes for the big move to campus, Rutgers experts have created a checklist, from A to Z, of things they should be sure to bring, and suggestions on what to leave home. Roommates should discuss dividing the responsibility for bringing certain items such as televisions, telephones, rugs and audio equipment before arriving for the start of the semester.

What to Bring

1. All housing assignment information
2. Alarm clock
3. Aspirin or other pain reliever
4. Backpack
5. Baseball or other cap for bad hair days
6. Bathrobe
7. Bathing suit
8. Belts
9. Bicycle
10. Blankets
11. Calculator
12. Can and bottle opener
13. Cassette tapes and CDs
14. Cleaning items
15. Clothing to last until the first trip home
16. Comforter or bedspread
17. Computer and printer
18. Contact lenses and solutions
19. Cough drops
20. Crates for storage
21. Cups, plates, pots, utensils, and napkins
22. Daily planner and/or calendar
23. Deck of cards
24. Dental floss
25. Deodorant
26. Desk and/or reading lamp
27. Dictionary, thesaurus, writer's guide
28. Envelopes
29. Extension cords under 6 feet with surge protector and power strips
30. Fan
31. First-aid kit
32. Flip-flops for the shower
33. Food
34. FunTack to hang posters
35. Glasses
36. Glue
37. Hair care products
38. Hairbrush and comb
39. Hangers
40. Highlighters
41. Hygiene items
42. Iron/ironing board
43. Jeans
44. Jackets - light and heavy
45. Laundry bag or basket
46. Laundry detergent and fabric softener
47. Mirror
48. Money for books, food, entertainment, school apparel
49. Music
50. Nail clippers
51. Names, addresses, phone numbers and policy numbers of medical, homeowner, credit card and auto insurance companies
52. Open mind
53. Pajamas
54. Paper clips
55. Patience
56. Pencil sharpener
57. Pens and pencils
58. Perfume or cologne
59. Pictures, posters
60. Pillow(s)
61. Q-tips
62. Quarters and lots of them for laundry, vending machines, laundry machines
63. Radio and/or stereo
64. Razors
65. Room decoration
66. Rug(s) or carpeting
67. Ruler
68. Scissors
69. Sense of humor
70. Shampoo and conditioner
71. Shaving cream
72. Sheets – extra long and pillowcases
73. Shoes
74. Shorts
75. Shower caddy
76. Slippers
77. Sneakers
78. Soap and plastic soap dish
79. Socks
80. Sports stuff – Frisbee, rackets, baseball
81. Stamps
82. Stapler and staples
83. Sweatshirt
84. T-shirts
85. Tape (duct and scotch)
86. Thermometer
87. Thumbtacks
88. Tissues
89. Tool kit
90. Toothbrush and toothpaste
91. Touch-tone telephone and answering machine (bring a telephone book, too)
92. Towels
93. Tupperware
94. TV
95. Umbrella
96. VCR and your favorite videos
97. Washcloths
98. Watch
99. Yearbook from high school as a conversation piece
100. Zest for learning


What to leave at home:

• Housing officials want you to be comfortable and safe in your on-campus home, so some items are usually not permitted for safety reasons. Check with your college about the following:
  
• Cooking and heating devices such as electric toaster ovens, broilers, skillets, hot plates, hot-dog and hamburger cookers, electric woks, rice cookers, immersion coils, hot pots, microwave ovens, space heaters, kerosene or oil lamps, alcohol burners
  
• Wall hangings made of burlap or other flammable materials, tapestries, fish netting, flags, firearms, other weapons, explosives
  
• Candles, incense, fireworks, sparklers, smoke bombs
  
• All flammable and combustible liquids, including art supplies such as thinners
  
• Chemicals
  
• Electrical wiring that is "homemade" or otherwise modified or transformed
  
• Extension cords exceeding 6 feet
  
• Lofts, liquid-filled beds or similar structures
  
• Light dimmers, ceiling fans
  
• Combustible or plastic lamp shades or light fixture covers
  
• Torchiere-type lamps with halogen bulbs
  
• Traffic and road signs

Be sure to print this list for your college bound student!

Recommended Reading:
A comic survival guide to being a parent of teenage daughters, Bruce Cameron's book started life in 1995 as a wildly, and accidentally, successful Internet column. In short, sharply observed vignettes, he touches a middle-aged-male nerve by describing the rage and bewilderment of having little girls turn into teenage monsters, but every complaint is punctured by a self-deprecating regular-guy-in-a-mad-world irony. There are helpful hints (or rather, unhelpful ones, because Cameron admits that nothing will make any difference) for coping with the telephone, clothes, parties, car you used to own, and boyfriend you don't want her to hang around with.

About the Author
For more information, contact Dawn Burns Smith, assistant director at the Division of Housing and Conference Services, Rutgers University, P.O. Box 880, Piscataway, N.J. 08855-0880; (732) 932-1010; or visit the housing Web site at www.housing.rutgers.edu.

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