Getting ready for hostel life as a student can feel both exciting and a bit overwhelming. To make the best of this new experience, it’s key to pack smartly. Think about must-haves like bedding, toiletries, clothes, and study stuff. Choose things that work for different situations and save space. Remember special items like pictures or decorations to make your space cozy. By packing cleverly, you’ll easily adjust to hostel life, all set for the exciting journey ahead!
It is true that moments shared with friends during your college days are memorable, but when it comes to hostel life, it is not all rosy. When students stay away from home for the first time in life, they face a lot of difficulties. While moving to a new city, they have to pack all the stuff they need to live even in basic conditions. Creating a hostel packing list is a tedious task. One not only needs to pack their essentials like clothes but also, they have to pack things like bedding, pillows, mattress, cushions, toiletries, bucket and what not.
On top of that, hostel life sucks most of the times because, in most of the hostel in India, washrooms are not clean, toilets stink, there is shortage of water forget about hot water to bath, no facility to wash clothes (this is the only reason, many youngsters take bathe only once in a week, and use deodorants to cover their body odor). When it comes to Wi-Fi, it seems like coming at a snail’s pace from another corner of the world! OK, TV is not that essential, but how can a youngster of a college live without a proper Wi-Fi connection in this age?
Today, living options available for students or working professionals have transformed. The idea is to get over those hostels and those terrible hostel experiences. Welcome, Co-living, a living concept that is adding an ease to student living and filling it with awesome experiences and memories.
Before we get into the positives of Co living, let us discuss one of the biggest issues of deciding to live in a hostel – PACKING.
The Never-Ending Hostel Packing List
These are the things that you will normally see waiting to be packed:
1. Clothes
We all love our clothes, and when packing to move, you will normally assume you will pack every item of clothing, from the thick winter jackets to the old socks.
2. Books
From your study material to favorite novels, book-lovers will realize the attachment one has with the bound pages.
3. Padlocks
Security is paramount when you have to live in shared space, such as in hostels. Padlocks become your trusted security system. From your luggage to your cabinet, a padlock is handy and keeps your belonging secure almost everywhere.
4. Toiletries
You know a bath isn’t a bath unless you smell your favorite shampoo when you are in the bathing room. A soap, shampoo, and conditioner think about the things you would need to have a great bath.
5. Bedding
Although you will probably have a bed waiting for you in the next accommodation, you might still want to carry your own bedding, just for the sake of comfort and familiarity.
6. Flip-Flops
Ah, the comfort of roaming around wearing only your flip-flops is certainly tempting. When you are living away from home, these tend to become your conventional footwear, almost all of the time.
7. Towels
Believe it or not, towels are one of the few things which we never share when living in hostels, for obvious reasons. So, your packing list will definitely include one or two of this very item.
8. Sleeping Aids
From eye-covers to soothing music, one always tends to carry their most reliable sleeping aids when moving to a new city. While the strange place tends to put you off, sleeping aids acts as excellent friends to help you get the much-required sleep and rest.
9. First Aid
Another important thing in your hostel packing list isn’t it? Parents always make sure you carry enough when it comes to first-aid. Well, typically one carries more of bandages, gauze, surgical cotton, band-aids, etc.
10. Universal Plug Adaptor
The trusted universal plug adaptor is a must today. The propensity for smartphones, laptops, etc. has made it essential to carry a plug adaptor which can help you charge your devices from any standard of an electric socket. Wonder if your conventional hostel settings do not have upgraded electricity plug-ins? These adapters are life saviors.
11. Something For Fun
Living in hostels can be fun, with something to do, and playing cards top the list. Your normal deck of cards, UNO, or Ludo and snakes and ladders, one always plans ahead when it comes to killing the boredom staying away from home can cause.
12. Torch/Headlamp
With the electric system often overloading in the country, there is a tendency to witness regular load-shedding in many cities. Although a power-cut in the day can be tolerable the night is another matter. Keeping a flashlight or a headlamp handy always helps in such situations.
Co-Living Means, You Carry Only The Essential Things
So you see, you have to pack the entire house when moving to a hostel. On the top of that, you have to take care of your laundry, cleaning your room and other daily stuff. All this daily micromanagement of your basic life leaves very small time to focus on your studies or professional life. To cut the chase here is an innovative and excellent concept of shared accommodation, co-living, and is definitely better than living in hostels.
While moving to a co-living accommodation, you need not think about petty yet important things like keeping the apartment/house clean and fresh, laundry, ironing, etc. Also, you do not need packing of things like bedding, toiletries, towels, etc. The biggest benefit of co-living that it cuts down your packing list, which means you can practically walk into your shared accommodation with only a suitcase with only essential things. Rest you can leave on Colive.
