Must-Have College Essentials

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Chris is in the final stretch of getting his Master’s degree and I could not be more excited that he’s almost done!  When he first started going back to school we didn’t have our little boy so it was really easy for him to come home and study or write papers on the weekends.  Now that we have a little one it’s harder because he has to study with all the noise and other distractions.  We’ve found that for Chris to be successful he needs a quiet and organized space to work in, complete with these must-have college essentials!

For Chris, the weekends are prime study time.  It’s hard for me not to go in and distract him to ask for help with the little one or go in just to talk to him for a few minutes, because we get very limited time together during the week.  But when he’s in a time crunch for school he needs to be left alone.  And even though it’s hard for me not to talk to someone (because I love to talk) I have gotten better at leaving Chris alone.  Because when I really think about it, I want him to get done with all of his work quickly so that we can spend time together as a family.

Here are our top 5 must-have college essentials for success!

Noise Canceling Headphones: these are essential for us with a one year old in the house!  Chris puts his one and he is able to concentrate on his homework without all the noise that I’m making bothering him.  And if he’s able to concentrate better then that means he gets done faster.  So less distractions equal more quality time with the family!

Amazon Prime Student: whenever we need something for school (like printer paper, organization shelving, etc.) we always get on Amazon and order it.  The free two day shipping is worth the price of the subscription to us because it saves us time and money (because there are usually deals on the items we need or want).

External Hard Drive: how terrible would it be to lose all the work you’ve done on a project?  Really terrible, right?  I know because it’s happened to me before, and I cried!  Because a lot of Chris’s work in grad school is writing papers we bought him an external hard drive so that he can easily keep all of his work in one easy-to-find place.

Dry Erase Board & Markers: When I first met Chris he had a gigantic white board hanging in his office.  He mostly used it to jot down ideas, until I took it over with daily messages to him or funny little drawings.  Now that he’s back in school he took back the board and uses it to jot down notes or other school-related messages.

A Quality Printer: Chris is one of those people who tends to do better with instructions when they are written out right in front of him, so he tends to print things out a lot.  Having a good quality printer that doesn’t eat up ink is essential to us!

We really love using Amazon for all of our school related needs, and I’m excited that they have a subscription service for students!  Amazon Prime Student offers deals and promotions for back-to-school needs (including discounts and exclusive offers) as well as deals on textbooks, because who wants to stand in those lines when you can just order it online!  Plus it’s free for the first six months (after that it’s $49 a year)!  It’s the perfect way to get all your back-to-school shopping (including bedding and toiletries) done in one place without ever leaving the house.  And to be honest, that’s my favorite way to shop.

Would you try Amazon Prime Student to help you get on top of all your college needs?

I was selected for this opportunity as a member of Clever Girls and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.