Most packing lists live in an article you scroll through once and forget. This one is a working spreadsheet: every item from our full packing guide, organized so a parent and a student can actually divide and conquer.
What's in the spreadsheet
- 100+ items in 13 categories: bedding, bathroom, clothing, laundry, desk, storage, food, cleaning, health, tech, documents, the move-in day bag, and a coordinate-with-roommate list.
- Priority flags: Essential, Nice to have, or Verify first, so you know what to buy now and what to hold until you've seen the room or checked the housing rules.
- A who's-buying column: Student, Parent, Roommate, or Skip. This is the column that prevents the two-mini-fridge problem.
- Notes that save money: which items schools commonly restrict, what to measure first, and what the roommate conversation should cover.
Get the packing list
Enter your email and we'll unlock the Google Sheets template, the Excel file, and the one-page printable PDF. We'll also send you our best move-in prep tips. Unsubscribe anytime.
That didn't work. Check the email address and try again.
Your packing list, three ways
- Copy the Google Sheets template to your Drive (or preview it first)
- Download for Excel
- Open the printable PDF (one page, letter size)
How families actually use it
The version that works is not the version where one person owns the list. Make a copy, share it, and split the columns: the student marks what they already own, the parent fills in who's buying what, and the Verify first rows become one email to housing instead of ten guesses. The roommate conversation takes care of the shared items before anything gets double-bought.
Print the PDF for the student who will never open a spreadsheet. It's one page on purpose: tape it to the inside of a moving box and check it off with a pen.
When the spreadsheet stops being enough
A spreadsheet can hold the list, but it can't adjust it. It doesn't know your student's bathroom is communal, that the school bans extension cords, or that the roommate already bought a fridge. That's the job Build My Dorm does: answer a few questions about the housing setup and DormHQ builds the list around your actual situation, then keeps tasks, budget, and the countdown in one place the whole family can see.
Want a list that updates itself? Build your dorm plan in DormHQ.
Build My Dorm