RIT First Apartment Move-In Item List

General Set-up

• Desk lamp

• Floor lamp: Some apartments don’t come with overhead lighting in the bedrooms; this works as an adequate substitute.

• Floor rugs: Measure the dimensions of your room before purchasing them!

• Light bulbs: Purchase 3000K brightness bulbs or less. Your room will feel unnaturally bright otherwise.

• Bedding (sizing depends on complex)

• Pillows: I recommend two pillows for your head and a couple shams. A “husband” pillow, a pillow with arms extending out from the sides, is a fantastic purchase.

• Blankets: If you ever have a disagreement with your roommates about the thermostat, the proper etiquette is defaulting to the lower temperature and requiring everyone else to bundle up. Blankets are perfect if this happens.

• 3M Command hooks: I recommend finding the packages with differently sized hooks so you have a variety.

• Fan: Make sure it’s a normally sized one that can oscillate. It helps to have air circulate around your room on the warmer days, even with air conditioning.

• Alarm clock with large numbers: Very helpful for seeing what time it is in the morning without having to pick up your phone, especially for people like myself who need glasses. Personally, I bought mine from Amazon.

• Handheld vacuum cleaner

• Decorations: Make sure to have a few things that abide by your lease terms that you can hang on the wall or otherwise characterize your space with. Waking up to barren, white walls is suffocating.

Kitchen

• Paper towels

• Knife set: Don’t invest in a nice set until you move into your first apartment out of school. Purchase a set with the intention of them being used and abused, and save the nicer ones for later.

• Spatula

• Measuring cups: Measuring cups usually come in two sets: divisions of a cup, and then a finer set with teaspoon and tablespoon quantities. Make sure to get both!

• Reusable plates and utensils

• Can opener

• Basic spices (salt, pepper, garlic powder, parsley, paprika)

• Garbage can

• Cooking pan (usually 10” in diameter)

• 2 medium saucepans (usually 3 quarts)

• Large pot (usually 6 quarts)

• Serving spoon

• Tongs

• Dish drying rack or towel

• Sponges and dish soap

• Drying rags

Nice Things to Have in the Kitchen

• Air fryer

• Rice cooker

• Slow cooker

• Knife block

Electronics

• Desktop or laptop

• TV: Watching Netflix on a larger screen is far more enjoyable than your phone or laptop after a long day of classes. Same thing applies to playing video games. Don’t forget to purchase a piece of furniture that can support it, or else it will be sitting on the floor!

• Headphones/earbuds: I highly recommend noise-canceling headphones if you can afford them. If you’re neurodivergent and have difficulty tuning out noise, these are absolutely necessary.

• Two surge protector power strips

• Phone charger and power cables

• Entertainment device (Switch, PS5, Xbox)

Clothing/Laundry

• Collapsible laundry basket

• Towels and washcloths

• Coat hangers: Purchase wooden ones. Rubber ones will fall apart after a few months.

• Raincoat + umbrella

• Winter coat, hat, and gloves

• Two weeks worth of clothes: This is my recommended metric so you come to RIT with enough of your favorite outfits, but don’t have trouble stuffing them into the small dresser you’re provided. 

• Robe: Trust me on this one. It’s so useful to have an outer garment that isn’t a coat when you want to walk around your apartment on a chilly morning.

Bathroom Supplies

• Basic toiletries (toothbrush, toothpaste, floss, rinse, hairbrush)

• Deodorant

• Shampoo and conditioner: Purchase bottles of shampoo and conditioner separately. This practice is much healthier for your hair and scalp instead of using a 27 in 1 cleaner that can double as motor oil.

• Body wash/soap

• Whatever you need to trim body hair

• Hanging shower organizer

• Water-absorbent mats

• Toilet cleaner

• Bleach

• Glass cleaner

Health and Wellness

• Pain/fever reducer (acetaminophen/ibuprofen)

• Any prescription medications

• Seasonal allergy medicine

• Bug spray

• Tissues

• First-aid kit (band-aids, gauze, tape, antiseptic ointment)

• Cough drops

• All surface cleaner