This is NOT a sponsered post or any of that malarky, but I must tell you that TJ Maxx is the bee’s knees for college shopping. My sister will enter college this year as a freshman, and my mom did with her what she did with me: took her to TJ Maxx.

Actually, this trip became a family affair when my littlest sister and I tagged along. We needed hairbrushes (Fashionable Sister) and birthday gifts (me). My Vegetarian Sister, however, found the following college essentials:

• A backpack. Not Northface. (In fact, she picked the same one I have, but in a different color!)
• Extra long twin bedsheets. Ombré blue cotton. Quite tasteful.
• Stationary, for writing her fond older sister.
• An over-door hook for hanging towels. Actually, I might recommend you wait until you see your rooms for this one. My freshmen dorm room in Schwitzer had two bars for towels already, and some hooks may not fit over all doors.

The towel bars in my freshmen room in Schwitzer Hall.

• Rainboots. Butler’s sidewalks turn into rivers when it rains, and in college, you walk everywhere. You will want rainboots.

I can’t think of anything else she got, though we did look unsuccessfully for a hamper (not huge, collapsible). What are other items you really shouldn’t forget to pack for college? And check out these student reviews of Schwitzer Hall!

Also… do you say “backpack” or “bookbag” or some other permutation of that sack that holds stuff?