(photo: Hoosadork, Flickr)

Who can believe that children are packing up and just about ready to head off to school? Though summer may soon be on its way out, parents and college students should start thinking about college dorms. No one wants to enter an academic school year with skyrocketing tuition only to spend more cash on decorating a dorm room. It’s all about shopping smart and efficient.

While fully styling a college dorm may become work in progress (you will pick up things along the way and possibly go back and forth with style), there are some home-related stores to consider when beginning your journey. Here are five affordable stores for the budget conscious college student. You don’t have to shop exclusively at these places (unless you want to), but they are a great start.

3 Affordable Home-Related Stores for Dorm Room Decorating

1.) IKEA - The quintessential “go-to” resource for affordable home furnishings, IKEA is the place for all of your modern finds. Shop ready-to-hang prints, inexpensive textiles (bedding, rugs and window treatments) and anything else you will need. Their site provides countless images to inspire new and returning college students to get excited about decorating and take risks with color and pattern. The Back to College section in particular takes the effort of shopping away by categorizing products based on needs. There are recommendations for just decorating, organizing your room, storing meals and more. They even have a shopping checklist.

As there are many IKEAs across the country, you should have full access to all of your decorating needs. As a heads up, you might want to get all of your dorm needs from IKEA early as lines during school season can get out of hand.

2.) Target – Target o’ Target, how you have become a one stop shop for so many amazing things. People who frequent the stores know they can find practically anything for the home (and beyond) including designer collaborations. Their Back to College area is filled with stylish finds that will turn your dorm room into a home away from home. Did we mention they have finds under $25? Score!

Another reason why Target remains the top of the list is because of their resources for college students. Their dorm room checklist (a great mobile feature or printable item) will keep college students organizing with daily essentials and needs around their college space. Users can check off must haves as they go along to stay ontop of what they have and need.

Have you been dying to decorate your dorm, but are a little decorating challenged? Check out their uStyler program that provides interior styling templates that college students can customize. Sometimes, you just need to visualize things before you commit to buying.

3.) The Container Store - When people say you need basics, you really need the basics. The Container Store has thousands upon thousands of storage items to make your days in the dorm pleasant. Remember, you are going to share a room that is a bit smaller (on average) than your room at home. In addition to storage containers, the beloved store has plenty of decorative and organizing pieces to go around.

They even have expert tips and ideas on ways to maximize your space and must have pieces for your dorm room. Need a little more guidance? Shop by pre-styled room ideas by color, watch videos for room ideas by color and more. You can even create a college gift registry for proud parents and family to make contributions.