Hi,
I’m beginning the process of shopping for dorm room supplies, etc. for the upcoming school year (I’m a bit of an early planner…) and I figured this thread might be a nice resource for parents/students looking for those 75% off Twin XL sheets or whatever. I’ll probably bump this closer to actual shopping season, but might as well start now!
Excellent idea, @blackdog23. Here is how we saved the most money!
Our kids went shopping first in our linen closets. They had towels, blankets, comforters, (it really doesn’t matter if it’s 6 inches shorter!). We also had some regular twin Jersey knot sheets. Those stretch to fit an x long twin dorm bed perfectly.
Our kids took perfectly good towels, for example. I figured if ANYONE should get new towels, it should be us…parents!
Our kids actually wanted to take some of these things from home…to make their dorm rooms feel homey.
But right now…start saving your bed bath and beyond coupons. We used those on things like mattress pads, pillows, chair cushion, desk lamps, etc.
We let the roommate spring for the in room refrigerator. It didn’t matter to D if she had one or not but it did to the roomie. She allowed D to use half a shelf and that was more than sufficient for D’s needs. The following year, when D knew she would be an RA, she acquired a used fridge from a graduating RA and had that for the next 3 years.
Our D also took her home comforter but I did buy her the XL twin sheets (2 sets) in complementary colors. She brought her pillows from home as well. I did buy her some new towels, primarily because the ones we had at home were old and tattered. I didn’t mind using old ones at home but I didn’t want her college friends to know how poor we actually are.
We bought her solar lamps at IKEA because she’s into being green. She put them on the window sill to charge. They aren’t that expensive and it saved on batteries and electricity. I
Thank you both so much! I meant to post this in Parents Forum, not Parent Cafe…how can I ask the mods to move it?
There’s already a sticky thread at the top of the Parents Forum about things you’ll need for move-in. You’ll probably get some great ideas there.
We moved D 2,000 miles away for college, and opted not to ship a bunch of used stuff from home-it would have cost more than new items from low-cost stores like Ross or Big Lots. What we did buy ahead of time we put in Space Bags, along with her clothes. It’s the most convenient way to save space in packing that I can think of. Worth every penny. We also got 3 “Tote a Ton” nylon bags to use as luggage. They weigh almost nothing, can be stuffed very full, and can be folded up small or used as storage under the bed in the dorm.
When we did our “on-site” shopping, we chose a strip mall with many stores such as Target, Ross and Marshals, and close to a dollar store, Walmart and Big Lots. One-stop shopping. I’ve read on CC many times that Bed, Bath & Beyond is useful with the coupons they offer and how they’ll hold stuff for you on-site, but I’ve found that even with the coupons they can’t beat Target or Ross. To each his own.
@sseamom yes, I found the sticky super helpful! But I was actually hoping this thread could be more of a list of good sales/coupons/clearances that are currently online so people can snag deals as they come along!
Are u shopping for a male or female? Are you planning to drive them to school?
These things matter. I had a son going across country. I picked up basics at BB&B. He glance at them, but had no interest. The nite before, he finally realized it was real. We went back to BB&B, and he made the choices. We washed sheets that evening. His clothes fit in one suitcase, and the supplies in the other. We actually mixed them both, in case a suitcase got lost.
I was flying out for Parents weekend, and told him I’d rent a car and we could shop for other items. On that trip, we got a monitor to go with laptop, a desk chair. We also got a room a/c and a love seat. His roommate was happy with the purchases, but I never thought to ask him for anything (he was on full FA). Roommate installed the a/c.
The young men didn’t want a room fridge, as they were near the floor kitchen. My son bought hangers and additional medical and cleaning supplies at local Walgreens or target. An expensive item was the bed topper, which son didn’t use.
My point is, packing for a son is quite different than for a daughter.
Last May I ordered extra long Portuguese flannel twin sheet sets from Lands End for my son going off to college in NH. They were originally $79 a set marked down to $24.99. I think I also applied a coupon to the order bringing it down below $20 a set!
Best cost-saver (for me) is asking grandma (my mom) to create a health kit for a graduation gift. All the advil, cold medicine, bandaids, etc really adds up and she had some creative things in there that came in handy for the oldest. He isn’t huge into taking meds but he did call me in the middle of the night when he was sick asking if there was anything in the kit for nausea. Yep grandma had added both pepto and tums.
@smakl70 -
We gave our kids first aid kits customized with things for each of them - for instance, S did not need an emergency supply of tampons, though, in all honesty, sanitary pads can double as bandages if one is desperate, so S got a few of those.
Oh, and I just remembered - we gave each of them a tool kit as well. Hammer, pliers, a couple of screwdrivers, Allen key, duct tape, batteries, etc.
Don’t forget that unless they will have a single there will be one or more roommates involved. So, not everyone needs to bring the things that might be common to everyone.
I think most of us who have been through packing the freshman one or multiple times will agree that more often than not, we/they could have taken/packed WAY less stuff!
Also be SURE to know what is allowed and provided by student housing. For our kids, the fridge and microwave were provided. Some places do not allow appliances.
We bought some things way in advance if we found a great sale and knew 100% it was something they wanted for their room. But until we knew the exact type of room they were getting we waited for things that might not fit in certain types of rooms. We also waited for shared items until they had a room mate assigned. None of my kids cared about fridges and all of their room mates already had them so that worked out well. We did buy some of the shared extras though to make up for not splitting the cost of the fridge like bathroom accessories in the dorm room that had an attached bath.
Beware the “college approved” linens mail you’ll receive that looks like it comes from the university. I looked into it when my oldest was moving into a dorm (maybe here on CC?) and the consensus was that you could get higher quality at a better price easily on your own.
DS was fine shopping at home, as someone mentioned above. Younger DD wanted all new everything (and girls do tend to get into the decorating more than the boys). She had her own money to pay for most of that.
If you have access to Costco, check their prices before buying at BB&B. They seem to offer a coupon sale on the three inch memory foam mattress pad each summer, and the price is considerably lower than BB&B after 20% coupon. Great prices on pillows, towels, quilted mattress pads, hangers, laundry hampers, Command hooks, school supplies, etc. They do not sell everything, but anything they do sell is priced lower than BB&B. And you cannot buy a comforter & sheet set there.
Prices on lots of the EXACT same items were cheaper at Walmart than at BB&B, even with the coupon.
Command hooks are great but pricey. Use a Michael’s 50% coupon on one regularly priced item and start buying one at a time in advance.
Costco periodically has a large pack of them in their “back to school” display in August.
@BunsenBurner – my local Costco is now stocking Command hooks year round…kind of in that area between kitchen/houseware/automotive. They move around more than some items.
the dollar tree had a very small assortment of command hooks (in the kitchenware section on the wall) so you may want to check there to see if they have any that are useful.