<p>I sent my kid with all kinds of things besides clothes and bedding such as: lots of hand sanitizer, multiples of toiletry items, laundry soap, and cleaners. I sent a bag of different OTC medications and first aid items. I asked him if there was anything that he did not use that I sent and he said, “no”. This really surprised me! I expected that some of these items would have been untouched. His additional comment was that he thought I was nuts at the amount of laundry detergent that I sent, but he added that he went through every drop of it. He said that he ended up with just enough.</p>
<p>I did not send a hand vac or a dorm safe btw. I did send 3 or 4 towels (don’t recall).</p>
<p>BTW, we drove and he is storing some items near his school. Being able to store some things locally really helps!</p>
<p>^^ I really didn’t. I know that I sent the items that he uses at home as far as OTC meds and personal care items (just sent a year’s supply as though there are no other stores near his school. This is silly, but my son enjoyed not parting with his money for these items and was GRATEFUL to have them on hand). I sent cleaners that any kid who is going to do minimal cleaning would need along with paper towels and wastebasket (including plastic bags to line it). I sent a broom and a dust pan, one set of sheets with pillow and blanket (felt guilty about not sending 2 sets of sheets but he never asked for a second set). His dorm included the microfridge so I did not worry about those items. Instead I sent along some items that he likes to microwave (ie: popcorn, hot chocolate). Honestly, he could have bought the food items easily, but it tastes a lot better when he did not pay for it from his funds (even if we provided the $$), lol! I sent 2 pairs of sneakers, slippers, bathrobe (yes, this was used!), 1 pair of dress shoes, 4-5 dress slacks, 1 suit, 2 sport coats, 4-5 button down shirts/ties, dress socks (all of this was worn), boots, in addition to usual t-shirts, shorts, jeans, flip flops (did send flip flops for shower along with pail for toiletries. The pail WAS USED TOO). I sent notebooks of the variety he liked in hs and he stuck with those all year!! I also sent a year’s supply of pens, pencils, erasers, his calculator with new batteries in it, stapler/staples, tape and such (exact items that I bought at the beginning of the school year during high school years). The additional purchase was a printer and some paper for it (bought that locally and it is being stored now). He took his laptop and camera (likes snapping pics and I enjoyed viewing them all year long). He purchased textbooks at home at a discount over bookstore prices and we brought those with us. As far as jackets, I sent one down jacket, 2 lighter jackets, and a few sweatshirts. We did bring hangers for dress clothes and jackets. I guess this is the basic list. I just really knew what he uses and sent all of that, and added college items that I knew most college students use to the mental list. I even sent a thermos for him to fill up with drinks, along with a couple of plates, bowls, and eating utensils (plates and utensils were bought at a dollar store). He used all of those items as well. </p>
<p>Hope this helps you!</p>
<p>BTW, 2 pairs of sneakers were not enough. We ended up buying 3 more pairs during the year (one pair went back after winter break, and we saw him in March at his school and his last pair of sneakers was being held together by duct tape, yikes!).</p>
<p>Confession…my son does like to dress up for events and he did decide to join a fraternity. There seemed to be a lot that they did dress for, but perhaps the average male can make do with less dress up clothes.</p>
<p>Dress shoes for an art student…never used…never will be used…has one pair of black sneakers, one pair of winter boots, one pair of flip flops for the dorm. More than enough …he says. </p>
<p>Check before sending:
Printer (some universities have printer services included and ubiquitous…in every building including dorms).
quarters (some universities include free laundry machines)
broom/vacuum (most dorms have one or more per floor)
safe? most dorms have pretty secure systems for doors; tell kid never to prop open door if he is not in the room. </p>
<p>Do send:
Many boxes of kleenex, basic first aid and OTC cold/flu medicine. Sure they can buy it…but they won’t.
Science fiction novels and cheap dvd movies to be sent along with food in care packages for when they are sick…sure they can buy them, but they won’t.
Replacement shoe laces (see above)
thank you cards for post holiday correspondence to grandparents (see above times 10!). I went to the extreme of putting addresses and stamps on the envelopes just like when he was a small child at camp.</p>
<p>Many of the fraternities in our area require them to dress for the faculty dinners and for required chapel events. DS was told by one guy that tuxes come in very handy as well. I will hold off on the tuxes, but the dress clothes are a no-brainer for us as well. He dresses up in high shool enough to have a 10 ties.</p>
<p>I think all students should have at least one dressy outfit if not two. My first year I had a surprise interview for an opportunity to “apprentice” with a state senator and had to make do with my roommates clothing, who was six inches shorter than I was and about 40lbs lighter. Somehow I made it work pretty well but it was not a good evening the night before. This past year I had a surprise opportunity to be an extra in a george clooney movie and needed business attire. You just never know. :P</p>
<p>Now that D’s headed home in less than a week, and I just paid more than $500 to have her stuff stored for the summer…wishing more than ever we had not sent quite so much! Things I don’t regret: a month’s worth of underwear because that’s how often she has done laundry; umbrella, raincoat and galoshes, even though she never needed these in our arid climate; her Brita water pitcher, because she is very “green” and hates to buy bottled water. I mentioned this way back, but our main over-pack was too many clothes and shoes. You really need a good feel for the closet situation before you send much. And don’t send a lot of food items and toiletries unless there is absolutely no store handy to campus. I was convinced that the prices in New York would be sooooo much higher that it would make sense to ship such stuff, but that’s just not the case.</p>
<p>@Emaheevul07 I agree about one (even 2) dressy outfits, I just don’t think I’ll be sending my still-growing S with 5 or more, and probably without a full suit. He right now owns 2-3each of dress pants, dress shirts and ties. I think the dress shoes he has still fit. No blazer or suit, but maybe we’ll try to get him a reasonably-priced blazer at some point of folks think shirt and tie is not always sufficient. But like I said, he’s still growing, so investing in a lot of good-quality dress clothes is just not happening, especially not with the need to actually pay for college! (Like so many others, our EFC is more than we can comfortably afford…) </p>
<p>writestuff54 – maybe she would have done laundry more often if she had less underwear! </p>
<p>Amount of food and toiletries we bring will be determined by car space. Anything else we (or he) can buy there.</p>
<p>I just brought my daughter home after her second year and had that “can’t get two tons of manure in a one-ton truck” feeling as I was stuffing the back of my wagon. She had too many clothes, which had expanded over her year at school. And I forgot to take the fabric car top carrier. We fit everything but the vacuum in for the trip home.</p>
<p>S1 said he would make two adjustments next year. 1) he will not bring the dozens, upon dozens of high school athletics tee shirts and sweatshirts. I guess he figured out that no one at college has even heard of his high school. 2) He asked that when we drop him off next year if we would pick up at least 10 cases of water before we head out of town. The Walmart near school sells 24 bottles of water for about $3 versus $1.50 each at the campus bookstore.</p>
<p>^^ I would buy the Brita water filter and skip the bottled water. And I made a quilt out of my daughter’s high school t-shirts, which turned out to be a great thing to have. As I was folding her numerous college t-shirts, which they must give out for EVERYTHING, I told her that I thought she would have enough for another quilt.</p>
<p>Check out the storage policy for your college ahead of time. D’s college allowed 4 18inX18in boxes for $219. Anything extra is about $50 (storage bins, suitcase, etc). So…D spent two days trying to cram everything into 4 boxes. In the end, she ended up sending a duffel bag home with a friend and throwing out/donating quite a bit - storage bins, hangers, books, drying rack, etc. It is cheaper to purchase new items next year than to store it.</p>
<p>What’s up with all this bottled water? Is the water condemned at your college? You get a free, refillable large container (from one of the billion activity clubs that pass them out) and you refill it with water from the tap. Much better on the environment, not wasteful, and saves everybody a lot of time and money (and dorm space).</p>
<p>At my D’s very PC college, I think she would have been shunned if she bought bottled water. Although the Brita pitcher that her roommate brought did not fit in the mini fridge. They learned to drink room temp water.</p>