<p>I’m trying to figure out how many clothes to send with my DS to college. First thought was to send a weeks worth so he has to do laundry once a week but then I’m thinking how realistic is that? However I don’t want to send too much because then it will get piled up in the corner of his dorm room. So how often does your son do laundry or how many days of clothes is a good idea? thanks</p>
<p>I am a female, but I preferred to have two weeks worth of clothes. I really only had time to do laundry Saturday or Sunday mornings, and if I was busy or sick, or if I forgot, and I MISSED laundry day… I was really hard pressed to find time to fit it in until the next laundry day. You could get by with one week of clothes, but you might want to send extra socks and underwear at least.</p>
<p>First, you have to define how many days items can be worn without washing. Good luck on that. I think it would be fair to assume that your S will do laundry at least once per term. and that his sheets will be washed at least once per year, possibly when he brings them home. </p>
<p>No matter how much or how little you send with him, it will all end up on the floor of his dorm room. All that wil vary is the number of times he picks an individual item up, sniffs it, and decides it is good enough for another day. </p>
<p>:D :D</p>
<p>It won’t matter how many weeks’ worth of laundry you send. Unless your son is very unusual, he will wait to do his laundry until he has worn every single item once (maybe twice if they more or less pass the sniff test), and possibly until he has cycled through all the briefs/boxers inside out. And then he’ll remember at 3 am that he left a load of wet clothes in the machine, and that load has all his underwear.</p>
<p>Edited to ad: Cross posted with Consolation–we know boys! I didn’t comment on the infrequency of changing sheets because it’s a topic I prefer not to think about…</p>
<p>What Consolation said. </p>
<p>I also left it up to him what he packed.</p>
<p>^ emilybee - If I did that he would end up bringing the zillion tee shirts he has accumulated over the last 4 years and his 14 year old brother would end up with little to wear as they currently wear the same size.:)</p>
<p>My S is rising senior in college - I’d say he does laundry once a week - it has also been convenient thought - right on his floor or in his apt. He plays sports so goes through a lot of tshirts especially. Weirdly, he tells me he actually doesn’t mind doing laundry. </p>
<p>I can’t imagine packing for him though. Isn’t that something he can handle and should do so he pack all his favorite clothes? How will you know how many clothes to pack for a certain time anyway? He might wear shorts for one day or three days in a row. He might go through one shirt or three in a day if it’s hot. Whatever he takes will then help him dictate how often to do laundry or whether to bring more/less clothes to school from home.</p>
<p>How often is he doing laundry at home? If he’s not doing the laundry at home, now’s a good time to start. He still has probably 4-6 weeks to learn how to do it “right”. Overstuffing the washer means clothes aren’t really getting clean. Overstuffing the dryer means it will take forever for clothes to dry. </p>
<p>Have the sons decide who is keeping which t-shirts. You will probably wind up with a pile of shirts that neither one wants. Time to donate or toss those.</p>
<p>Okay, I asked S, who happens to be at home, to tell me the truth. He said that when he was a freshman, he did laundry maybe once every 3 weeks. He never washed his sheets unless there was “a complaint.” (From a GF, one assumes 
) He said that as a senior he did laundry much more frequently: once a week, roughly.</p>
<p>It can be a big difference between how often laundry is done at home vs when at college, especially if facilities aren’t handy got student. S had washer and dryer less than 100 feet from his freshman dorm room. D had large room with washers and dryers several floors below her dorm room. Any guesses who washed laundry more often?</p>
<p>Post#3 by Consolation is all you need to know.</p>
<p>And don’t worry about sending T-shirts with your son.</p>
<p>Any shirt from high school (anything with his high school’s name, or sport, or club or hometown written in it) will become completely dorky the minute he walks on campus.</p>
<p>After the first couple of weeks he will have accumulated about ten freebee T-shirts from his dorm or from groups promoting themselves on or near campus. </p>
<p>And if he is anything like my own kids, he will have “The Art of Delayed Laundering” down pat by Thanksgiving. </p>
<p>When I picked up one of my sons at the end of the year he greeted me with brimming garbage bags stuffed with dirty clothing and informed me that everything he owned, other than the clothes on his back, was dirty. It did make packing the car a lot easier.</p>
<p>Depends! My son is a rising senior in college and still wears several t-shirts from his high school days - from sports he was in, other colleges he visited, random tshirts…</p>
<p>OP, the best suggestion is to get your son involved NOW. Let him think through the whole process - how many clothes he wants to have, how to do laundry, what he might wear to go to class, etc.</p>
<p>This past year, as a freshman, my daughter did laundry every 9-10 days. I would say they need to have two weeks worth of underwear, socks, etc. For a girl, they would most likely take more of the other stuff (different types of tops and bottoms - some fancier or sloppier - heavier or lighter). Don’t forget he will need dress pants, belt, button down shirt (2), a tie, dress socks, and dress shoes for the possibility of formal events or work interviews.</p>
<p>So much depends on the kid.</p>
<p>D2 does laundry about every 2 weeks, but she has a TON of clothes, and a few of them reside on her floor.</p>
<p>Her BOYFRIEND, on the other hand does laundry at a set time, on a set day, every week, and his room is spotless.</p>
<p>I’m not sure I should really share this…</p>
<p>Once when I went to move out a kid at the end of term, I learned he had been buying huge cheap packs of underwear at the local drugstore whenever he ran out.</p>
<p>:(</p>
<p>There was obviously a market since the store seemed to keep a lot of stock.</p>
<p>I have two sons currently in college, and am under the impression that it ranges from 7-10 days. I think my impression is correct. 
I taught them to do their own laundry starting at age 13. YMMV</p>
<p>Consolation nailed it! My S has been doing his own laundry since he was 12 but yeah, that’s how they roll. PLEASE teach your kid how to do laundry now, if he doesn’t know how. Otherwise he will look like my ex did when I met him-everything he owned was light blue because he washed his few items of clothing in with brand-new dark blue sheets. In hot water.</p>
<p>I would also let your kid pack his own clothes. At this age he would know what he will or won’t wear. Going off to school was when my older gave her sister an entire new wardrobe.</p>
<p>alh-my sister’s best friend’s older brother went to an Ivy school and she went with the family to pick him up one break. The first thing this boy said getting into the car was, “Mom, can we stop and buy some new underwear?” The mom was puzzled as he’d been sent off with more than enough pair. He hadn’t done laundry all semester and had run out…</p>
<p>My S has also perfected the art of waiting until every last piece of clothing is dirty before doing laundry. His theory is that if he did laundry more often, he would just keep wearing the same outfit over and over. By waiting, he gives every piece of clothing a chance to be worn (usually twice) - and, he claims, he gets more creativity by trying to match the clean pieces into acceptable ensembles. Obviously, he’s put a lot of thought into this. So, I think he has 10-14 pairs of underwear, which are his canary in the coal mine of doing laundry. When he runs out of those, time to do the wash!</p>
<p>OP- Here. I’m getting the idea there will be piles of dirty clothes no matter what… my sons do know how to do laundry because we are a family with 3 boys(18,14,& 12) so we do laundry almost everyday(ugh) and I have them me help do it. So I’m thinking he is not going to want to do it anymore often that necessary at college.</p>
<p>Unfortunately I have to admit there have been times where I have messed up and everyone’s underwear ended up pink because I put something red in by mistake.
so I totally understand the light blue clothes.</p>