<p>We just received some mail from son’s college. It’s a brochure selling linens and laundry hampers. Wifey thinks it’s a good deal, the intro Freshman PKG. Apparently the dorm beds are twin extra long, so sheets will be hard to find, so why get a full set and be done with it? Anyone else considering this?</p>
<p>Resident Hall Linens, by any chance. We had some family members who were expats residing abroad. They got these because it was way easier than shopping for sheets and towels. Their kids couldn’t wait to replace the substandard and over priced towels and sheets. The sheets were itchy, and the towels were very thin. As soon as they could, they bought replacements (note…some were girls and some boys).</p>
<p>It’s as easy as pie to find XLong twin sheets. They will be carrying them at Bed Bath and Beyond, and Target, and probably Walmart as well. You can mail order them from LLBean and other vendors. </p>
<p>Towels are sold everywhere. We actually gave our kids the towels out of our linen closet. We figured if anyone deserved new towels, it was the parents.</p>
<p>well alrighty then! thanks!</p>
<p>Get used to Residence Life trying to sell you all kinds of overpriced stuff. I laughed at the heavy parental guilt they tried to lay on us if we didn’t order their care packages! Testimonials from students about how devastated they were to not get the pre-packed impersonal care packages.</p>
<p>As thumper1 said, x-long sheets are VERY easy to find. And if you want, you can go ahead and order everything at Bed Bath and Beyond or WalMart or a number of other retailers and arrange to pick it up at a store location near college.</p>
<p>haha OK thanks for that heads up. he’ll be 40 minutes from us. anything he needs we can run over to him on a Saturday or something … he’ll be in Boston & we live in “metrowest” 23 miles away</p>
<p>There is a substantial record of discussion of this issue here on CC. The general consensus is…avoid them, because cheaper options abound, with more variety also. I purchased a Twin XL cotton sheet set from Walmart last year for peanuts.</p>
<p>Target - good quality and they have lots of them. You can order them online as well. Mu kid liked the cotton jersey ones, but there are lots of choices.</p>
<p>I purchased a package last year for my older son. He really had no preferences for the sheets, comforter etc… and no desire to shop, so it was easy for me. Yes the quality is not the best, but he has been fine with all the products except for the pop-up hamper which broke (probably due to stuffing to capacity). My younger son will heading off to college in August and I plan on going to Target for most of the items. June is when most of the dorm items will be in the stores. I have been picking up a few items each time I go. Again, his has no desire to shop, so I run ideas by him before I get them. Best item to get is the Memory Foam topper. The beds are really uncomfortable. As stated previously, you can shop on-line at Bed, Bath and Beyond (also save all expired coupons which you can use), Target and Walmart and pickup at the store.</p>
<p>As the others have said, avoid these. We bought 3 sets of XL twin sheets last August at Bed Bath and Beyond. There were many options (flannel, t-shirt, percale) and colors to choose from and they were not expensive, thanks to the coupons they seem to mail every week or two. And I second that memory foam topper. You can buy a regular twin size and it will work just fine.</p>
<p>A hint about xlong sheets and beds. Unless something has changed, those xlong mattresses are also xthin and x narrow. We bought DD a set of jersey xlong sheets and had to return them. They were just way too big. But the good news…regular jersey knit twin sheets fit fine and stretch over the mattress topper and mattress just fine. We sort of knew this…and our kids had jersey sheets from summer camps. So those went to college.</p>
<p>Our kids did all of their college linen shopping in our house first. Both took the comforter from their beds, old towels we had, and those jersey sheets. We actually had a lot if towels. So every year, a new set if towels made a one way trip to college and were tossed at the end of the year. We really didn’t buy too much new…because the kids had most of the stuff already. </p>
<p>I recommend The Company Store online for high quality x-long sheets at a good price. They have a huge variety.</p>
<p>We bought most of the dorm stuff at Bed and Bath and Harmons for the toiletries- you can use Bed and Bath coupons at Harmons too. We did order the XL sheets from the residence hall company which D used all of Freshman year and will be using again next year. They held up with no issues. </p>
<p>Do not order the stuff that you get ads for through the mail. It’s over priced and (from what I’ve heard) poor quality. Every summer, stores stock up on twin bed XL sheets - they are not hard to find at all. BB&B, Target, etc will have huge stacks of them. Save up the BB&B coupons you get in the mail, and you will be able to buy sheets more cheaply than the mail-order res life “bargain” package.</p>
<p>
True. Res Life gets a percentage of the income from these flyers. Toss them. You can do better on your own at your local store - or the store near your kids’ college.</p>
<p>Agree with the others – twin XL sheets are easy to find and you can use a regular twin comforter if you don’t find a twin xl you like. This is the first of many flyers from the school. You will probably also get flyers for “birthday care packages” and “finals care packages” etc. from the college. As with the sheets, it is generally cheaper and better to do something on your own (put some cookies, favorite treats in a box and mail it off) than to go through the school’s vendors.</p>
<p>Xlong sheets sell out very quickly and are usually only available for part of the year. </p>
<p>Great post from Lafalum84. Order early, wash them at home, and vacuum bag to save space for transit.</p>
<p>What you may want to spend money on is a mattress topper. My kid had a 6 inch topper on her school mattress. She had the most comfortable bed. Those school mattresses are very thin. You could almost feel the wires. </p>
<p>We ordered an extra thick mattress topper for DD from BBB to pick up near her college when she moved in. But surprise. Her dorm mattress was brand spanking new with excellent padding. So we downgraded to a thinner pillow top sort of mattress cover. So, YMMV…but if it were me, I’d plan for,the worst. DS’s dorm mattress reminded me of the cots he slept on at summer camp…really bad! He got a thick topper!</p>
<p>Try <a href=“http://www.overstock.com”>www.overstock.com</a> for toppers, quilts and sheets. It looks like it’s good quality. Everything I’ve purchased from them has shipped free and arrived in a couple of days. And spray the dorm mattress with Febreeze</p>
<p>We got the topper from overstock. Delivery fee is $2, so you could even have it delivered to your kid’s dorm. We actually bought a mattress for D1 for her off campus apartment through overstock. </p>
<p>Overstock is a terrific source for things. The very inexpensive shipping is a plus.</p>