<p>Remember how when you were expecting your first kid you’d see recommended lists of what to buy? Remember how they suggested you buy much more than you needed? Same principle applies here when you see lists from BBB and the like for dorm rooms. :)</p>
<p>You want to buy less than you think your student needs. Dorm rooms are small, not everything fits or is needed. This is annoying if you have to drive the extra stuff back home, and more than annoying if your child is located a plane flight away from home. And a lot of the stuff doesn’t even get used, or gets tossed sooner than you’d expect. When I was helping D1 move out of her dorm at the end of her second year, she asked me to take a few bags of discards down to a donation collection point (for stuff that still was usable). She said “Don’t judge me,” so I bit my tongue and didn’t comment on how she was getting rid of lamps and storage bins that less than two years ago she’d insisted were absolutely necessary. :rolleyes:</p>
<p>Students can get a free trial Amazon Prime subscription (free two-day delivery, no minimum order), so if they need pretty much anything that’s another option. </p>
<p>Oh, and keep all the receipts AND DON’T UNWRAP STUFF UNTIL YOU’RE SURE IT WILL BE USED!!! Because you can’t return things after they’re unwrapped. You’re welcome. :D</p>
<p>i think your BBB strategy depends a lot on your particular situation. I encouraged my son to scan every item he thought he could possibly want at BBB because you don’t pay until you pick it up in your college town and I didn’t want them to sell out. On move-in day, we took a look at the dorm room before going to BBB and only purchased what he needed. Also, we were flying across the country so we bought more from BBB than a family that is driving would buy. If we had packed things like a comforter in our luggage, we would have ended up with 6 suitcases! Interestingly, my son’s girlfriend ended up flying to school with four suitcases but my son had only two. This seems typical of girls vs. boys. Girls have WAY more beauty, cleaning and cooking items.</p>
<p>Be sure to ask BBB for the list of items that your school supplies as standard in every dorm room. They keep a database and so we knew for instance that my son’s school would supply a wastepaper basket but not a desk lamp, etc.</p>
<p>My older son is the king of clothing. In the middle of college, he decided to change the style that he wore. So he just bagged up the old stuff, much of which was in great shape, and left it in his closet. We arrived for honors week at his school and discover this. We decided that there had to be a Goodwill or some place in need of donations. So we asked the lady who worked in housekeeping at the motel where we stayed. Turned out that her sister had a son was was growing out of everything and she would be glad to take the clothing. In other words, we got lucky and were thrilled to help someone.</p>
<p>Then, when he moved out following graduation, he had to trash lots of stuff because he could not bring it home – we were flying. We were just a little annoyed, too, since it was all good.</p>
<p>Son '14 watched all of this, and he immediately decided that he did not need every shirt or pair of shoes in the world. He said he can go to college with two suitcases and a laptop. They do have washers and dryers, he pointed out.</p>
<p>We’ll see if that thought pattern holds when he packs in the summer for college.</p>
<p>I will mention that Son ‘14 already has sheets and blankets for college. He is the youngest of my parents’ five grandsons. I bought stuff for my older son when he went to school, and it lasted four years. Then, I helped out a nephew with sheets, etc. when he went to following year. The next two nephews, however, commuted to school. But, everyone thought they would live on campus so I prepared early and got them sheets and other things. They lived at home, so Son '14 will inherit the new items when he goes to school.</p>
<p>But we’ve learned a lot about shopping for college, thanks to mistakes made with the first son.</p>
<p>Some schools have BBB set up on campus during move in days, so you can check out the room before buying some of the stuff. Shower slippers are a must as some of those shared showers are gross…sorry!</p>
<p>We found mattress pad and ‘bed raisers’ very useful. The mattress in the dorm is uncomfy and not so clean. and the bed raisers provide some much needed extra space under the bed to store suitcases etc</p>
<p>Mattress toppers
Sheets (but only buy these after you know what size) - 2 sets
Towels - don’t forget a beach towel - not necessarily for trips to the beach
School approved power strips - do make sure they are school approved BTDT
Desk lamp
Personal fan
Basic cooking/eating utensils
Basic tools
Basic cleaning supplies
Laundry bag
A couple of posters for the wall and stuff to put them up with
School supplies - notebooks, 3x5 index cards, paper clips, a decent white board and good markers, etc.
Both changed their choice of clothing somewhat once there, so gift cards to Kohls or similar are nice.</p>
<p>I have been hoarding BBC coupons since I found out they don’t really expire! DS already has one pair of XL sheets from his summer at Michigan, and a laundry bag but that is all. </p>
<p>If he ends up at Case then we will do a mix of fly and drive since it’s only a 6 hour drive. So I will drive with DS in a rental one way while DH flies (he hates driving long distances). Then I will fly back with DH. We’ll fly everywhere else.</p>
<p>Check those school websites before you buy sheets! My daughter’s second choice (out of 7) uses regular size beds. Alas, we won’t hear for a while though.</p>
<p>What you need depends on the dorm. D requests no furniture in her room. Roommate requests bed only. So we take a futon, a mini fridge, microwave, 3 sets of plastic storage drawers with clothes and kitchen/cleaning stuff, a storage ottoman (because nursing students really do use that sophomore pharm book in all the rest of their classes, so she hauls a lot of books back and forth), fans, laundry basket, oh my…Good thing the dorm is 10 min from home.</p>
<p>You know I am car shopping today because someone hit my car when it was parked in front of my house and totaled it. Am thinking I really need to look at the amount of cargo space available.</p>
<p>Thank you for all of the dorm shopping suggestions. I recall being most concerned about the wall posters when I went off to college, but other than the mini-fridge, sheets/bedding, towels, a clothing drying rack, shower bucket, and sticky hooks (that fell down), I can’t recall many trips to BB&B, but they didn’t offer coupons back then. I will check the school’s website for suggestions. I am fairly confident cooking & cleaning supplies will not be needed (knowing this child!) </p>
<p>lulumama–over scanning is a good suggestion and I think I will encourage that. </p>
<p>I recall reading somewhere on CC last year the various strategies to attempt to encourage boys to change their sheets. I think one parent placed a $20 bill beneath the sheet, and another bought several sets of sheets and layered them all on top of each other (not sure how clean the lower layers would be!). Laundry will be amusing!</p>
<p>Ordinarylives—after spending more than a year deliberating over what car to purchase, I bought the same vehicle I had for the prior 13 years, only to learn that the third row is no longer removable. Have fun car shopping. I was amazed at all of the electronic gadgets added to cars since 2000.</p>
<p>As a side note. We got Barnardgirl a very nice mini-fridge with a separate door to the freezer section because it seemed more expensive to rent one each year than to just buy one. Then we had to store in NYC over the summer. We used the storage company that comes to her campus to pick up and delivers everything back on move in day. $65 to store it over the summer. This year, she’s in a suite with a full size fridge and didn’t need it so she loaned it to friends for this year. She may never actually need it again. Depending on where she’s living next year, I may pick it up and bring it back for S to use in the fall, but what a hassle! We should have rented…</p>
<p>I agree with the analogy of stuff you buy for the first baby that you don’t need. We have a limited budget and with S2, being the youngest, I know I’ll only be buying what he needs. And he is a slob, so the less the better!</p>
<p>One nice thing if he attends Tulane is that I’ll be able to send his stuff to his brother’s apt and just drive it over on move-in day. No waiting for stuff from tents in the NOLA heat.</p>
<p>When the kids actually pick a school they put out a list of items. Some places are VERY picky. I know in NY they are super duper finicky about how much space on the walls can be covered, the kind of desk lamps, etc.</p>
<p>Space is tight and most of these kids have grown up in much bigger spaces. There is a thread out there about what to take for a dorm. My son only would take one set of sheets, he actually washes it, but just takes it off, washes and dries and puts it right back on the bed. </p>
<p>And remember, they aren’t going to the moon, if they decide they need something it’s easy to get. </p>
<p>Favorite items - a door stop so they can keep their door open at first to be a bit more social, and Tide pods are the easiest way to do laundry - just throw a few in the hamper and you don’t have to carry detergent to the laundry room. If your kids don’t know how to do laundry I suggest you hand over that responsibility now so they can be comfortable and one less thing to learn when they get there.</p>
<p>I got a new washer and dryer today and I’m learning how to do laundry all over again They have a completely different interface than what I’m used to!</p>
<p>You’ve had a busy couple of days, barnardmom! Good luck with the Court of Honor this weekend! Congrats to your son!! My DS will have his board of review next week.</p>
<p>Great suggestions on dorm items. Love Amazon Prime! We used it before the start of this spring semester when K12 discovered that a few of his books were out of stock at the university book store online. Were able to get them just in time before he left from Christmas break to go back to school.</p>
<p>Re: the post about boys and washing sheets. Our son has two sets of dorm sheets and and after 3 semesters, one set has yet to be opened…</p>
<p>Big envelope arrived from one of the schools for D14 today…Thank you for applying, here’s some information about our majors… As she said, “If I didn’t know this stuff, I wouldn’t have applied.”</p>
They have a completely different interface than what I’m used to!</p>