<p>No lock box for S. He goes to school in upstate NY. When he renewed his passport he also got the card that allows you to drive over the two borders that fits right in the wallet. </p>
<p>S had all 4 wisdom teeth removed yesterday. He is doing well- jaw is swollen and sore. I am sure he will have another day of icing, smoothies, and rest.
When he was I was in “recovery” yesterday he was snap chatting friends saying he was a “hungry chipmunk,” he gave the dental assistant a big hug when she helped him to the car; and on the drive home he kept patting my arm and saying " I love you mom. You’re the best mom in the world. Thanks mom… You didn’t have to drive me home." It was very sweet and funny to see the kid so loopy. I rather enjoyed hearing these endearments that he rarely utters. 
</p>
<p>I just bought a clever lockbox from Staples that looks like a cookbook titled “Cooking with Vegetables”! I figure it will have amusement value if nothing else. My S will have ADD meds to keep safe, have heard that they go for $20/pill on the black market so I want him to have the option. Not really worried about it, though.</p>
<p>@calla1 Looking forward to your stories from the front lines when you get back!</p>
<p>@Minnymom Your son is so sweet! And now you know what he really thinks underneath it all. My son and I both are fairly late on the dental timeline so I’m not worrying about wisdom teeth yet. I didn’t have mine out until I was a junior, and set it up myself while at college over spring break. Now I wish I’d had my mom to help me through it.</p>
<p>I just bought a small safe for my D to keep her ADHD meds. I bought it the Container Store and there is a cable that can wrap around a bed leg and keep the whole thing out of sight. She’ll probably keep her passport in there as well as tends to lose things quite easily.</p>
<p>Yes, if my son needed meds that could go for a good price on the black market, I’d definitely be getting him a container like that for those. I have a water proof/fire proof box of my own which I don’t even really lock, but which has important papers (insurance policy info, passports, etc.) so if we have a fire or flood, they are protected. I also grab it and take it to the basement when we have tornado warnings. </p>
<p>@Minnymom I hope your son’s recovery is uneventful!</p>
<p>S came home from orientation and the whole drive home, and at lunch, he talked and talked. This is how he operates. He talked about everything he did, classes he registered for, people he met, etc. MANY of his concerns and fears were allayed and he’s kinda excited about the whole thing now! His dad will be frustrated because by the time S gets to his house, he won’t want to discuss it all over again. He’s happy though. He said it was so great to be around all kids who care about school and want to learn and like to have intellectual discussions. He loved the Residential College kids he met and said they all clicked right away so he’s confident that is the right program for him too. Phew! This really is a relief. </p>
<p>@calla1 - Best of luck with move-in day tomorrow! I can’t believe it’s starting already! DD’s grad party is this weekend and we’re praying for no rain but it doesn’t look good. @2016BarnardMom - so glad your son had a good orientation! How relieved you must be! Good friends’ daughter will be a 2018er there also. Her orientation was at the beginning of the week so don’t know how she liked it.</p>
<p>@minnymom - I loved your story! It brought back a similar experience with my S after his knee surgery a few years ago. It is really sweet!</p>
<p>@2016BarnardMom - So glad to hear that S had a great orientation and is excited about Michigan! </p>
<p>@crowlady - I’m going to head to Staples this weekend for the Cookbook lockbox. How clever!</p>
<p>
That coverage is good but double check the deductible. It may well be the same as for any claim on the house meaning $500 or $1000 deductible on the homeowners policy which is most likely more than the value of the dorm stuff.</p>
<p>I agree with @AvonHSDad – our homeowner’s deductible, which is $5K, will apply for any dorm losses. Writing a rental policy was cost prohibitive, so we instead added my son’s dorm as an additional covered location. (I may have the terminology wrong here.) Basically, protection against slip & fall in his dorm. Am not sure this is really necessary but it was only $30 or so.</p>
<p>Am starting to panic here about all that still needs to happen….</p>
<p>I knew my homeowners policy covered my son for college, but I got a rude awakening when I called about car insurance. Two years ago when we bought our home, we switched companies, as we would save some money. My older son was a senior in college, and we got a substantial discount because he did not have a car on campus. </p>
<p>Well, that changed when I called to inform the company that the younger son would be nearly 700 miles away and have no car on campus. The customer service agent was rude. She told me me there is no change in cost for him regardless of where he is residing. So we would continue to pay $1800+ on him, and he would not be living at home most of the year and not driving. I was livid. I had been told only a few months earlier that our policy would go down big time (like it would cost $250-$300 for him a year). I called a competitor, one we had been with earlier. The young man on the phone was a sweetheart. He spent more than 90 minutes going over policies and looking for the best deal for us. In the end, we will save more than $1600 a year, as this particular company will keep my sons (yes, we were able to add my older son to the policy, and save him about $500 a year) at a lower rate because they do not have cars on campus. I told the young man that if he were in my home, I would hug him! So would my older son, who has a tight budget for law school. I even asked for his supervisor’s e-mail so I could tell her what a great agent he is. I hope it gets him a bonus!</p>
<p>Then, he switched me to the homeowners’ desk. We can save another $50 on the policy, and it covers my younger son’s belongings at school. The older son has an off-campus apartment so he needs his own policy, but it will cost him about $230 a year. Not bad at all.</p>
<p>So make sure you check everything regarding your auto/homeowners policy. I telephoned my dad later and explained what happened. He had changed companies because he had gotten such a good deal. He also recommended it to me and lots of friends. We were the only ones, as far as he knows, who had such a jump in rates.</p>
<p>We have no deductible on the rider that covers losses outside our home (there is a deductible for home-based losses). It’s come in useful a couple of times for me already – I lost a tennis bracelet while on vacation one year, and another time the diamond fell out of my engagement ring when I was on a business trip to Chicago. Both were covered with no deductible. </p>
<p>As for car insurance, turns out that my DS was listed as only an “occasional” driver on our policy so we were already getting away with paying a lower amount for him. Nothing will change when he goes off to college but since we were paying a lower rate these last couple of years, we’re still coming out ahead.</p>
<p>We set up his bank account with PNC last weekend, and connected it to his school card so that’s done (we bank with Wells Fargo but there aren’t any in Cleveland). Withdrew money from the 529 in anticipation of the tuition/room& board bill that’s due next month. We will have excess funds because of his merit aid, so we will open a Roth IRA for him with some of it, and put the rest in a mutual fund.</p>
<p>Almost there!</p>
<p>Called GEICO yesterday and my 6 month premium will go down by $700 now that he will be listed “away at school.” Very happy about that!</p>
<p>@akmom124 we get American Girl catalogs in the mail even though I’ve never bought anything from them, and only have sons!</p>
<p>On the laptop safe – most kids will not use a laptop safe or even a locking cable. I have drummed it into my son’s head that if he’s in the library studying and needs to use the restroom, his laptop goes with him, and that he and his roommate need to be religious about closing/locking the door every time they leave the room. He’s lucky that he’s in a suite-style room where he doesn’t have to leave the locked part of the room to use the bathroom, so that’s one thing he won’t have to deal with. </p>
<p>We did get a small safe with cable for his passport and other small items. His school recommends but does not require a safe for ADHD meds. He says that keeping them in the safe would make him more likely to forget to take them (or not bother) so we will encourage him to keep a couple of weeks’ worth out but the rest (we fill it for 3 months at a time) in the mini safe. The campus police did say that it should not be an issue in the honors dorm. </p>
<p>The countdown is really here. D is going to go through sorority recruitment at a big SEC school. We’ve been shopping like demons and today was the final assembling of each outfit head to toe. Dresses put in garment bags with the shoes and jewelry in a baggie so no thinking required when she gets there. </p>
<p>She’s out getting a few more last minute things, sports bras, an agenda, something from Target. Question is - how will this stuff all possibly fit in a small dorm room? lol</p>
<p>Well…I quit my job yesterday! I gave two weeks notice and I am allowed to work at home for the remainder of my time with the company. I just could not take it anymore and should have not waited so long to tell the CEO how my “new boss” was treating me! He was applaud and didn’t want me to leave - but I am done! I am an RN with and MBA and she was treating like her “go to girl” …I wanted to “kill” her the other day! … At the end of August I will have no income but the upside is that I will have two weeks with my son before he is off to college. I am confident that I will find something else and I have my dignity intact. I really did not want to move to southern CT…I am currently pursuing two positions in Providence and one in VT! …I would love go back to Providence! </p>
<p>Our shopping is almost done and I can relax a bit before S goes off to school… good advice about the safe and insurance for the dorm - I will have to check my policy and call about the car insurance policy! Oh and I also need to renew S’s passport - @eyeonmom I will also get the border crossing card!..</p>
<p>@calla1 - what a drag having to go up 7 flights -I hope there is help! </p>
<p>Barnardmom - so glad your son is happy at Michigan- my nephew would have loved to go there _he wait listed and will be attending UW - he ended up receiving 41 credits for AP courses and college classes taken last summer. Nice way to start college! He is at orientation this week and I am hoping he is getting excited about school. </p>
<p>Bar is open! Glad to be home! </p>
<p>Wishing everyone a wonderful weekend! </p>
<p>Wow, @onlyonemom congrats (sort of) on quitting – and how nice that you’ll have 2 weeks with your son before he leaves for school. Good luck finding the next thing – I can’t imagine you’ll have much difficulty with your skills and education!</p>
<p>Was @calla1’s move-in day today?</p>
<p>Good luck to everyone on the final shopping, packing, planning and getting ready for launch!</p>
<p>@onlyonemom - quitting your job sounds very liberating and overdue. Enjoy your time with your S. I hope you find a great new job soon!</p>
<p>@calla1 - I hope that you survived the stairs today and move-in went well. We are anxiously awaiting details of the first launch.</p>
<p>@eyemamom - I’m impressed with the outfit organization. That’s a great idea to plan ahead. Recruitment is stressful enough without fretting over outfits and accessories. Wishing your D the best! </p>
<p>Wow! First launch day for the HS Class of 2014! Hope all went well @calla1</p>
<p>We had some kind of BINGO game going during the class of 2012 launches. First crazy roommate’s mother story, first… I don’t even remember what for sure! But I remember we were handing out BINGO squares…lol. I got one for a medical emergency but that wasn’t even until second semester. </p>
<p>@onlyonemom Best of luck – with an RN and an MBA I’m sure you’ll find something better. I, too, gave my notice this week. I really hope to put off the start date at my new job until Sept so I can have a chance to catch my breath. In addition to the college shopping and the job stuff we also finally managed to get my mother-in-law’s house on the path to being sold (rent-to-own). Not a moment too soon, as this is inheritance that is supposed to be our college fund. It’s been a stressful summer! </p>
<p>My boss isn’t exactly a loser like yours but I was feeling marginalized and was ready to move on. It was my first full time “real” job (after many years of part time) on a project I (mostly) loved, and I’m hoping I can continue to collaborate. On the plus side, my commute will drop by 2 hours a day, I will learn a lot, and I won’t have to keep begging for my salary.</p>