<p>Well, guess I'll try this new format and see what happens. . .was going to say on the old thread that I feel sorta cheap after reading the posts. Spent about $50 at Target on sheets/socks/bags of candy, $214 to pack and ship old heavy computer (not laptop), $150 on two coats and a comforter of sorts from Lands End. And that's about it. Promised S a subscription to The Economist for his birthday. I may spring for long underwear for a Christmas gift. The other S (also in college) got Sponge Bob briefs, a blender, a juicer and a book of juicer recipes for his birthday.</p>
<p>Spent about 5 minutes trying to post this on the old forum:</p>
<p>I don't think my son's school spent $3000 on his dorm room.</p>
<p>It wasn't worth the effort ;).</p>
<p>well, mstee... i bought my own stuff when i went to college. I mean, i had some money that was graduation presents that i used to buy stuff, but still :)</p>
<p>Now that I've spent $400 on my daughter's dorm room decor, her birthday just decided to roll around (september 25, the old "18" year old birthday and I forgot!), and I decided she needed a smoothie maker for her dorm "apartment"...another $50...so she could make those nutritious smoothies with fresh fruit and yogurt for herself and her dorm mates. Turns out her older bro calls me to scream.."What are you crazy, mom? She'll only make margaritas!" "Not my daughter!" says I. Just to call her and to confirm.....she quickly and ebulliently yells...."Thanks, mom! We love the smoothie maker!!!! Perfect for our "Mexican Fiesta" party we are having in the apt. this weekend with....Ben, Jack, Fred, Sam, Carl, etc......" I could have died. How come her bro of 24 years has the wisdom of the ages.</p>
<p>Funny sgviovinv1!!! I think the bro just has the memory of a 24 yr old...he knows what HE would have done with the smoothie machine!</p>
<p>Your posts, so funny. Wife gets a kick. </p>
<p>Negative point about apts-when it gets cold and when the kids need to work in a group, on campus, the walk is a long walk. </p>
<p>So on your visit, did your D use the blender to help you commensarate the Elections. No wonder her roomate is looking for someone more of her own pious persuasion. </p>
<p>Glad we have a son. Don't think he spent more than $10 on his rooms. His first and soph roommates live relatively close (within 300 miles of Pittsburgh) and periodically had use of a car. He did however took a large tape despenser with him (weighs 2#) and then brought it home for Xmas! I wondered why his luggage was so heavy for coming home just for the holiday. And to think of the added JP fuel cost.</p>
<p>well i'm a college freshman, so i had to add my two cents.</p>
<p>my computer was about $1300. including accessories it's probably closer to 1400, but most of that was paid for by my grandparents as my graduation gift.</p>
<p>on other dorm stuff (bedding, towels, shelves, coffee pot, brita filter, lamps, etc) we spent between $200-300</p>
<p>i bought my own decorations, probably spent about $30 on that. </p>
<p>mom also took me out to buy some new clothes for the start of school, that was about $100.</p>
<p>and then i paid nearly $300 for books for the first quarter.</p>
<p>so there ya go.</p>
<p>Kewkiekid: How in the world could you decorate your dorm room on $30? PLEEEEEZ let me where you shopped!!!! And new clothes for the school year for $100? What did you buy, several pairs of socks? My D's computer cost $2200 (IBM laptop) and then there was the case.....just in case.</p>
<p>Itstoomuch: That is a rip about the tape dispenser!!!! The oldest son...very very techie but ended up at Harvard because I thought they could beat it out of him..he LOVED his silver duct tape....travelled every where with it! He even designed a new pair of silver sandals with it....criss-crossing and around about the instep area as he refused to buy a new pair of sandals once the old ones wore out! I used to be mortified when I went to visit him in Cambridge, marching around Harvard Square with what looked like iridescent silver feet from a distance. You could see him coming and going. So I can truly empathize with the tape fascination!</p>
<p>duct tape is the most useful material on earth. </p>
<p>sgiovinc1: i didn't buy an entire new wardrobe, just some new stuff. Most was from Ross because they have great stuff at cheap prices.</p>
<p>For decorations: one wall is covered with a checkerboard pattern of photos from high school. i have a digital camera so i paid to get actual prints developed. i bought 3 posters from a shop in town. i'm big on collages, so i cut random pictures out of magazines and made a collage on the wall, i have random decorations i acquired for myself at the end of college sponsored events (a paper pineapple from the hawiian night, red white and blue chain thing from an election results party, etc), political signs on the wall (left over from nov. 2), and i made a big calendar on one wall. so it's not the difficult to decorate on little money.</p>
<p>Gotta laugh at the difference between boys and girls on this. When we visited our son, I noticed he had -- in the middle of his cinder block wall -- taped a small square of paper that looked like an old fraternity flyer. Are you going to pledge, I asked. No, he said, and turned the paper around the way he'd meant it to be. On the back of the paper he had written: "Buy Posters". I'd bet money it's still his only decoration.</p>
<p>SAC: Do they still make Day-Glo?</p>
<p>Itstoomuch -- you mean Day-Glo paint? I'm almost afraid to ask what you have in mind...</p>
<p>" On the back of the paper he had written: "Buy Posters". I'd bet money it's still his only decoration."</p>
<p>LOL, Sac... that sounds like something my kid would do!</p>
<p>Mine emailed me a picture someone took of his room. Makes me very happy we didn't spend any money on it. No posters, no pictures. He apparently decorates with laundry (the dirty was here, there and everywhere; the clean was draped over chairs, the bed, door knobs and hanging from the window sill 'drying' so he says). He was in the process of doing something with a bunch of old computers he got for free and was building a place to put them. And of course there were the books and papers and . . . about then I quit looking.</p>
<p>"It ain't broke, it just lacks duct tape." Recently we used duct tape to repair a teammate's soccer shoe that was basically cleats and shoestrings. I was SO proud to be the only mom who had some in the car.</p>
<p>My son carpets with dirty laundry, as well. He just hasn't hung it on the wall yet -- as far as I know.</p>
<p>Sac, just wait. And this puts the lie to the rumor that 'tech geeks' aren't artistically creative.</p>
<p>Do you remember the painted nude?</p>
<p>Let me guess? A new use for DAY-GLO?</p>
<p>It was my first poster and decorated the closet door. She was a reclining nude, beautiful in natural light, awesome in blacklight. (Day-glo was the ink-paint used on the poster).</p>
<p>My second poster was Barbarella, in a negligee. Still in love with her, and my wife knows it.</p>
<p>My third poster was a cloth flag of a picture taken from Apollo 11 (?) of Earth. "Blue Marble," ordered from the Whole Earth Catalog.</p>
<p>That was the extent of my decoration for 2 years.</p>
<p>Sgiovinc1: uc_benz was a lot of fun. But I'm also very much afraid. Pray for us all. Pray that college will open up their minds.</p>