<p>Current students and parents, or recent grads and their parents, can you download any helpful insider knowledge you’ve accumulated? I’ll start this off with a few specific questions:</p>
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<li><p>Refrigerator: What’s the best way to proceed here?
Do most people rent the micro-fridge? I remember from our tour that there’s a spot in the dorm room that would accommodate a half-sized fridge. It seems like there’s a microwave in the lounge and maybe purchasing a half-sized fridge would be a better value, since the micro-fridge costs $200/year. But if it’s a pain to carry in/carry out/install/etc, and if the lounge microwave is often in-use, non-functional, or gross, maybe the rental is worth it?</p></li>
<li><p>Under-bed storage: Is there room under the bed for a suitcase, an under-bed storage container, or similar? Would bed risers (the little plastic ones that raise the bed just a few inches) be of any use? My daughter’s heard that lofting the bed isn’t a great idea because it puts the desk (beneath) in full shadow, which isn’t great.</p></li>
<li><p>Small appliances: What’s permitted in the dorm rooms? My daughter wants to bring an electric tea kettle. Can kids have these? Coffee makers? Toasters? </p></li>
<li><p>Lighting: What’s provided? I assume she’ll need her own desk lamp, but what about floor lamps, bedside lamps? (Is there a bedside table anyway, or would the desk lamp double as a bedside lamp?)</p></li>
<li><p>Bathroom storage: In my dorm at college, we had cubbies where we could hang a towel and store our shampoo. Do the dorm bathrooms have a place to keep stuff, or is this like summer camp where she’ll have to bring her toiletries in and out of the bathroom in a tote?</p></li>
<li><p>Books/files storage: I expect there’s a bookcase or two in the dorm room? Would a desk-top book rack be of use? Do the desks have file drawers? </p></li>
<li><p>Beds: I know that they take standard-sized, not extra-long, twin sheets, but maybe not everyone reading this thread knows that. Is a mattress topper of some kind needed for comfort? </p></li>
<li><p>Clothing storage: Any tips, tricks, or tools to maximize the use of space? Hanging shoe bag thingies, extra plastic drawer contraptions, or whatever? My daughter’s not a clothes horse and will be in a double, so this may not be the most important issue for her but I’m sure it’s important to a lot of people.</p></li>
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<p>What other things are essentials in the dorm? I see myself repeatedly slapping my forehead and exclaiming “D’oh!” as I realize we forgot the wastebasket, laundry hamper, laundry baskets, tool kit, blah blah blah.</p>
<ol>
<li>Renting is the most convenient, but it’s cheaper to buy and re-use every year–but then you have to deal with storage/transport at the end of the year. D bought a used refrigerator very cheap, then had to abandon it in the room because it was too costly to store. She never had need for a microwave.
<ol>
<li>There’s room under the beds, and you can use risers, but for those who are tripled, of course the bunk bed can’t be lifted, and the occupant of the top bunk has no “under”.</li>
</ol></li>
<li>I don’t think small appliances are allowed for safety reasons. (The dorm contract must cover this?) </li>
<li>Hmmm, I don’t recall any lamps. D brought a desk lamp–didn’t have surface space for anything else, though I guess it would have been possible to use a floor lamp. There aren’t an abundance of outlets.</li>
<li>No cubbies in the communal bathrooms.</li>
<li>Each occupant gets a small bookcase. No file drawers. Again. surface space is at a premium, so wait till she arrives before deciding on anything to sit on top of the bookcase or desk.</li>
<li>Good point about the standard size beds–it should also be be noted that Nebraska Hall (for upperclassman) has double beds–totally senseless, since the rooms are tiny, and of course this requires all new bedding. D never used a topper, but I think she could sleep standing up.</li>
<li>D uses hanging contraptions for shoes and jewelry. There’s really no room for extra storage pieces.
The laundry hamper should serve as a laundry basket–no room for both. D uses a canvas hamper with handles that can easily carried to the laundry room.
I made D bring a stick vac so the carpet wouldn’t be totally gross all the time. No idea is she ever uses it.
Bring a foldable rack for items that can’t go into the drier–it seems like half of D’s clothes say “dry flat”. (Good item to share with roomie.)
Take a look at the dorm’s room floor plans on the AU website to get an idea of what extra items can or can’t be squeezed into a room.
That’s all that comes to mind now–will post again if I think of anything else. Good luck!</li>
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<p>Thanks! Keep the suggestions coming. We are local and could store a refrigerator, so storage itself wouldn’t be a big concern for us. But schlepping might be.</p>
<p>I agree that looks like the bookcase. I think standard size file folders will fit in those plastic milk crates that are sold everywhere, and I guess one of those could sit on top of the bookcase, but I think your daughter might be a minority of one if she maintains a file system at college!</p>
<p>Looking at the floor plan, I see that freshman year my D and her roommate moved the furniture so the beds were parallel (one across the window) and the desks were in an “L” configuration. between them. I don’t think it made the place roomier, but they liked it better. The built-in closet/drawer is actually adequate for normal amounts of clothing–but it wasn’t so great when D was tripled and two units had to be split three ways–to say nothing of squeezing an extra desk, chair and bookcase in the room. Thinking back, I don’t even know how they did the latter. Be very glad your daughter is in a double. I think the triples stink, particularly for the person in the upper bunk, who can’t even toss her stuff on her bed when she comes in or sit on her bed with friends to chat.</p>
<p>There’s a Container Store (lots of clever storage stuff) and an Office Depot in Tenleytown, so even if you forget something, it’s easy enough to run out and pick it up.</p>
<p>We bought my D’s fridge at Walmart online. It was larger than the microfridge and had a small separate freezer. It was cheaper than renting and we had it shipped to school. I thought I would have to spend move in day checking to see where large packages were stored for pick up, but it was delivered to her room. We did not order it until we had a room assignment, so that helped. She never voiced a need for a microwave other than the lounge. She stored it in a friends apt over summer, used it sophomore year and for Jr year, she is moving into an apt, but D2 will be an entering freshman at her U so will use it there.
My D was not tripled either year, but did not choose to loft beds.
She brought a desk lamp and a lamp that could clamp onto a bed frame, but not sure if she needed that.
We purchased a set of rolling drawers (4 drawers) that she and roommate could easily move around as the tried diff furniture configurations. At one point it served as nightstand, in other set up, she put it in the wardrobe. It was perfect for girl junk (hair stuff, make up) or sock/underwear freeing up other drawer space.
For underbed storage we purchases several flat plastic bins, some with wheels that could hold bulky extra sheets, towels or even shoes etc.<br>
For a hamper we purchased a mesh pop up hamper that was easy to carry with handles, could fold flat for move in/out.
We purchased a dust buster type mini hand held vac and it got a lot of using/sharing between rooms/friends as a quick clean up etc to the point where it finally died toward end of freshman year.
D and roommate shared the use of the fridge (not the cost), a printer (roommate brought) an over the door hanging towel bar thing to dry towels, the dust buster and fairy lights (I call them Christmas lights, but not theses girls). </p>
<p>I recommend several over the door hooks for robes, purses, scarves etc. </p>
<p>We took the girls to the container store in Tenley town the second day after the girls had gotten settled and assesed the room with all their stuff unpacked. The really only need a few odds/ends though her room mate was from the west coast and needed a few more things than my D did.
There is room to store larger luggage. I think the RA has the key to that because when I went to pick her up she was looking for the RA to get her larger rolling suitcase. She kept a weekend size duffel in her room for trips home to friends etc during the school year.</p>
<p>You can put over-the-door hooks up without impeding the ability of the door to close? That’s good to know! I have a shoe organizer hanging on the back of our mud room door and the door doesn’t close.</p>
I think it depends on the thickness of the hook, plus how "tight’ the door hangs in the frame. The same hooks that worked fine in my D’s dorm wouldn’t allow the door to shut fully in her bedroom at home. Speaking of shoe organizers, some kids hang those either inside or outside their closet door (usually girls) to corral all the miscellaneous stuff, belts, scarfs, etc.</p>
<p>Something my boys did is buy one of the sweater hanger bags to hang in the closet…they would then fold their jeans on the shelves. Same for bulky sweaters and sweatshirts. The ones they purchased had bags on the outside where they stored belts and gloves andand ties for dressy occasions.</p>
<p>Another thing that worked was to buy a couple of bags of identical socks, so that when the kid actually gets around to doing laundry socks don’t need to be matched up…they could just be thrown in a drawer and in the morning any 2 would do.</p>
<p>Here’s another room organizing tip: D stuck large commando hooks on the outside of the closet doors for handtowels, accessories, etc. Actually, you can stick (and remove) commando hooks on the cinder block walls also.</p>
<p>Do you know what dorm your daughter is going to be in, and if she is in a double or a triple?</p>
<p>A few things we found useful:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>AT bb&B we found a great contraption that went at one end of the bed against the wall that made a storage shelf above the bed…my son really liked it.</p></li>
<li><p>Another thing he really liked was one of those folding tables that folded flat like an ironing board and had a surface about half the size of a card table–he slid it between his bed and the wall when not using it but it was nice to have when he absolutely had to iron something, or when they had friends over and wanted a surface to serve snacks onetc.</p></li>
<li><p>A good idea to stretch storage space is to get a hanging sweater bag…my son folded his jeans and other casual pants and was able to save a lot of room that way.</p></li>
<li><p>The mattresses are gross. We encased my son’s mattress in a plastic cover, then put on a foam pad (2") and then a featherbed, and then a cotton mattress pad to hold it all together under a fitted sheet. My son just threw a washable cotton quilt over that…he hates top sheets. For colder weather, he had a cozy polarfleece blanket that he could layer with the quilt if he wanted.</p></li>
<li><p>For showering, he had one of those caddies with drainage holes on the bottom. No space to store in the communal bathroom. Definitely used shower sandals. The staff does make efforts to keep the common areas clean, but there are a lot of people in there!</p></li>
<li><p>Do not buy a mesh wastebasket…it’s a real mess if someone throws an almost empty coffee cup or can of pop in it. Even with a plastic trashcan, bags to line it are good. We taught my son to keep the box of can liners in the bottom of the can so he would remember to use them…but once they ran out I don’t think he ever bought a new box.</p></li>
<li><p>Our son had a lamp that went on the shelf we bought for over his bed and also a skinny stick type floor lamp. Make sure you buy an extra lightbulb or two for whatever lamps you buy…that is the type of thing that is hard to buy when you are on campus.</p></li>
<li><p>We found that putting a small cloth box in a convenient spot was a great organizing tool for my son…it was where he always put his keys, wallet, phone…and anything he did not want to lose, like tickets to a concert etc</p></li>
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<p>MommaJ, “absolutely had to iron something” means that the suit was dumped on the floor of the closet after the last wearing, he never took it to the cleaners, and oooopppppssss…he needs to wear it TODAY for a presentation in class…</p>
<p>The good thing is I think that he has learned how much of a pain ironing is, and that is much less painful to just hang up his clothes properly, at least as far as dress clothes go…</p>
<p>First year, my D was in Letts and felt that the built-in storage was plenty. Next year, she got moved to Roper, with no built-in storage. She bought plastic bins to slide under the bed and a set of plastic drawers. A clip on light is good if you like to read in bed. Also, it is a good idea to communicate with roommate(s) to figure out who will bring the fridge and the printer. You don’t need or have the room for two. She always borrowed a vacuum and iron, if needed.</p>
<p>My D and her roomie rented a combo fridge/microwave last year for Roper and I guess there was plenty of room (I never saw the room). D said it was slightly bigger than her freshman year room in Letts.</p>
<p>One tip we got from looking at the model dorm room setup at orientation was to flip the bed frame upside-down. The beds are on wooden frames which have a bit of “headboard” and “footboard.” If you flip the bed frame upside-down, that lifts the bed an extra several inches off the ground. Not like a loft, but more like a bed you’d see in a colonial home, where you’d need a small footstool to climb up into it. I am not sure I’d like that (it would be hard to climb in and out of bed!) but it does create a nice chunk of under-bed storage space.</p>
<p>I also noted that each resident has a dresser top with mirror (at least in Anderson), and the dresser top looks big enough to accommodate something like one of those stacks of plastic drawers about the size of a shoe box, for things like a first aid kit, sewing kit, makeup, etc.</p>
<p>I made my first swing through BB&B tonight, and picked up that shelf contraption that fits over the head of the bed, a pop-up hamper that turns sideways to become a laundry basket, a thingamajig that hangs off the side of the bed, kind of like a saddle bag, to hold book/glasses/water bottle/Kindle or whatever. I didn’t have time to examine everything they had available. I’m not sure what type of over-the-door hooks, racks, bars, etc., will be best so I’m holding off for the moment. My daughter has no interest in this stuff so I get the fun of figuring it all out!</p>
<p>Have fun, DP! My boys all had somewhat less than zero interest in shopping for their dorm stuff, so I went to town. I told them in advance that I wanted the special privilege of making up their beds. So, when I was done making up the bed, my son found that he had a “saddlebag”…and used it. And he loved the shelf contraption…He would have said “no” to any of these things if he had been asked. I also bought one of those multi plug strips with the surge protector and an extra long cord so he could plug in stuff he kept on that high shelf (like his back up alarm clock.)</p>
<p>A few additional thoughts…if you buy your student a lamp or two, make sure you get an extra bulb or two. That is the kind of thing hard to find on campus, especially if the lamp uses an unusual bulb.</p>
<p>My S3 at AU had a stick lamp with an adjustable neck that he could fit in the corner behind his bed…which is where he did a majority of his heavy reading.</p>
<p>I also bought my son an opaque plastic case that fit in a desk drawer as a place for him to put things that he did not want to lose…like concert tickets and his passport. I warned him about leaving things like those in plain sight. Kids won’t use safes, and they don’t use laptop locks either. But at least they understand not to leave important things right out in the open. Giving them one place to put these things means they won’t haphazardly put things away in a “safe” place and never find it again til the end of the year.</p>
<p>Did he not use that overhead lockable storage cabinet?
I probably wouldn’t have gotten much use out of it myself (I’m too short) but my daughter is 5’7" and should have no trouble.</p>
<p>There was a rash of laptop thefts in Hughes last year so I’m hoping I can persuade my daughter to use the laptop lock. Plus, I think I’m going to subscribe her to a cloud backup service, because you can replace the laptop, but you can’t replace the 75% written term paper that was on the hard drive!</p>