<p>On this site somewhere is a list of things NOT used freshman year by our sons, discovered and posted here by dismayed and usually grossed-out moms on move-out day. Very funny.</p>
<p>Not all dorm beds can be lofted to the same heights. Riverside (and probably others) have pretty low beds, even on the highest setting - you definitely can’t fit a desk under there, like you can at Ridgecrest. Also, there is loads of space in the rooms - the ceilings are enormously high. The individual specs about beds can be found on the UA Housing website “Room Details” for each particular dorm: [Student</a> Affairs | Housing & Residential Communities](<a href=“http://housing.ua.edu/halls/riverside/]Student”>Riverside - Housing and Residential Communities)</p>
<p>^ I’m ok if I find he didn’t use the condoms. I just don’t want to find used condoms… :eek:</p>
<p>I would much rather find a used condom than know that my son, even once, didn’t use one.</p>
<p>I know we joke about many things on here - and that the majority of the children of parents on here do not engage in risky behavior - but the fact is that use of condoms is nothing to joke about.</p>
<p>It’s not an easy to talk to our kids about but it’s so vitally important. Even in today’s technology rampant world there is so much misinformation spread between our kids. It’s important we share correct information with them. </p>
<p>It’s also important to know that condoms are not as easy to obtain at UA as they are in some other schools. You can’t get them st the student health center and there are no vending machines on campus.Urge your sons and daughters to be prepared if the situation should arise.</p>
<p>Class2012Mom: thanks for posting the link to my list. It needs updating, but hopefully it will provide a starting point.</p>
<p>^^^^We just want our DS coming home with a Grand experience not a Grandchild.</p>
<p>^^ I did not mean to imply IN ANY WAY that my S would NOT use a condom when a situation required one…what I said is I will not be at all disappointed to find that none of them were used…because no situations arose. Jeez…</p>
<p>aeromom, I do not think that 2012Mom was implying that your son wouldn’t take the proper precautions. She was the one who originally posted that condoms were not as readily available at UA as they could be. She simply feels very strongly about condom usage. (Very strongly!) This I know, because last year before move-in, she ordered a thousand condoms for the dorm. (Either a big advocate, or an even bigger optimist! 
)</p>
<p>I was just telling someone the other day all my S will need are clothes, bedding and food and shower items… will be quite easy…</p>
<p>^^ I just do not want to leave the impression with anyone that I am joking about using (or not using) condoms. To be clear. The sentence I wrote “I’m ok if I find he didn’t use the condoms,” can be interpreted two ways…I see that now…and I want 2012Mom to understand the way I intended it. I was joking about finding icky things at move-out (and not liking that very much…) I’m sure I will probably find icky things. I’ve already been warned about the toilet area and apparent non-use of the toilet scrubbing brush…</p>
<p>Thought of two other things that are handy for guys for laundry.
- Shout’s color-catching sheets that you put in and it ‘grabs’ the excess dyes from the wash water, because guys don’t (usually) know how to sort dirty laundry into separate loads.
- Detergent “pods”. Early on, I noticed some heavy use on the bamacash card to cover numerous loads of laundry. I was thrilled with this level of cleanliness, until S admitted he was actually doing suite-mate’s laundry as well as his own in exchange for said pods. WHAT? I promptly bought S some of his very own. They are more expensive than liquids/powders, but not nearly as expensive as doing other people’s laundry in exchange for them!</p>
<p>We hadn’t used either of these products at home before, so they were unfamiliar to both of us.</p>
<p>Woolite’s Dry Cleaning sheets are uber great for sweaters, slacks, etc. that shouldn’t go in the regular wash. You just throw them in with up to five items in the dryer and tumble for twenty minutes. If you take them out immediately upon cycle end, they look great. No trips to dry cleaners.</p>
<p>^^ Good to know. DD has a good number of dry clean only tops and skirts (thank you Anthropologie!) and I have been wondering how she is going to manage to maintain them properly. Her innate lazy gene (she didn’t get it from me) suggests trips to a dry cleaners would be few and far between…</p>
<p>These Woollite sheets are sooooooo great, that we have actually been focused on buying silk tops/blouses (Madewell, J Crew, etc) and dresses because they are maintained so easily. Unlike cotton which shrinks and wrinkles.</p>
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<p>I seem to remember it being a 500 pack. I actually had 1000 condoms shipped to me by a very popular condom manufacturer to distribute on campus. The response from students has been excellent.</p>
<p>As for laundry supplies, go to the store and have them pick out whichever kind(s) they will use.</p>
<p>I also highly suggest packing some of their favorite food products which are either not sold or not easily obtainable in Tuscaloosa.</p>
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<p>It WAS only a 500 pack! NRDMOM has a tendency to exaggerate!</p>
<p>SEA-Tide, that was such a deal you posted - how could I pass it up? Too bad my order was cancelled. 
Would have LOVED to see the looks on the boys’ faces when they opened that roomie gift…</p>
<p>As the mother of a daughter, I am very happy to hear that your boys (with the encouragement of their fine mothers) are being so mature/responsible.</p>
<p>So, have BEDBUGS been an issue at BAMA (yet?)</p>
<p>With the use of the dorms for visitors and short-term residents, it is possible…</p>
<p>I haven’t heard of bedbugs being an issue, but just to be safe because bedbugs are one of my biggest fears, we did use a bedbug encasement for my older d’s mattress in Lakeside. (Didn’t bother at East Edge this year because the matresses were brand new.)</p>
<p>I haven’t heard any reports of bed bugs at UA. FWIW, the mattresses have blue plastic covers instead of normal fabric ones.</p>