<p>Never used (I use it now) small ironing board and fold up step stool.</p>
<p>D never ironed at home - why did I think she would at school? And as far as the stool, they just used a desk chair to stand on…</p>
<p>My dd took 2 bath towels and it was fine. We don’t wash towels every day at our house, so she didn’t have any expectation of a fresh towel every day. We figure we only use them when we are just out of the shower, and we each have our own. I think if she had to store 8 bath towels in her dorm room, she would have no room for clothes!</p>
<p>Checkers–you may want to rethink the 8 bath towels. It’s all very well to use a new towel every day at home (nice of you to do all that laundry!) or in a hotel where they are available so you use them, but do you <em>really</em> think he’ll use a new one every day if HE has to wash them?</p>
<p>I’m not going to pore over my son’s account to see if he has spent X dollars on laundry. I figure it’s his problem now. He’ll have 2 nice fluffy towels, and if they get dirty or moldy, he can conclude that it’s time to wash them.</p>
<p>checkers – agree with other posters – 8 towels is not necessary. Sent both of my sons to college with 2 towels and that worked fine. Maybe you have a different standard of cleanliness than we do, though, because we don’t use a clean towel each day at home either. Plus, there is no way that either of them would have had room in their dorm rooms for 8 towels!</p>
<p>I have 5 big towls and a ton of washcloths <//////<</p>
<p>I use the big ones 4-5 times each, depending of course.</p>
<p>Washcloths on the other hand, i need alot of. I have a very finicky skin condition and i have to have a new on each time.</p>
<p>My vote is for 2 sets of sheets and 2 sets of towels - so kid should always have one clean one available. My son had swine flu his first week of college last year - and the second set of sheets came in handy - the first day he felt a little bit better - he took a shower and put the clean sheets on the bed and said that was when he knew he was going to make it. He did not have the strength at that point to do laundry - so the second set of sheets and towels was a must-have.</p>
<p>mommusic-I am hoping going to college and having to wash her own towels will cure my d of “needing” a new towel for every shower. I know that is when I was cured of that “need”!!</p>
<p>Haha. I sent my son with cleanser, Simple Green cleaining solution, rags, and dusting cloths. As of parents’ weekend, they were all unopened!</p>
<p>My D just got back from camp, which is a pretty good trial run for college. She determined that 2 towels per week were fine. So, as long as she remembers to do laundry - she’ll be fine. She also recommended thin towels that dry quickly, and a hook or towel rack to hang them on.</p>
<p>D coordinated really well with roommate so there wasn’t any duplication. I did over buy towels and she ended up not even taking all of the ones we bought. She didn’t use much from the first aid kit, but I would still send it.</p>
<p>got to bump this in the hopes more will contribute. Ok…so we have dealt with linens…any advice about alarm clocks that can wake the dead…phone alarm and Ihome have proved how useless they are to wake my S. Even his girlfriend gave him a new alarm clock for college in the hopes he won’t miss too many classes…did any kid come home with a foolproof method to wake up?</p>
<p>YES! The sonic bomb alarm clock with bed shaker. I bought it for my fiance after his irresponsibility about waking up in the morning nearly led us to break up. lol. He’d overslept, and in his rush to get out the door for an exam he fell down the stairs, broke his hand, and injured his back. After sleeping through his first doctors appointment to find out about the back pain, he finally made it to the doctor and was prescribed physical therapy because he was not only injured but apparently had scoliosis. But if you miss more than two appointments of the physical therapy they kick you out of the program. He slept through two and after I made him call and sob into the phone until they took him back, he slept through another one. This clock solved all his problems. He is my backup wake up call now!</p>
<p>[Amazon.com:</a> Sonic Boom SBB500ss Sonic Bomb Loud Plus Vibrating Alarm Clock: Health & Personal…](<a href=“http://www.amazon.com/Sonic-SBB500ss-Vibrating-Alarm-Clock/dp/B000OOWZUK/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=hpc&qid=1279941758&sr=8-1]Amazon.com:”>http://www.amazon.com/Sonic-SBB500ss-Vibrating-Alarm-Clock/dp/B000OOWZUK/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=hpc&qid=1279941758&sr=8-1)</p>
<p>If THAT doesn’t work, putting an alarm clock in a big cooking pot will make it even louder, but at that point I think you’re risking getting tossed out of the dorms. The Sonic Bomb is pretty efficient by itself.</p>
<p>I sent one of those with one of my kids to college. It came back, in a box. Never opened.</p>
<p>I guess I should list it on ebay, or something. I thought it was a genius idea.</p>
<p>I definitely wouldn’t use it, when I stay with my fiance I use my own alarm and just wake him up myself because it startles me so much I am at risk of fainting and falling back asleep, but it doesn’t seem to bother him at all. And it actually has a cool feature in that, if the bed shaker alone will wake you up, you can use that without the alarm so you don’t wake your roommate.</p>
<p>I haven’t read the entire thread, so pardon me if I repeat.</p>
<p>I stocked D up with plastic plates, cups and utensils, and paper towels – never used. What she did use was real coffee mugs and a couple of soup bowls (for microwave soup and mac & cheese), and she had a couple of water bottles and go-mugs that she used daily.</p>
<p>She never opened the Apples-2-Apples game that I gave her as a room-warming gift. We’ve used it alot this summer, though.</p>
<p>The comforter stayed in the closet. She said the room was always too warm, and the blanket was sufficient.</p>
<p>OTOH, she was really glad to have: Earplugs, a mini-medicine chest, a lapdesk, a 3-hole punch, a desk-drawer organizer, a towel drying rack, her own printer, a small rug next to her bed, a full-length mirror, an oscillating fan, and a toolkit.</p>
<p>I’m all over the sonic boom clock. THank you! I did buy an old fashioned looking clock with a duck on the face…it quacks just like a duck, and loudly! IT cost$3 at a jumble sale but I worry it will annoy the roomate. The sonic boom sounds like it may work soundlessly with the bed moving …worth a try.</p>
<p>How about some type of safe or lockable box? Are those used?</p>
<p>I didn’t use them. I figured it was more efficient to just hide valuables. It’s not worth it to buy something that can just be walked off with anyway and may be more difficult to hide.</p>
<p>Never used the ice cube trays…she preferred to keep a slim sized Brita pitcher with cold water in her fridge. Just cooled a few drinks at a time.</p>
<p>Didn’t need all the blankets, or a comforter…her room was a sauna</p>
<p>Had liquid detergent/dryer sheets but is switching to the all-in-one sheets for next year</p>
<p>Nice to have…wonder hangers, 3M hooks and picture tape, over the door hook for her bunk ladder to dry towels and sweaters on hangers, butterfly chair, large carpet, shoe bins (would never sort shoes into the pocket style holders!), hanging fabric shelves for tshirts/sweatshirts, cheap floor mirror for that full-length check, electric broom to vacuum hair (both she and roomie had long locks)…</p>
<p>My mother wanted to get my son a crockpot. He’ll be a freshman, living in a dorm room, he’ll be on a full meal plan and his idea of “cooking” is peanut butter and nutella on wheat bread. I was able to talk her out of it, but she did get him a microwave omelet maker. He’ll raid the vending machine before he’ll crack open a few eggs and stick them in the microwave – that’s assuming he has eggs in the first place.</p>