For the '10s: What did you send to college with your child that was never used?

<p>I’m not going to send hangers when S goes to college. He doesn’t get how they work.</p>

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<p>Ditto all the other cool organizational devices I purchased. Just what does your SAT score need to be before you figure out how to hang your robe on the big 3M hook instead of throwing it on the floor?</p>

<p>^^^ DS is pretty good about hanging up clothes (I can thank the band for that) -but he still doesn’t “get” what a towel rack is for!!!</p>

<p>Daughter absolutely used her folding clothes drying rack, as did the other two girls in her room, and a folding a-frame shelf system I bought her from IKEA. Didn’t send her in with a printer, but bought her one by the end of the first month, and had to replace supplies and paper during the school year. She had a lofted bed so (do you get the idea she’s a bit of a princess) I had to purchase her a good sized stepladder to climb up there. She said she didn’t need a rubbermaid caddy for her shower supplies, but I insisted. First trip to visit she hit us up to buy her two more, for her laundry stuff and her dirty dishes.</p>

<p>She used the hell out of her Brita filtered pitcher and her hot water boiler. </p>

<p>What came back? The big armchair pillow (which, btw, she recieved 2 of as graduation gifts) and pleasure reading books.</p>

<p>I guess it pays to have your kid go to college 3000 miles away and travel there by plane. Since it ALL had to fit into several suitcases, nothing was taken that wasn’t used.</p>

<p>Re: a printer…DD wanted one…we did buy one and she used it a lot…it is NOT coming home!!</p>

<p>I just pray she gets rid of some of the things she accumulated in the last four years!!!</p>

<p>Waiting with a hot dinner for S1 to return fromhis freshman year with a suburban chock full of stuff - will let you know what went unused. I can tell you though that he did use that second set of sheets - for togas!</p>

<p>I am surprised more second sets of sheets weren’t used. I spilled something on my sheets in October, being the destructive student that I am, and couldn’t be bothered to wash them until I came home in December-- I would have been in trouble without that second set! :P</p>

<p>Laundry detergent. Just kept sending up 12 packs of socks. I have to believe he washed clothes at some point. Sheets, forget it.</p>

<p>D used her iron but, oddly, not the mini ironing board…idk how that worked, and I don’t want to know either! The phone for her room also went unused (but it was one of our old ones) and the down comforter came home by Christmas (too warm in her room). She took a small rolling cart full of kitchen stuff and everyone on the hall seemed to use it…guess she had the only pepper mill, sharp knives, and vegetable peeler around.</p>

<p>I knew that my son would not iron his clothes at college, so I sent him to school with two spray bottles of Downey wrinkle release spray. They ended up, unused, in the dumpster at the end of the year. I was pleasantly surprised however to see his clothes neatly folded on his bed (rather than tossed in a heap) at move out. I was shocked to see that he has learned to fold his clothes this past year. Sniff…I’m so proud.</p>

<p>Terrific thread! I’m going to bookmark it for use this fall when we bring our son to JMU.</p>

<p>Did anyone provide stamps, paper, envelopes? Did they get used? Or is that too 1900s?</p>

<p>My favorite story from college involves laundry. About six weeks into my freshman year I was in the basement of the dorm, waiting for my clothes to finish drying; this was probably the third or fourth time I was doing my laundry. A guy walked into the room wearing gym shorts – that’s all – and carrying a huge stuffed laundry bag. He crammed the whole bag, clothes still in it, into a washing machine, dumped in half a box of Tide, put his quarters in, started it up, and left. Luckily my stuff was dry by then; I cleared out because I didn’t want to see what was about to happen. I guess he figured he’d come back in an hour and find everything folded neatly on a table.</p>

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Yes, we did, and no, they didn’t. Note that my son started college in '99. Multiply by 10 for current students.</p>

<p>Have the Dad in the family think back to what he used in the dorm. Don’t send anything more than that unless it’s electronics or items replaced by electronics.
One set of sheets, one towel, no “dorm organizers”, no clock or phone, no Swiffer dusters (for real, you think boys are going to use them?) Send one or two old rags for cleaning everything from sinks to bikes. I’d have voted for the Febreeze as an alternative to the Downy wrinkle releaser (probably works the same anyway) but maybe that’s even too much.
Face it, until a girlfriend tells him his room stinks and his towels and such (not even mentioning sheets…) are gross, he’s probably going to be clueless.</p>

<p>An ironing board and iron. He conviced me he needed these for his dress clothes. he does wear those. But neither of these items came out of the box. But really, how could I say no to this request?</p>

<p>jdalu75, we did send stamps & envelopes which were used for scholarship and job renewal paperwork that had to be mailed.</p>

<p>I taught my son to fold a shirt the morning he was leaving for school. Couldn’t help but feel like a failure on many different levels that he couldn’t fold laundry, and that it never crossed my mind that it was something on my to-do list before he left. What else didn’t he know? A mom’s mind wanders in those first few months the kid’s away… Anyway, he went through a box of the 3-in-1 laundry sheets 1st semester. (How many were shared w/ even more clueless boys? I’m guessing quite a few because he came home a few times and always was loaded down with laundry.) </p>

<p>I’ll report back with the untouched tally when he comes home tomorrow – assuming that he won’t take the time to move things from the underbed storage bin to the dumpster.</p>

<p>Dropped my daughter freshman year. She kicked us out of her room once we got the bed made and printer working. Now, 3 years later, we have never picked her up or dropped her off again. Had I know that was the last time I’d see any of that stuff I might have paid more attention…</p>

<p>She’s moving into an apartment in a month. Already thinking about what household items will fit in her car to bring…</p>

<p>I used stamps to send a few post cards but didn’t even realize I had envelopes until they fell out of the desk when we moved my furniture at move out.</p>

<p>Does the wrinkle release spray work? My parents don’t even iron. I’ve been hanging my wrinkled clothes in the bathroom and running the shower to get the wrinkles out, which works but is not convenient.</p>

<p>If your kid is going to a mid-sized town or bigger city, then there’s going to be places they can buy socks, boxers, stamps, envelopes, cold medicine, throat lossage, whatever sort of OTC medicine they need, razors, etc.</p>

<p>I know it’s not what the thread’s about but I saw a few people mention it… Things that I’ve seen be useful for people that are often not brought: calculator (in engineering I don’t know how people decide not to bring a calculator, but they do), electric shaver, pocket knife, spatula (dorm rooms are small, spatulas can reach places without moving furniture), and hair clippers.</p>

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Yes, and like Febreeze in the bargain. You hang the shirt or whatever up, spray it lightly on both sides, use your hands to smooth it out, hang it up until dry. Looks like Mom took care of you.
I wish I had stock in it!</p>

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I couldn’t even get my kids to mail letters when they went to camp and didn’t have cell phones. On the rare occasions they actually mail letters they always end up asking me which corner the stamp goes in!</p>

<p>Speaking of folding shirts, I can’t provide the link but youtube has great videos showing how to fold a t-shirt. The “How to fold a t-shirt in 2 seconds” is the easiest one to follow, but I like the one in Japanese that whizzes through the process best.</p>

<p>Brilliant, mathmom! S2 would never listen to me explain how to fold shirts. (It takes two weeks for him to move a laundry basket upstairs as it is.) If I send him a youtube link, I KNOW he will watch it.</p>

<p>Never used (because S1 forgot about it): medication/first aid kit. Lovingly packed a thermometer, bandaids, antibiotic cream, drugs for colds, coughs, upset stomachs, “sneezles” and “diseasels,” and he totally forgot about it until he opened it when he got to his summer job last year. He has used it this year.</p>

<p>Thanks for the mention of hte Downy wrinkle releaser – S2 wears lots of buttoned shirts and I KNOW he won’t be ironing them or hauling them to the dry cleaner!</p>