<p>Daughter and roommates use marker boards whenever they aren’t in the room to keep tabs on each other - i.e. jogging or studying at the library, etc. I believe they view it as a safety measure somewhat and a convenience somewhat. I notice that my daughter checks the boards when she enters her room to see where the roommates are. I’ve seen her scribble an “out with mom for dinner” on her own board."</p>
<p>^D draws chem and bio structures on hers!</p>
<p><<yeah, the=“” idea=“” of=“” an=“” iron=“” crossed=“” my=“” mind=“” only=“” very=“” briefly.=“”>></yeah,></p>
<p>Ah, I laughed at that one. Somehow 17 years ago we managed to move crosscountry with 2 irons and no ironing board. Perhaps I had intended to buy a nicer one at the new house. Once in a while my kids will kid me and point to an iron in the store and say, “hey Mom - what is that thing?” </p>
<p>Yea, I think a college student can survive without an iron. But drycleaner shirt pressing is probably a good idea for interview clothes etc.</p>
<p>i used mine for my japanese class.</p>
<p>I had about 8 big towels and about errrr40-60ish washcloths(i have a skin condition, so i can’t use the sameone twice, yes i could have done them more often however due to bad knees and class times i couldn’t)? i was in a single plus bath so i had room and it was all in a over the tolilte rack thing.</p>
<p>I did not use the laundry ditergent for dark colors, or fabric sofener… yeah… to much to haul down ><</p>
<p>I did not use the paper shredder my mom insisted on having, she now uses it instead.</p>
<p>I rotated my sheets every 2ish weeks (skin condition makes arms bleed sometimes ><)</p>
<p>tool kit was used on the evil gatoraide bottles that wouldn’t open…</p>
<p>i used to drink alot of tea at home, well… it was to much of a pain to deal with in dorm.</p>
<p>A must have would be the brita water pitcher, school on hard well water is nasty.</p>
<p>Bleach was adored, i cleaned often.</p>
<p>Didn’t use desk calender, wasn’t worth it (even though i used one for the past 3 years)</p>
<p>Didn’t use the desk, it was easier to sit on the bed.</p>
<p>Dvd player was seldom used except when i was sick, same goes for dvds.</p>
<p>Video games were played weekly.</p>
<p>Brought extra plates (mom insisted on glass) glade i did one busted one night when i went to put up left overs from dinner, what a mess.</p>
<p>The second fan, it died before its life began.</p>
<p>vitamins, i tend to avoid all pills, mom has to get on my case to take antibiotic for skin problems.</p>
<p>V8 wasn’t drank</p>
<p>command strips weren’t worth it as they wouldn’t stick on brick.</p>
<p>Binders were used occasionally.</p>
<p>I’ll add more as i think of it…</p>
<p>Command strips are a big necessity if you have sheetrock walls, but they don’t stick on cinder block. My kids used them for everything from towel holders to jewerly and belt holders. They even used the small ones to hang framed pictures.</p>
<p>Marker boards were definitely used in D’s suite. Lots of creative drawings from friends and suitemates. </p>
<p>Still laughing about the iron- my husband is the only one in the family who irons. Since he wasn’t going to college, probably a good idea not to send one.</p>
<p>I really didn’t know whether or not to send the iron with S, but he did use it once or twice a term, and a whole lot in the fall of senior year to iron dress shirts for interviews. I will probably buy one for D for special occasion clothes. I’m not sure about the practicality of the drying rack, though. We’re a little lax at home about putting delicate items in the dryer (I usually hang delicates unless I’m really busy), but here at home I can control the dryer’s heat setting if I need to machine dry underwear. How are the dorm dryers these days? Will they damage elastic underwear? When I went to college they were awful.</p>
<p>I am still undecided about sending a printer. S did not use his at all, but at his school he was required to put a certain dollar sum (around $200 I believe) into a campus printing account so he always printed his things using that system.</p>
<p>S1 has a big white board which he uses when helping other folks with math problem sets. Also uses it when he’s playing around with his own research.</p>
<p>bumpity bump. great thread :)</p>
<p>Our dryers had three settings that made utterly no sense to me and I never had any idea what to pick that wouldn’t shrink my clothes, and I am usually REALLY good at laundry-- I am the stain removal master. I had to hang everything except towels, pajama shorts, underwear, and tshirts I didn’t care too much about. Nothing else consistently came out of the dryer safe. Last year I had an extra closet to hang wet clothes in, this year I’ll need a drying rack. Not sure what kind to get.</p>
<p>Really? Ours had one, and a diffrent timer.</p>
<p>I ain’t complainin though, we get ‘free’ laundry at my school.</p>
<p>D1 never took any of the big bottle of vitamin pills I bought her.</p>
<p>She also never used a nifty small tool kit, that had the basics in wrenches, hammer, and screw drivers, that I bought her. But she said she still got good use out of it, because the boys in her dorm would borrow it from time to time.</p>
<p>Could you all please write my mom and tell her I’m not the only one that does laundry as little as I can manage while still wearing clean clothes? She seems convinced it’s totally my unique personal deficit, and it causes her endless stress to know that there are such things as dirty clothes for more than a day. 
Of course, when visits my older brother and his girlfriend in their house, she goes into the same laundry/cleaning frenzy, so I don’t feel to bad. My brother and I clearly missed out on the “neat” gene.</p>
<p>Loved my dustbuster for all four years. Used my TV rarely but loved having it when I did. Would have used my printer a lot if it could go more than 3 weeks without malfunctioning. Never used my desk lamp or my microwave.</p>
<p>^^D1’s roommate never did laundry in her entire four years at college. She had more than a hundred underwear sets and lots of other clothes too so that she could wear clean clothes. Every few months either her mother would come for a visit and do the laundry or the girl would pack up the laundry and take or ship it home for her mother to wash there. All the other girls thought both the girl and her mother were absurd.</p>
<p>Is there any laundry service for college students ?
Someone pick up the dirty clothes once a week, wash and fold then return to student next week?</p>
<p>you wish, there isn’t. You’re own your own. Side note: washing machines are almost impossible to comeby.</p>
<p>Davidson College does students’ laundry.</p>
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<p>I think the big reason this isn’t worth having a college offer this today is that kid’s clothes are different than they were back in the '50’s. If you put my daughter’s pretty little knit tops into a commercial dryer - total loss of clothes by the third time through. A 50’s load of sheets, button-down shirts, khaki pants and towels washed and folded - wow, what a time shift…</p>
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<p>I smell a business opportunity for some enterprising, cash-strapped, student! 
Seriously, why is laundry such a big problem? Like grocery shopping, it’s a once a week event for my kid, generally early morning or late at night, 1-2 loads can be done at the same time. She takes a book or iPod and studies or hangs out in the lounge nearby or just sets the alarm on her cell phone if she’s going back up to her room. One school she applied to actually had a link on their website so you could see which washers/dryers were not running! I think that laundry is the great equalizer…everyone hates it and it has to be done!</p>
<p>Start them on the track of being responsible for doing some laundry at home and it won’t be such a big deal when they go to school.</p>