I truly appreciate all of the replies! Definitely some good information. Just to explain a little further:
we live 6 hours from her school - so I needed to get her (most) everything she needed in advance.
she will be living in a double room and she is in constant contact with her roomie
the plastic bins we are bringing are to tote her stuff to college. they will be emptied and stored in a storage area provided by the college
the tea kettle is allowed
her bed will not be truly lofted. It will be raised to 24" plus she will be using 6" bed risers
her dresser will fit under her bed
the headboard takes up the least amount of room as it lays flush against the wall. I even re-upholstered it to match her bedding. I have a matching one for her roomie that I will offer to bring at the holiday :)
You an reduce the space a lot with vacuum space bags. Extra towels, sheets, blankets etc shrink down a lot. Two sets max for sheets and towels. Has she considered the temperature of the dorm rooms? At my son’s school the rooms are far too warm, even in the winter, and they have to crack their windows to stay cool. Heavy blankets and flannel sheets are unnecessary.
Most college students wear jeans and T-shirts all week, and may have a few things for parties and clubs (e.g small purse). Anything else she needs can be shipped to her. Typical dorm rooms have only a few feet of hanger space so she will probably need the super-slim hangers rather than the thick plastic ones.
What is in those plastic bins? The number should be zero.
I think overpacking is a rite of passage for a freshman going aways to college. If it’s too much, bring it home. After living like that for a year, she will realize what’s important and make changes, or not. It’s all good.
I actually purchased every single think I could think of that DS might need or want. I had no interest in umpacking shipments, nor shopping with thousands of other people. Also, with a move in crew to take everything to his dorm, that meant we didn’t have to schlep anything oursleves.
I was “allowed” to put his bed together, and the rest was for him. We spent a little time w/ his roommate, went for a late lunch, went to check into my hotel for the night, then I took him back to campus and said our goodbyes.
Leaving him was very sad, but overall, we had a really laid back day. I do think guys are more laid back than the girls. I had to keep telling DS he needed to take more than one pair of sneakers! If they got wet, he would need something else to put on his feet other than socks!
Her bed will be raised THIRTY inches. Call it what you want…but that is lofting, in my opinion.I would want a rail on that after reading that other thread.
My son’s advice to incoming freshmen…put everything you think you want to take to college on ONE room in your house. Then take half of what is in that room with you. Students won’t use half of what they take.
He says both male and female students agreed with him.
He knew both women and men who took way too much with them freshman year. Like someone upstream noted…for,some students this is a rite of passage.
And realły, if all this works for your daughter and family…fine.
If you can’t imagine what you could leave behind, maybe the best course is to take it all. Just be sure to have plenty of time when you get there so that your daughter can unpack it all, and then she can repack the stuff she doesn’t have room for.
Yes, I would ditch the headboard and bring a bedrail instead.
Yes she is probably taking too much but really, isn’t that part of the freshman ritual for some? It just isn’t a big deal in the long run. If her “stuff” makes her feel more at home and less homesick them go for it. She will eventually figure it all out and next year will be more streamlined. If you live close enough to visit occasionally you can always start taking unused things back each trip. She can probably get a storage space over the summer for not much- DS2 just paid $50 for the summer by splitting space with friends. Let her take her things and if it doesn’t fit bring some back home. As for the headboard, DD2’s freshman roommate brought matching curtains, bedspread, headboard, rugs etc. for a room shared by 4. A little over the top but mom was an interior decorator.
My D had five suitcases (one filled with shoes!), two pieces of extra storage (drawers and cubes), a folding saucer chair, several large plastic bags of stuff, a laundry basket filled with toiletries, a snowboard, a longboard, etc. and it all fit in her half of a small room (she does have a sink and under-sink cabinet). Her bed is fully lofted so all of the storage fit underneath. We only brought a few small things back home.
@Pizzagirl I am an extremely organized person and my room was clean at all times, everything i brought had its place. Not sure why you feel the need to make comments about my maturity based on what I decided was necessary for my college experience but I assure you, your assumptions are very incorrect.
Glad it worked out then! My apologies. Maybe I’m just cranky because I feel like half my summer has been spent moving my 1 kid back home and my other kid to a new apartment and I’m very sensitive to not being organized enough!!
if that’s all personal stuff, yes, way too much. And I’m going to point out that people bringing very little (all fit in the trunk of a sedan) are talking about personal stuff. Shared stuff adds to your load. We brought the room fridge and microwave because we had them, but they took up space. We brought an ugly fuzzy orange chair for the room. Took up room. Everything still fit in the back of a vehicle my insurance calls a station wagon. Whole car was full, however. Freshmen bring too much. Always. It’s what they do. Even when they cut by half, they probably still have too much. For now, don’t sweat the amount. Just be more than ready to bring a lot of it back home.
I did have piles of college dorm stuff in my dining room the summer before freshman year. We’d buy stuff. I’d through it in the pile.
Also going to second the recommendation for the ikea frakta bags, the ones with zippers. Great for moving dorm rooms AND apartments. Indestructible. Lightweight. Fold flat for easy storage.
@ordinarylives I wish there was an ikea near me! I have heard great things about those bags!!! I was looking for such an item but I only came across ones that were like $20 each which is why I opted for the plastic bins as I already had them.
I can tell you right now that you will be bringing 25% of that stuff back home. Tell your daughter to walk in her room. Slice it down the middle (including closet) and that is how much space she has to work with. If she has six plastic bins and none of them have clothes in them she has certainly over packed. Nothing wrong with hauling that stuff with you and bringing some of it back. Thousands of parents do it every year.
ONLY 25%? That’s being nice. Don’t worry, next year will be a severe pare down of paraphernalia.
I know this thread is about D’s packing too much but I have to say as a parent that part of the first year over load of packing had more to do with my own insecurities of sending kid off without all the necessities than their actual wants.
I kept insisting kid needed stuff even when they said they didn’t need things.
My daughter’s college campus had a sale like this. Proceeds were donated to charity. This is where the excess that kids don’t want, haven’t used, or can’t move might end up.
It’s very possible that some of the extra “stuff” could end up abandoned like the things in this article.
My daughter said she saw many brand new things, with tags still on, or very lightly worn or used items.
I’m not saying don’t take all,the stuff. But do think about it first…you can always ship things to her if she needs them. But it’s highly unlikely she will she will ship things back to you.
I say take what she wants but be prepared to bring some of it back. If you are going to visit her between now and cold weather, have her leave cold weather items at home for now.