<p>I’m living in Ridgecrest South this fall which comes with a normal sized refrigerator. During Bama bound I was advised to bring my own mini-fridge for my individual room but I’m not sure if that makes much sense. Students who lived in the honors dorms: is a mini-fridge needed?</p>
<p>I don’t understand that advice. Sorta defeats the purpose of having that sweet full size refrigerator. And having been in one of the RCS rooms this past week, I am pretty sure that it would eat up valuable floor space. E</p>
<p>Some people put a mini fridge under their lofted beds.</p>
<p>If you have roommates that you can trust not to consume your drinks and goodies, then using the big fridge can be fine. However, all it takes is one roomie to be a moocher and then you’re not going to want to put your Cokes or other pricier food items in the shared fridge.</p>
<p>My older son did a REU one summer and had a super suite situation. 2 of his 3 suitemates were not moochers at all. But ONE suitemate was awful. He never bought ANYTHING, but routinely helped himself to whatever was in the fridge…as if his mom had stocked it. lol</p>
<p>It is nice to have a mini fridge if you are in a 4 person suite because with four sharing a fridge, there isn’t much room. Whether it is necessary depends greatly upon your roommates and how well you share space and whether your roomies are moochers as M2CK said…it happens. It’s nice to have a place to keep your water bottles and/or soft drinks, but I wouldn’t depend upon a mini fridge to keep perishable food cold enough. Target in Tuscaloosa generally has two aisles of mini fridges in popular colors…pink, chalkboard, red, blue, etc. in August for move in. The same thing for ironing boards. If you loft the bed there is plenty of room for it.</p>
<p>My D didn’t need a minifridge. Her roommate had one. It’s up to you but I wouldn’t bother unless you have problems like M2CK’s S.</p>
<p>Kids go to college in part to grow up and learn how to solve problems. If they can’t work out their problems over a damned refrigerator, then there is no hope for them. I’m not buying a stupid fridge if they have a perfectly good one.</p>
<p>Aha! But maybe the way they work out their problems is by buying a mini fridge. ;-)</p>
<p>A mini fridge should get as cold as any other fridge. It might even be colder and more efficient since it will be newer than the shared fridge and probably won’t get opened as much either. However, I always keep a refrigerator thermometer in each compartment to make sure that the temperature is where it should be.</p>
<p>*Kids go to college in part to grow up and learn how to solve problems. If they can’t work out their problems over a damned refrigerator, then there is no hope for them. I’m not buying a stupid fridge if they have a perfectly good one.
*</p>
<p>You don’t have to buy one.</p>
<p>As for “working out problems”, I had a roomie who was a moocher. There was no “working out problems” with her. Telling her over and over not to take my things went in one ear and out the other. To think that I or anyone else could have gotten her to stop (without a thread of violence…lol), is not being realistic. She thought she was entitled to mooch since her parents weren’t helping her at all and mine were. The only thing that stopped her from mooching from me was when I moved to another dorm. Then she began mooching on the next person. </p>
<p>you can’t “work out a problem” with a moocher when you really have no power to enforce anything…and students don’t have such power. It’s not like a student can stand sentry over his fridge items 24/7. Keeping things locked in your room is an answer, but it’s not really addressing changing the moocher’s way of thinking.</p>
<p>i kind of agree with slippy.</p>
<p>i would go with no minifridge and get one if it turns out to be necessary. chances are, it won’t be.</p>
<p>Count me in as agreeing with slippy and mike. Plus those small refrigs are a pain in the ___ to move back home. They take up a lot of space in the car. I did that for my older daughter who did not have a full size frig in her dorm at another school.</p>
<p>There’s really no right or wrong answer on this one. Just remember there is limited space with four sharing a fridge. In a perfect world it wouldn’t be necessary, but the fact is there are people out there who don’t understand the concept of sharing or respecting personal boundaries. It really depends upon those sharing the suite. If your child ends up with such a person or a moocher for a roommate you’ll have to decide for yourself whether you’re willing to provide him or her with open access to your water and food…just don’t expect anyone to intervene on their behalf if that happens. My D has had both types of roommates and so have her friends. It can be very unpleasant., and as M2CK pointed out, there is very little you can do about it. You’ll have to decide for yourself at that point whether you feel the cost is worth it to you or if you’d rather have this problem for the whole year. A year can be a very long time when there is an issue. As for perishables, all mini fridges are not created equal and one should consider this when making a purchase or deciding whether to keep perishables such as lunch meat, milk, and yogart in them or consume at your own risk.</p>
<p>There are two other things to consider when making this decision. There is nothing you can do if your roommate’s food begins looking more like a science experiment and smells up the fridge. You can ask them to toss it, but you can’t make them. Although most of you will have excellent experiences with roommates, just imagine living with someone who enjoys pushing your buttons (think of a neighbor or another poster who might annoy you…just saying). Some of you will end up with those roommates…just because you met your roommate at BB and you got along perfectly doesn’t mean that same persona will show up in August or will be the same in October…trust me on that.</p>
<p>I don’t think anyone should buy a mini fridge upfront unless there’s a reason, such as needing to keep one’s diabetes meds in one. </p>
<p>My point was that sometimes a student will need one if he has an issue with a moocher. To suggest that “there’s no hope” for kids who can’t work out a fridge/moocher issue is just not reasonable and, frankly, is insulting.</p>
<p>Since I am reading this from my phone I am not sure of I missed something but I certainly not being insulting if you were referring to my post. I am repeating and agreeing with your earlier post that you cannot change a mooches and adding that if there is a problem it you have to deal with it or accept it because the other person may not be willing to change. My D didn’t have a mini fridge, but she did have a mooching and uncooperative roommate for a while who enjoyed being that way. Her next roommate posed no issue in that respect. I agreed there may be no reason to buy one unless there is an issue or you want one but they do help alleviate crowding in a small shared space. I wasn’t insulting anyone…</p>
<p>lol…</p>
<p>Bamagirls…my post wasn’t about your post. my post was about Slippy’s statement that if roomies can’t work out their problems with a fridge then there’s no hope for them. That is insulting. Student are often powerless to do ANYTHING about a mooching, inconsiderate roomie. To suggest that there’s “no hope” for students who can’t resolve the problem (stop the moocher from taking things from the shared fridge) is ridiculous.</p>
<p>Insulting? Really? Good grief. Do you even have a sense of humor??? Evidently there are several posters who agree with me. Guess we are all “ridiculous.”</p>
<p>It is apparent to me that a lot of parents on this forum (as well as some I met at BB… the ones asking 50 gazillion questions about the tiniest of details) are incapable of just turning their kids loose. They still want to micromanage every aspect of their kids’ lives, and too many of these kids have come to expect it. Too many parents seem incapable of just saying “work it out,” but rather want to work out the problems for them. These college students are adults, for crying out loud. </p>
<p>If my kid decides he wants his own fridge (which is highly unlikely), he can go to Target and buy it with the money he earned over the summer.</p>
<p>I agree. That’s why I mentioned thinking about neighbors and such over whom we have no control when their actions are annoying. Thanks for clarifying.</p>
<p>we are not getting a number of items, including a minifridge. If it turns out he needs anything we decided to hold on, he can get it there. </p>
<p>The wish list is much longer than the need list in this household.</p>
<p>I’ve found a 2’ x 2’ x 2’ box (sounds small but isn’t) that is serving as a guide for my son for packing. I have instructed him that everything he takes down ‘should’ fit in this box. Everything else we will be purchasing when we get down there. I don’t think he will have any problems with it. He has some clothes, shoes, a few cd’s, books, posters, games and a laptop.</p>