<p>I told my son to not spend the whole first day trying to get his room perfect or hanging out with one or two hallmates. I said instead, he should spend the time meeting people - particularly by helping them move in. (We expect to get there very early). The easiest time to meet people is in the first couple weeks, before everyone starts to get settled into a group of friends.</p>
<p>I recommend getting parents and student set up to use Skype, before they leave. Be aware that some of the cheap cams do not include mics.</p>
<p>All these comments about (mostly) guys who don’t do laundry make me wonder if my son really needs 8 pairs of jeans. He decided on 8 because I recommended enough laundry for 2 weeks, he wears a pair twice (here at home, anyway) and wants an extra pair ‘just in case.’ So I’m faced with buying 4 more pairs (x $36 on sale for his type), which is half a netbook computer! Plus they take up a LOT of space. Should I just invest in more than 2 weeks worth of socks & boxers and a few extra T’s?</p>
<p>Mompod, tell him to do laundry weekly (or have him spend his own discretionary funds on more jeans).</p>
<p>We went with the two weeks worth of boxers and socks. And the boy has enough Tshirts to last a semester, it seems.</p>
<p>Wash jeans (or khaki shorts for the next few months) weekly. Washing socks, boxers, T-shirts every other week.</p>
<p>They swipe their ID card to pay for the laundry, so in theory, I can look at the bill and see how often laundry occurs!</p>
<p>I should have thought of doing just jeans weekly. I’m so used to doing ALL the laundry on the weekends, I just assumed he’d do the same. This must be where my DH learned to just throw in a load here and there 
If S has 4 pairs already, he can even eek out another couple of days if the weekend is too hectic. Thanks for the great advice (so obvious in hindsight!).</p>
<p>Not sure if I mentioned this already, but at the risk of repeating myself:</p>
<p>D has over 100 DVDs and instead of bringing them in their original boxes has put them all into a CD/DVD binder. Not only does it take up a fraction of the space, but she’ll have an easier time keeping track of them all and taking them to other people’s rooms, etc.</p>
<p>Is anyone’s dd or ds moving in early? My new freshman son will be moving in a week early due to ROTC commitments. He will be one of only a handful of kids in a 6 floor dorm - his roommate will follow a week later. He hasn’t expressed a concern yet, but I don’t think it has really occurred to him that there will be about 10 total kids in the building all week. </p>
<p>Any issues you guys can think of that might pop up as a result of this? Or am I just being mom-y?</p>
<p>My guess is that ROTC will keep him so busy that week that it won’t matter. He will probably be happy that there won’t be other people around so he can sleep when he needs to and wake up early.</p>
<p>I hope that’s the case!</p>
<p>Think we’re going to buy S a bunch of grey socks…that’s the color of the white socks he wears now after he puts them in the laundry with all of his black clothes. :)</p>
<p>Here is the best move in day tip of all: Get there right after your Daughters roommate has moved in but before the other parents leave :)</p>
<p>Yesterday we moved my daughter into Mizzou. They allow 20 minutes for you to unload your car into a pile in the dorm parking lot and then you have to move your car to another lot. By the time I walked back, my wife and daughters along with the roommates Dad and her brother had moved everything to the room already. I literally did not touch a box once they had been unloaded. The Dad is a friend of mine (daughters went to high school together) definitely owe him a beer or six!</p>
<p>I hope I have a move-in angel, too!</p>
<p>I have to disagree about the roommate timing. D1 lived with a good friend sophomore year, deliberately. But we got there after Roomie and she and her family had arranged every stick of furniture to Roomie’s advantage, and D was short-changed on space and miserable all year as a result. Roomie wouldn’t budge a thing and their friendship almost collapsed (then Roomie spent all of junior year abroad and they liked each other again in the end).</p>
<p>D and Roomie1 have plans to arrive and arrange at the same time. Roomie3 has been less invested in advance planning, but they’re going to try to be respectful of her potential needs if she isn’t there right away.</p>
<p>EmmyBet, I was pretty much just teasing cause of the way it worked out for me:)</p>
<p>I bet that it can be stressful if one of the roommates takes advantage. We were lucky cause the girls worked it out before hand. Plus, with the way these particular rooms lay out, there are only a couple of options for furniture placement. </p>
<p>I do have to say that I was surprised just how much the room held. Both of the girls brought a LOT of stuff but with the under bed and closet storage, it actually feels pretty roomy in there.</p>
<p>Good luck to everyone! Hope that yours goes as well as ours did. It was quick with no drama. Plus after multiple weeks of 100+ degree weather, it was about 73 at move in time. Phew!</p>
<p>Backpacks:
Here is my research so far.(no good articles on line, but lots of helpful blogs etc) and after buying and returning half a dozen!
requirement was for one with decent laptop protection, sleeve (look for: separate padding in the laptop section, ideally on sides as well as bottom. Also helpful to have the laptop sleeve separately suspended so it doesn’t reach the bottom of back pack, although my D points out, it will hit when you drop it down)
Waterproof: a soaked laptop is not a happy laptop, and most college students will carry backpack around in the rain for some time without an umbrella etc. (or the umbrella breaks in the middle of the day, it isn’t cool etc. )
Results:
less than 10% of the backpacks out there now have water resistant fabric. Even if they do, the zipper may leak. look for a fabric with water resistant lining. Look for covered zippers (fabric edge that comes over the zipper when zipped up). test by putting some paper towels into the top of the laptop section, zip it up and simulate a modest rain with the kitchen spray nozzle (doesn’t have to soak the whole thing, I found just a short spray on one edge would tell me quickly how wet the contents got.
Best (besides some expensive hideous weird ones that are truly waterproof. Okay for geekdom where it may hold some status, but rejected by my avg female student):
Targus waterproof (expensive-ish and comes only in black/ silver gray) Kind of large, without much else re compartments etc. (only found on line)
High Sierra “Access” model. This has covered zip, water treated fabric, and for more severe rain, it has a “rain fly” that is stowed in compartment in the bottom to really make it water resistant. This is available around here in some dept stores (Macy’s, Pennys. In fact with special store deals, got cheaper than on internet for about $34.) Unfortunately D thought it was really too big for her needs but for someone who wants a moderately large pack, and can stand the “geeky bright yellow rain thing” this one is a winner. The "Swerve " model also has covered zip and is a little smaller, but no waterproof cover.
The other High Sierra packs also have water resistant fabric (zippers not covered in all)</p>
<p>Eddie Bauer makes a water resistant laptop pack with suede covered bottom that has a covered zipper, so this one may be in the running. </p>
<p>With any other than the Targus or Access HS one, a waterproof laptop sleeve (making sure to put it in pack not open on top) can help get you to the level of protection needed. (other options include wearing a poncho over the backpack, garbage bag etc, my D carries a wind resistant small umbrella so pack with side water bottle pouch that fits umbrella also another good feature.)</p>
<p>Yes - I hope it all works out well for everyone.</p>
<p>Tip: Don’t let your roommate decide your bed should stick out straight from the wall (leaving only the headboard as a place to relax and impossible for, um, visitors to share). Check to see if that wall is adjacent to the bathroom (sounds of whooshing toilets behind your head all year). And don’t let your roommate decide the best place for her TV is across the room from her bed, across your space, especially if she doesn’t “like” headphones…</p>
<p>Slightly tongue in cheek here, but this was D’s experience. </p>
<p>I do think D2’s school will have hordes of move-in helpers, at least from what we’ve seen in pictures. We are bringing a handcart for the fridge, etc.</p>
<p>Backpack/laptop/weather protection
Another frequent suggestion from articles, is that if you can tolerate the difference in carrying, not carrying a lot of textbooks, then an alternative is a “true” messenger bag. (Not the ones in most stores that are stylish, but not very waterproof) since the large flap is much more waterproof than zippers. (some of the strange on line waterproof back packs have fold over top flaps instead zippers also)</p>
<p>@hammer1234, and other moms of boys:
the other sock thing I finally learned was buy all socks identical. that way they always match.</p>
<p>
I’m the Dad…and the reason why I know about the socks is that he steals my white socks and I get them back in varying shades of grey.</p>
<p>Does anyone else here get a specific move-in time from their kid’s school? I see advice on when to get there but in our case we have a specific appointment time (mainly because if UMASS didn’t there would be even more chaos). I’m just hoping that the S’s roommate will be decent about not taking up more than 1/2 the space if he gets there earlier than we do…</p>
<p>Kajon – I remember last year that a parent was at Costco with her S and he wanted to pick up the bulk pack of Trojans in the pharmacy section… :rolleyes:</p>