<p>
S’s dorm room came with both a wastebasket and a recycle bin. Check with the school if you don’t get into the room first.</p>
<p>We spent around $300 so far, but are almost done. Roommate has a frig. Their room is next door to the big dorm floor kitchen so opted not to get a microwave. S will want ice tea and mountain dew in his frig. I am sure he’ll get thirsty sometime between dinner & bedtime. If they need to reheat a pizza or make popcorn, etc he can use the kitchen.</p>
<p>We bought his comforter on ebay. Also his Oakley backpack came from ebay. All new, just much cheaper.</p>
<p>We bought twin sheets (only twin in the house belongs to daughter - girly flowered sheets), hamper, desk supplies, school supplies, storage things, and a printer. They can print at the library, but it’s a big campus and if he is finishing a paper at 10:00 pm. it’ll just be easier to print there. His old one is obsolete since we can’t get ink for it anymore. It was cheap at Wal Mart anyway. I think $30.</p>
<p>We bought portable ‘drawer’s’ at Wal Mart last year when college stuff went on clearance. I think the bigger one (that will fit uner his bed or in the closet) was only $10.</p>
<p>Their beds are loftable, or you can set them on the highest height configuration. Their frig, etc will easily fit under it. (I even saw a small bookshelf under one of them). Our room shares a bathroom with the room next door. So, we have vanity storage and a shelf on each side of the bathroom.</p>
<p>As far as towels go, we also use a new towel every day. I did growing up, and have continued that. I do laundry every day. Our towels/washcloths/wet stuff goes in a specific hamper in the bathroom or laundry room. The kids have their own bathrooms & put their towels in the laundry room hamper. My S wanted a week’s worth of towels and he’ll put a plain old laundry basket under his bed for the damp ones. That is also where we put sweaty t-shirts from things like ball practice. We always seperate that stuff from regular laundry. Surf laundry detergent takes care of any musty odors. I am sure he will only do laundry once a week. If it mildews, then it just does. He’ll either have to hang them up, or do laundry more often. </p>
<p>He won a coffee pot and a flat screen tv at the After Prom party. He was given a toaster. (Late night poptarts…) </p>
<p>We bought an area rug, but his roommate called & said he found one that would cover the entire room.</p>
<p>I saw on a previous post and in another topic…vinyl zippered mattress cover for bed bugs. I also saw where someone bought spray. Is this usually necessary? I just bought a regular quilted mattress pad. I didn’t really think about bed bugs…</p>
<p>We also bought a 4-way ethernet splitter so they could run both computers , xbox, & playstation at the same time. Only parts of the dorm are wireless and they prefer the gaming systems not be wireless anyway.</p>
<p>The things bought ahead on sale, we did gradually. The other stuff we bought in one big trip and used graduation gift money. The only things we need to get are medicines, laundry soap, and a raincoat.</p>
<p>S also bought a Garmin. He loves it. He will have his car at school.</p>
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</p>
<p>I think a little part of my soul just died.</p>
<p>CheckersMidwest: “I saw on a previous post and in another topic…vinyl zippered mattress cover for bed bugs. I also saw where someone bought spray. Is this usually necessary? I just bought a regular quilted mattress pad. I didn’t really think about bed bugs…”</p>
<p>A bed bug problem never, ever entered my mind. Could that be a regional thing? The plastic might be helpful for allergies–dust mites for example.</p>
<p>Some people get an egg-crate or memory foam mattress pad. I will get one for DD for her second year.</p>
<p>
I would recommend that you verify that the toaster and coffee maker will be allowed in the dorm room.</p>
<p>Many colleges ban appliances that have heating elements.</p>
<p>
Don’t worry applicannot, I think most of us do laundry closer to once a week. </p>
<p>And yes we reuse towels. We are clean when we dry off.</p>
<p>Once a week laundry here except this week when DS has a shirt he has to wear every day for camp.</p>
<p>That towel issue that was talked about earlier in this thread must be one of the most common topics for kids heading off to college. When I do the laundry, the kids use as many towels as they want. When they go off to college, and they are doing the laundry, a fresh towel every day is less important.</p>
<p>My family does laundry everyday - I think it just depends on how you were raised. I do laundry once a week when I’m at college.</p>
<p>Laundry also depends on region of the country (some places you can’t leave stuff sitting around) and whether people workout every day.</p>
<p>Oh, I definitely understand that laundry varies. We are usually twice a week - once at home and once at the laundromat (good clothes have to go there since we have a well; towels and PJs get washed at home). But still, every DAY sounds like a lot!</p>
<p>Yeah, I would never ever do laundry everyday just for me, but if I had kids/pets/workout clothes, it would probably get desperate. LOL!</p>
<p>I definitely don’t do laundry every day because I LIKE to…but I would rather stay on top of the laundry & housework instead of spending hours doing it on the weekend. It works out pretty well for me…throw in a load before work, switch to the dryer at lunch, maybe throw in a load before I go to bed, etc. I can usually have my weekends free that way and actually have a day off. Too bad it’s not just all disposeable. :)</p>
<p>notrichenough: Thanks for the note on approved appliances. Our school does allow toasters (but not toaster ovens), air popcorn poppers, 1000 watt or less microwaves, 4.5 cubic foot frig’s or less, crock pots, coffee pots, and rice steamers. Honestly CANNOT imagine my S with a crock pot ! That cracks me up. A friend of his is going elsewhere, they can’t have toasters but can have George Foreman Grills ! Each room can have ONE per room of the above and have to be plugged into surge protector strips.</p>
<p>S is getting excited about moving day. I think him being so happy will help me not be so sad. Just hope his little sister can be brave. She cried all through graduation - and she’s 13. She is going to miss him. I’m trying to decide if she should go along on moving day or stay home. She has to begin school the following day. I can just imagine her at home by herself thinking… how did all of you prepare & ‘take care’ of the younger siblings at home? It didn’toccur to me she’d miss him.</p>
<p>The Mizzou freshman go almost a week earlier than everyone else. They have a lot of activities planned for them to get familiar with campus, etc before it gets busy. The have a midnight BBQ, movies on the quad, a traditional freshman ‘walk’ through the columns to symbolize their beginning, etc. He’ not moving along very well on the required summer reading… I can assume his response will be that it is STILL summer.</p>
<p>In S’s dorm, they can’t have anything that doesn’t work on a builtin timer. And no microwaves unless it is part of a fridge/micro combo. Interesting how each school is different.</p>
<p>
Our 2-years-younger D had zero interest in coming along. I don’t think I would have let her though, even if she wanted to. It was a big day for S, and I think he deserved our undivided attention. Especially if I thought she was going to be all emotional about it. Too embarrassing for S.</p>
<p>Maybe she can stay with a friend?</p>
<p>anyone have any good recommendations for a floor lamp? I had one last year but it broke :<</p>
<p>My first isntinct was to leave her at home. I agree, it’s S’s day. He’d be so embarassed if she was crying all over the place. (Besides, that’ll make ME cry). I just wasn’t sure how to handle it. Maybe if they could say ‘goodbye’ earlier & she go to a friends the day before. However, I thought helping load the cars, etc would be theraputic. Thanks !</p>
<p>Funny 
We can’t have floor lamps.</p>
<p>We’re bringing our D with two cars. Big, giant eyeroll. We only have enough room in car for parents, D2 and stuff. But D1 DEMANDS to come, so we’re doing a convoy. I can’t believe how much stuff we’ve bought. We did well at Marshall’s, though. She found a beautiful sage and cream quilt with chocolate accents for $19.99.</p>
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Just say no!!! Jeepers.</p>
<p>Nah. She hasn’t seen the school yet because she was babysitting the little guy when we visited. She’s also the only sane member of the entourage.</p>
<p>zoosermom,</p>
<p>just make sure you all resist the temptation to increase the load of stuff being brought out to fill all available space in <em>both</em> cars!</p>