<p>LOL, I launched a Texas princess this year, many states away. One of the most telling things was our trip to Walmart to buy toiletries. We sent Son off with two bars of soap. D took two different shower products and at least three face washing products (and no bars of soap at all.)</p>
<p>You are a funny writer! I enjoyed reading this. I have a girl and a boy too. If packing for camp is anything like packing for college, I think I know what I’m in for, only more.</p>
<p>I have 3 boys and 1 girl . The girl is a minimalist - no make-up ! Not a lot of clothes . One of the boys is my clothes horse . He is 24 now . When he went to college , he had my mini-van pretty full . My girl started out like yours ,OP . I remember the tutus to the grocery store . She said she liked all the attention she got . By late HS the make-up was gone . She had become a vegan , trying to only eat non- processed ,organic food . Now she is a soph. in college , trying to work with the dining hall on more vegan variety for her . She doesn’t buy clothes that are made without the workers being fairly paid . She worked the last 2 summers on a farm in Sweden as a volunteer . She is the most difficult , but in different ways . She does call a lot and we are very close .</p>
<p>My kids call them high maintenace girls… and yes they are out there. I’ve witnessed them amongst our friends with daughters. I do think though that one of my boys is higher maintenance than the other two. I’m pretty low maintenance so you have my sympathies OP…I think the big guy had a reason for giving me all boys.</p>
<p>In general I think boys are often easier / minimalists. But my both my college boy and my college girl are both pretty good at minimizing “stuff” - less clutter is better.</p>
<p>DS goes to school 2000 miles away. We are lucky that he can store stuff with relatives for the summer. But in August our rental Camry fit the stored stuff + airline luggage (2 bags and carry-on sax) + parents + parent vacation luggage. I do remember thinking that we might have had a challenge fitting sister in had she been able to join us.</p>
<p>I kid you not. The boy next to us when we were unloading had SIX skateboards. His mother looked like she wanted to climb under the cart.</p>
<p>Three sons and one daughter made them look like the easiest people on the planet.</p>
<p>Sophomore year, S and I drove his car cross-country and offered to take “some things” for a h.s. friend of his, who happened to be female, starting out as a freshman. </p>
<p>She and her mom load up that car! I expected clothes, but by the time it was all done, we could barely squeeze in our own minimal rolling-airplane-overhead suitcases. </p>
<p>What bothered me most was at the last minute, the mom put in a giant box of feminine hygiene products, as if that can’t be bought in California. I spent 5 days seeing it backwards over the rear-view mirror.</p>
<p>A semester abroad with the contents of only 2 suitcases opened my D’s eyes to the fact that she did not need so many clothes to get by. She took less back to school, but I am stuck with the left-behinds in a closet here at home!</p>
<p>Got a boy and a girl and both have been pretty low maintenence thank goodness!
I think it’s because I worry about everything and they have the mantra of “it’s okay, mom, everything will be fine…it’s okay, mom, everything will…”</p>
<p>Actually travelling abroad in a carry on suitcase for 3 weeks pretty much made minimalists of the whole family.</p>
<p>Most important item for our son as he headed to college as a freshman: a container small enough to fit under the bed yet large enough to hold six large and three small Nerf guns and the accompanying shields, swords, darts and sholuder harnesses for darts.</p>
<p>This week was the campus-wide Humans vs. Zombies competition. The Nerf arsenal was unleashed in full force.</p>
<p>We loaded a friend’s SUV for the drive to school freshman year with our princess. I wasn’t sure it would all fit in her room. It did. It never came back. She spend breaks and summers at school, with the occasional duffle home for a weekend. Little did I know the stuff was growing.</p>
<p>Now, 5 years later, she is truly launched (career, boyfriend, her own apartment without my name on the lease) and she has even more stuff. Then again, so do I.</p>
<p>No princesses here. Fair amount of clothing for all weather, no makeup, no decorating the room, just essentials. I can let you know how that compares to the boy in 10 years.</p>
<p>Olderwisermom, my DD2 would like to know where your S attends!</p>
<p>We took 2 cars to move my princess d into school. We did get a laugh the night before she left. I was cleaning up my computer desk and found a packing list that I printed out last spring some time from college confidential. On it, it says 2 pair of everyday/gym shoes. I told my daughter it said 2 pairs of shoes, not 2 bins of shoes. Her response was that they must have made a mistake.</p>
<p>“Are guys easier?” It depends. I have 2 sons. S1 is a minimalist - he’s a backpacker, so less is more for him. We fit all his things in my van with plenty of room to spare. </p>
<p>S2 is a more social, fun-loving guy: last year he brought a 235-lb TV, which was voted “most popular freshman” on the floor. We had to borrow a Suburban for the TV & his stuff. This year, Mr. Life of the Party again filled the borrowed Suburban with a custom study table, an enormous sound system, and a few clothes. (At one point, I think he said, “I don’t care if I have to leave my clothes behind - the sound system is GOING!”) We convinced him to have the 2 giant bean bag sofas that he ordered online delivered directly to his college, along with a pallet of laminate flooring that he also ordered online from Home Depot. We subsequently helped him install the laminate over the existing linoleum floor when he moved into his dorm in August. </p>
<p>So, in answer to your question “are guys easier?” the answer is “not necessarily.” :D</p>
<p>Based on your story, guys are SO much easier…
moved S in for freshman year this past August, took about an hour. Took 2 big duffles and some plastic bags. Forgot hangers so he just tossed shirts on the bottom of his closet (which were still there on family weekend even after he got hangers, lol.)<br>
Wouldn’t let us help put anything on the walls, said he’d take care of it. Yes, everything was still on the floor when we visited.<br>
Much more concerned about being stocked with snacks than stuff!</p>
<p>Wow Txmom14, I have been looking forward to the packing process for D in the future, comparing it in my mind to S’s process in which I considered myself lucky that he <em>let</em> me pack him up some good blankets & sheets. He pooh-poohed a desk lamp, trash can, and so on. He did no planning (or at least didn’t express it) and pretty much did his packing at the last minute (and I do mean as we were walking out the door). With D, I am so looking forward to shopping with her, and her picking out lovely bedding and related accoutrements! I am sure she will have everything packed well ahead of time, and be enthusiastic about a new space…Although after reading a bunch of these posts, maybe I should appreciate how truly simple things were with S; maybe it was actually “easy” while I was thinking it was “disengaged” … ;)</p>
<p>Ahh - the boys and their toys! My #2 son insisted on taking his two huge monitors (he said he could never go back to one monitor), his desktop computer, his tablet and his laptop. He agonized over choosing between two different pairs of sneakers when we went shopping for them in August and was aghast when I suggested we just buy both. TWO pairs of sneakers?? A new concept- dry feet! If one pair of sneakers gets soaked, you can just change them instead of waiting for them to dry overnight!</p>
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<p>My son to a T. When looking at colleges - he couldn’t have cared less. In his words, “They all look alike”. Fast forward to Freshman year and the boy has managed to move a couch, a 40" flat screen TV, microwave, refrigerator, numerous other decorations into his dorm room and was voted ‘coolest room and roommates’ in the dorm. It took umpteen SVU loads to get him back and he arrived back home with an additional futon someone gave him when they were vacating the dorm. Thankfully, we’re only 1 1/12 hours from the college.</p>
<p>So, this year, in a 4 person suite in the Frat house - he took both couches, a tall bookcase, coffee table, and all the appliances, TV. Once there - the group bought another couch at Goodwill, someone brought a sound system, the have 2 40" flat screen TVs, wall to wall posters, flags, decorations, etc. Son says they are well on their way to having the coolest room in the house. I feel quite certain by the time we take him back for his junior year, we’re going to need a U-Haul.</p>
<p>Every time he spends money on his dorm he reminds me it could have be worse… I could have had a girl. :)</p>