<p>great thread</p>
<p>i cant sleep on an unmade bed so parents or not! ill do it out of necessity..</p>
<p>really? what about it irks you. can you even put it into words?</p>
<p>ummmmmmmmmm...
just that its unmade you know! crumply and wrinkled.. and blah blah.. :p
lol
i can't put it into words</p>
<p>i knew it! ahah im like that about things.
i cant eat after brushing my teeth. but other people have no problem with it.
just about eating, and then teeth are clean and then you eat again and argghhh...
i cant put it either.</p>
<p>i totally understand what your saying!! i can't eat after brushing either!!!
its that minty taste in your mouth that just goes away after eating and u start feeling dirty all over again.. or something like that..</p>
<p>Uhh okay back on topic.</p>
<p>Learn to use a debit card/credit card. That way, you can either have your parents transfer money into your bank account/forward the bill to them.</p>
<p>Laundry definitely.</p>
<p>Buy a lot of frozen dinners. The variety on those things is great!</p>
<p>Learn to pop your own pills i.e. Tylenol, Advil, Nyquil, whatever.</p>
<p>Learn the intricacies of your public transit system.</p>
<p>Learn to schedule events properly.</p>
<p>That's all I have for right now.</p>
<p>There may be a huge selection of TV dinners... but they all suck in the flavor department.</p>
<p>Cooking, 9 times out of 10, is much more preferable to frozen dinners in that it's cheaper and just about gauranteed to taste better!</p>
<p>Learn the basics of using an oven/microwave - almost anything can be baked at 350 degrees! haha...</p>
<ul>
<li>online banking, or just banking in general. i can't believe people don't know how to write checks!</li>
</ul>
<p>-cleaning in general. know what cleansers go with which surfaces. learn how to do laundry!</p>
<p>-car care - know when to get an oil change (every 3k miles!), how to change your wiper blades, when to rotate your tires, and when to put on snow tires <em>if necessary</em></p>
<p>-personal care - know how much you can drink, know what types of foods make you sick later...indigestion, etc., learn when to use advil vs. going to see a dr...</p>
<p>ohhh - and BUDGET!
Budget everything, from your money to your time!</p>
<p>This is great so far guys. A lot of these things I didn't even think about but I'll definitely have in mind. Perhaps what would have been more obvious to know is knowing how to take medicine. I normally don't have to take any because I rarely get sick but college is a much bigger place with different people and different lifestyles so getting sick will probably be common if one doesn't know how to take care.</p>
<p>Keep the ideas coming.</p>
<p>What a great thread!</p>
<p>why would we have to cook when colleges have a wide selection of cafeteria food? which , depending on the college, isnt half bad.</p>
<p>because you get tired of it after a while. no matter how creative you get with the food they offer, even if you try new stuff, you'll simply get tired of it after a while. think of it like this, you have a wide selection of food but it's probably going to be the same wide selection for 4 YEARS!!!</p>
<p>Just to add I've have friends in college who've told me that the first week of eating on campus is great but after that you get sick of it. Just a week, that's all.</p>
<p>i'm guessing the self-cooking posts deal with living in suites, right? b/c there's only so much you can cook with a microwave...</p>
<ol>
<li><p>To the person who can't sleep in an unmade bed: you do realize that you unmake your bed when you go to sleep in it . . .</p></li>
<li><p>I don't know of anyone who is willing to eat cafeteria food for four years - at least at my school, many juniors and seniors live off campus - which means cooking for yourself</p></li>
</ol>
<p>lovelines: A lot of dorms have at least one full kitchen that you can use. It's fun to make a dessert for friend's birthdays or occassionally cook a meal. There will probably also be times (such as around holidays) when the dining services might not be open...rather than being forced to go out and eat, it's nice to be able to cook something up for you and your friends.</p>
<p>Another thing I forgot in my earlier post: Learn some basic sewing. People are always asking me to sew buttons back on, fix rips in backpacks, sew up seams in clothes that were coming apart, etc. A sewing kit doesn't take up very much room at all, and it can save you a lot of money and hassle if you can sew things up yourself.</p>
<p>Something from a current college freshmen, know your body well enough to know when health services is wrong. At least at my campus they are understaffed and looking for quick turn-over. If you know you're having a medical crisis and they disagree see someone else until it gets dealt with, it could save your life or a lot of pain and suffering.</p>
<p>Know how to fill prescriptions and ask about drug interactions, another thing that could save your life. Over the counter meds can interact with prescription meds so make sure to ask a pharmacist if you'll be taking anything other than one prescription, this includes herbal remedies.</p>
<p>You should bring a set of tools to campus to make minor repairs on things. I had a set of screwdrivers, a set of pliers, a hammer, a small file, a utility knife, a tape measurer, duct tape, random screws, and Elmer's glue while I was on campus.</p>
<p>Too bad most colleges don't have a woodshop. Now that I'm home I have returned to my longtime hobby of woodworking...probably part of the reason I brought so many tools to campus (most of which I used at some point)</p>
<p>How to assemble a first aid kit- bandaids of different sizes, cold/flu meds, creams, gauzes, ACE, thermometer, etc, etc. I came to college with none of that stuff because it never really occurred to me or my parents. And then I had a cold just before parents' weekend.... so my mom and I went shopping at CVS to assemble my kit!</p>
<p>Now it's time to replenish it for me.</p>