<p>A thread dedicated to finding stuff every BS kid needs and getting it at a great price! If you see a sale online or have a great source for the stuff on everyone's list- please feel free to share it here. If you're looking for something in particular and you're having trouble finding it- ask away! If you've waited until the beginning of August and you can't find Twin XL sheets anywhere (because all the college kids bought them!), we can probably help you- ask away! If you're new to the BS world and you're not sure what to buy or how much- there are plenty of veteran BS parents here willing to help.</p>
<p>So that's pretty much the spirit of this thread. Good luck and Happy Shopping! </p>
<p>On labels, we got these great iron-on letter transfer labels from <a href=“http://www.itsminelabels.com”>www.itsminelabels.com</a> The letters of your kid’s name just transfer on to the clothing, rather than a piece of fabric or plastic attaching to the clothing, so there’s no itchiness or rubbing.<br>
Here’s my other great tip. For those of you with boys going to schools with dress code requirements, the wrinkle free men’s dress shirts from Old Navy are great. They’re only about $40 a piece, and Old Navy often has great sales. Last August, they had a half price sale, so I picked up 10 dress shirts for my son for a total of $200 (even free shipping). You can barely buy 2 dress shirts at Brooks Brothers for that amount, and the Old Navy shirts are quite nice. They’ve held up perfectly through almost a whole school year of being worn 6 days a week.</p>
<p>For preppier girls, Lilly Pulitzer has a gigantic end-of-summer sale (they only have about two of these sales a year), and things get much, much less expensive- almost down to normal! It’s sometime at the end of August, but you have to be on the lookout for it. Liking their Facebook page or signing up for emails will get it to you.</p>
<p>Also, online only, Patagonia is having a 50% off sale on past-season products right now until 4/22, so you might be able to find some winter clothing needs.</p>
<p>Ideally, before u buy a ton of stuff for your dormroom, it’s good to actually see it first and assess what you’ll need. </p>
<p>If your BS is near a university or a concentration of other BS (e.g., around BDL airport; in greater Boston; or near Princeton), then your dormroom-stuff scavenger hunt will be a piece-of-cake. The nearby Bed Bath & Beyond / Target / Walmart will have EVERYTHING you could possibly want/need/dream to outfit a dormroom. U won’t believe the stuff that’s available! </p>
<p>2 indispensable products:
Sharpie markers
Command hooks</p>
<p>SHARPIE MARKERS
Cheap & easy to write your name on EVERYTHING. Buy’em in black & silver. Did I mention cheap & easy? I never bothered w custom labels.</p>
<p>COMMAND HOOKS / ADHESIVE STRIPS
This is how u hang up bulletin boards, mirrors, pictures. Put up hooks for hanging jackets, clothes, sports gear, belts. You can’t have too many Command hooks.</p>
<p>A few dorm items I would buy near home, because the supply/selection gets sold out near the school: a cushy, twin-size mattress topper.</p>
<p>Remember that all the stuff you shoe-horn into the dorm room in Sept, will have to be fork-lifted out in June (that frustrated, cursing-under-the-breath parent lugging all that stuff out of the dorm room in June is me)… :(( </p>
<p>@prepschoolwannab- I like to pace myself. If I know the kids need fall/winter things for next year, I buy those things now on sale. I’m also aware of tuition payments due late July and enormous book / laundry service (cough) bills in August so for Photodad’s sanity, I try very hard to spread everything out between now and then and use one room in my house as a “staging area” (so I can keep track of what I have and what I need!). Believe me, until you get used to it, if feels like you’re orchestrating a major military operation- especially if you have two kids to send off!</p>
<p>Things for the room is a one shot investment because those things will return to school year after year- and you definitely don’t need to break the bank. GMT is so right- Less is more! We make one pilgrimage to our favorite poster shop every summer but outside of that- their lamps, clocks and room things have lasted forever. ( I think my kids watched Brave Toaster too many times when they were young - they won’t let me replace anything!!) The only thing they allow me to replace (every year) are their wastepaper baskets. </p>
<p>If you look at the “Supply Lists” here on CC, you’ll get a feel for what you need- but you will get an “official list” from your school over the summer. That was my very longwinded way of saying, Yes! Start now!!</p>
<p>@soxmom- Old Navy rocks! Their shirts and khakis are THE BEST ( especially on sale )</p>
<p>*One tip for LL Bean and Orvis shopping- If the catalog or store is out of something- google their outlets (NE has many outlet stores) and call! Sometimes they’ll have what you’re looking for and they will ship!</p>
<p>When shopping online: BEFORE you press the “checkout” button, open another window and go to the web site <a href=“http://www.retailmenot.com”>www.retailmenot.com</a>. Type in the name of the store you where are shopping, and you will be presented with any coupon codes for that web site. Some work, some don’t, but I have saved a ton over the years.</p>
<p>Thanks, my dads always likes to stagger buying clothes for school. Buying at the end of the summer (when everything is already sold out) and all at once is something we like to avoid at all costs. So we’ll do that this year as well for clothes and dorm stuff. @PhotographerMom </p>
<p>PhotographerMom is so right about it being like staging a military operation ;-)</p>
<p>+1 for the GMTplus7 method - Target/Walmart/BBB near school - for linens and room items since we live so far away. We also found that the school store had lamps/hangers/bed risers/trash cans/command hooks and other stuff at pretty reasonable prices. The one thing we had trouble finding last minute was a TwinXL mattress pad.</p>
<p>We hit the outlet mall near home for “dress code clothes” in August and got some amazing deals at J Crew, Banana Republic and Old Navy too! </p>
<p>It might be worth investing in Amazon Prime (I’m a huge fan) you can usually start shipping stuff to school a few weeks before the start.</p>
<p>I always check Overstock.com for deals - we got a great memory foam pad for her mattress. I have a friend who swears by DormCo.com (they ALWAYS have TwinXL in stock!)</p>
<p>@PhotographerMom, Thanks for starting this thread! I know it will be useful (although I’m still too shell-shocked by the prospect of boarding school to take action on preparations!).</p>
<p>FYI: I am not fan of the “Sharpie” method of marking clothes. I tried that with the kids’ white socks one year and noticed that it came off in the heat of the dryer — marking other white items in the same load.</p>
<p>We use Mabel’s Labels (and even then, we don’t try to label socks any more).</p>
<p>It’s held up well, but heavy as heck…will not be buying one for her younger sister. That said, if my wife had no influence on such purchases, I’d buy 7D2 one (I like how it’s a catch all that slides under your bed, but which can also be a coffee table or bench seat).</p>
<p>We don’t bother labeling socks. We just packed GMTson off w identical black socks and identical white socks. If one sock gets sucked off into a parallel universe, the remaining sock will have a dozen other mates.</p>
<p>@SevenDad- I like the trunk- coffee table- bench seat idea- a lot. My kids hate it when friends sit on their beds so I bought camping/ outdoor chairs that fold up nicely in a bag and they store them in their closets. I found them at Home Depot for $5.00 each but I think you can find them almost anywhere for a song! </p>
<p>You can shop at your local Bed, Bath and Beyond and they will place your order at the location closest to school so that you can just pick up your order when you arrive at school. This way you can do it way in advance at home without worrying that they will be sold out when you get there.</p>
)</p>