<p>My D is going to live off campus for sophomore year.
Fine- I may be able to get rid of a few things that I have been hanging on to- since her sister who * graduated* from college 4 years ago, hasn't taken anything out of her room!</p>
<p>But her list cracks me up. She wants things that we didn't get when we got married.
She wants things that we don't have * now!*
A Juice man juicer for instance.
A rice cooker ( ours died and I can't find one I like enough to buy).
A rug for the kitchen. (why would you want a rug in the kitchen?)
I am going to have to get her some kind of bed, but obviously I will have to be clear about what we will and won't pay for.</p>
<p>why not a rug for the kitchen? She may mean those mats you see that you can put in front of the stove/sink/frig. Bare floor gets old after a while.</p>
<p>Kids’ first apartment furnishings should be cast-offs from your attic / basement. For any furniture that you have to actually buy - great deals on nice furniture abound on Craigslist.com. I might spring for a new mattress (from Sam’s Club or Costco).</p>
<p>Why wouldn’t you want a rug in the kitchen? We’ve always had one in our kitchen, but we have ceramic tile floor so it gets cold.</p>
<p>I asked for a breadmaker for my dorm for my birthday, so I guess I am guilty! I have had a rice cooker since freshman year though because you can make anything in it that you need to boil water for, more easily than the microwave. I make boiled hot dogs, soup, and pasta in it. Have yet to make rice. I’m not sure why you’d want one if you’ll have a stove.</p>
<p>Here is my list for this year year:</p>
<p>marker board for door (old one broke)
container with lid for dishes (they got dusty between uses last year, no cabinets)
cork board
area rug
scale
vacuum
lint roller
floor lamp
mini-sofa (just got a great little sofa bed from ikea for $150)
some kind of shoe storage solution
bookcase (just got a $20 from target)
laundry drying rack</p>
<p>And then I am putting together a severe weather kit, after being stranded in a dorm basement this past summer for four hours with no flashlights or water, so I have flash light (old one broke), crank powered radio, bottled water, and a small tote on my list so I can just grab it on the go if needed. After I restock my first aid kit I will store that in the tote too along with some granola bars or something. My friends make fun of me, but I felt like a real moron sitting in the dark for four hours with no access to news.</p>
<p>Annnnd I think that’s it. My freshman year list was probably more interesting. At this point I am thinking ahead to things that I will be able to use in my apartment next year after graduation. I am buying almost everything myself, including the most expensive items on the list.</p>
<p>*Take a look at Safetykits.RipaldiandAssociates.com. *
um well- appreciate your concern, but no one pays attention to alarms, & when she was 18 she traveled through India, for 4 months, England for 1 by herself and while she had a great time, she has in her arsenal a look of doom that no amount of pepper spray can match.</p>
<p>When finances are limited and we already are stretching to send her to college, let alone a mattress and renting a truck to haul her stuff to school- the first thing I do is cut wants- as opposed to needs.
We also have never bought her sister a bed for school, she lived on campus all 4 years and when she moved out, she found one local.</p>
<p>A rug might be " nice" but you don’t need it , you also don’t need a rice cooker- I use a saucepan with a lid, works fine.
:)</p>
<p>My daughter will be in a campus apartment this fall. She sent a note to the other two girls in the apartment to let them know some of the things she had collected and included some things they might need like dishes and flatware. Neither girl responded about bringing anything. There is the option of buying a meal plan, but DD thinks that she wants to cook. So today, we bought a rice cooker among other things. I am guessing that the meal plan would be cheaper than me buying all this stuff, but she will probably be off campus for junior and senior years.</p>