Blue bags for move in-- seriously, these are great. When Harry came back and forth on the bus his freshman year, he'd even use them to travel, and he still brings laundry home in them from time to time (even though laundry is FREE in his dorm...)
Mattress topper: this is a MUST
Two sets of sheets: Probably these sheets will never get changed, but what the heck-- might as well have a spare pair.
Blanket for the bed: the cheaper the better! I actually really like these and have 2 for every kid bed at home (one to wash and one to wear), but you probably only need to send 1 to school because is your college kid really going to change the sheets?
Towels: I really think 6 is the perfect number.
Comforter: Duh. Any bed in a bag is fine-- you definitely want something small enough to fit in a washing machine.
Throw blanket: Harry REALLY appreciated having a cooling blanket, and you want to buy something light and small enough to be thrown in the wash but soft and big enough to be cozy. Harry also has a heavier throw that he trades out at the semester when he trades of his jackets for extreme down coats, but dorm rooms are tiny so there's no need to have too many.
Fan: Even a dorm room with a/c gets stuffy
Bedside shelf: Or, maybe a caddy.
Organizing cube shelves: We definitely bought these in Eau Claire post move-in for Harry and might do a Peoria Target run for Jack after he figures out the layout of his room a little better
Shoe storage- honestly, Harry just used a giant tupperware.
Hangers
Laptop: LOVE this computer! Harry went with a MacBook Air, but Jack is excited to try the Neo, especially since his university gives everyone a 5G iPad.
Oh my gosh, you guys. THAT'S SO MANY THINGS. And I swear this is a PARED DOWN LIST.
We have been buying our college kids a fridge and a microwave the Christmas before they move to college, which has worked out really well, and all of our older kids have their own TVs and Alexas, and everyone even Minnie had their own gaming system, so no need to worry about those (lol/sob/we're the worst).
We got our life partner big kids a Costco membership to split, so we know they can keep themselves in cheap gas, $2 lunches and junk food, and everything feels pretty done and dusted, you know?
A friend of mine with kids a few years older than ours said to always bring an extra thousand bucks to college move in weekend, because there are lots of last minutes things, t-shirts for sale, and kids to take out for one last dinner-- and this is really good advice.
I love that you got them a joint Costco membership. What a smart idea!
ReplyDeleteI try to limit mine to four totes, a backpack, and a rolling suitcase. No fridge or microwave- those are a pain to move and a lot of the time my kids lived in apt style housing. There's not much storage in most freshman dorm rooms, so 3 towels and 1 set of sheets for my kids. ( encourages them to do wash, I hope!)
ReplyDeleteI do think doing some of the shopping on move in day, once you see the set up of room ( can the beds be lofted? Did they throw a surprise triple at you in a space meant fir two?) Ithis would be good for storage or cubbies if needed. Or if your scholar forgot to pack towels ( #2 son did this twice!)
Flip flops for the showers- but your kids swim so those go without saying I bet. We bought a adjustable hand cart to move totes in and out- many schools don't have carts available or strong sports team members on hand to help haul Stuff in, so it's great. Even just getting totes from parking lot to dorm door , it speeds things up. Most my kids brought bikes and helmets, as their campuses were very bike friendly.
Remember, everything you move in you have to move out ; moving out is worse because they'll have accumulated more stuff.
There's always Amazon or Target delivery if they forgot something.