Dorm must haves?

[Aliceacc]

OK, our trip to WDW is over, and the laundry is just about caught up.

Time to start to focus on college and what our son still needs before he leaves in a month.

Aside from the obvious-- sheets, towels, stuff of that nature-- what did you bring that you were glad you had?

FYI, he'll be in a suite: 2 doubles sharing a bath. He'll get roommate assignments in the next week or so, and at that time we can work out the micro/ fridge issues.

 

[JediAng]

Hi.

1. Power Strips. In dorms, most rooms only offer one plug with 2 outlets for each bed, and if you have a bedside lamp and alarm clock on your nightstand, there's no room for a phone, laptop, tablet, game system (I had my DS), or anything else to be plugged in. These were super helpful.

2. A Fan. I used a fan, to help drown out noise throughout the building. Our neighbors were always super loud, and my roommate snored, so this helped. I didn't like sleeping with earplugs or headphones, that bothered me, the white noise from the fan really helped to drown everything out.

3. FOAM MATTRESS TOPPER. This saved me. The beds are very uncomfortable, I needed extra foam padding or else I had back pain from the hard mattresses. We got my memory foam one for about $100 at wal mart, this investment was definitely worth it.

Hope that helps
*Post Edit explained in my post down below

 

[tcufrog]

JediAng...

It sounds like he's staying in a suite not an on campus apartment. Not all dorms have dorm kitchens anymore. When my alma mater remodeled the dorms they got rid of most of the dorm kitchens since they were under utilized and they thought they were fire hazards. I think they got an insurance discount as a result. Before I'd send cooking supplies I'd check to see if there's a place to use them.

Have you seen photos or a floor plan for the suite? Dorm rooms often have inadequate storage so one of the most useful things to provide are smart storage solutions but you won't know what's needed until you visit. I'd also find out the rules for hanging stuff on the wall and buy the appropriate supplies. Another important thing ask is how he pays for laundry. Is it free, quarters or a rechargeable card? If it's quarters send him with some rolls of them along with laundry supplies. If there's a Sam's Club or Costco nearby and you have a membership I'd get him a card. At the start of each semester I'd go there with my suite mates and/or friends and stock up on snacks, school supplies, laundry supplies, etc. We'd split the huge packages and save a lot of money that way. Amazon Student is convenient but it's not always cheaper.

Some of our professors would allow us to electronically send in papers and take home tests while others still required us to print out our papers because they liked to mark them up by hand. The university only gave us x free print outs on the printers and copiers so we'd save them for the copiers and print the rest in our dorms on our own printers. Printer cartridges and boxes of paper were often cheaper at Sam's than anywhere else. I would find out whether your child gets unlimited free print outs at the computer lab at school and whether some of the professors still expect printed papers. 5-10 cents a page in the lab sounds cheap but if he has to print out a lot that can add up over 4+ years.

Finally, I also suggest a small combination lock box or one of those lock boxes that looks like a book or shaving cream cans. Some dorms have a problem with theft so it's good to have a place to securely hide money or anything else small he wouldn't want to have stolen. Along those lines make sure the stuff he takes is covered under your homeowner's insurance.

I can think of lots of other things but most of them are on the standard dorm lists.

 

[Maistre Gracey]

A kegerator.

MG

 

[JediAng]

I apologize. I totally misread. I thought you meant you were leaving for the College Program in Florida, not just regular college. I guess it says you just got back from WDW, not are going. Haha, oops :/

As for a regular dorm suite, a microwave and a mini fridge are a good idea. My freshman year I stayed in a Suite Like room, though mine was a single person without a roommate, and I used all of the items I listed.

 

[jerseygal]

Bed Risers to raise the twin bed off the floor for storage space under the bed. You can get them at Bed Bath and Beyond. Came in really handy and the ones that our DS had, had a plug on them for connections to electric. GOOD LUCK to your DS!

 

[Aliceacc]

OK, that helps a lot.

Yes, he's in a suite with 3 other guys-- 2 doubles with a shared bathroom. He got their names yesterday and is in the process of contacting them. I'm hoping that they can find a way of sharing the expenses of fridge/micro.

The beds are lofted; I wish I had thought to measure how high they are. On the pictures he took, they're as high as the 4th drawer on the adjacent bureau, so it gives us an idea. There's also room under the sinks for bathroom storage.

A friend recommended tons of Command Strip hooks. He has some, but I'll pick up more. And I'll pick up the risers next time I'm in BB&B.

He got a printer from us as a graduation present; he still needs to get a laptop one of these days.

Laundry is free. I'm heading to BJs today for stuff my husband needs; I'll look into ones near his school-- that's a great idea.

His dorm has central AC, but I hadn't thought of a fan for white noise. Good idea.

Keep 'em coming, please!

 

[Deb & Bill]

Bed Risers to raise the twin bed off the floor for storage space under the bed. You can get them at Bed Bath and Beyond. Came in really handy and the ones that our DS had, had a plug on them for connections to electric. GOOD LUCK to your DS!

You may need to get approved to raise the beds. I know my son and his roommate had to request that their dorm beds be raised. Maintenance did it and they were able to set up desk areas under the raised bed.

 

[goofy4tink]

Many colleges are not allowing students to bring in fridges and microwaves anymore. But, there is a company (of course there is!!!) that rents a combo unit...fridge on bottom, microwave on top. It's set up so that if the microwave is being used, the fridge cycles off! That might be an option.
Power strips!!! Command wall hooks.

 

[HopperFan]

Mattress bag that is a bed bug barrier. Kids both took everywhere they lived, and when DD took one to DCP, she was only one not bit up at move in.

 

[Disney_traveler]

---Not just command strip hooks but tons of the extra strips in various sizes. My roomie and I "mounted" our power strip on the side of our dresser for our alarm clock, hair dryer, and flat iron.

---Lysol and Clorox wipes. More i.e. And I forgot to bring this and before we would unpack we begged our parents to go buy about 4 cans of Lysol. We opened the windows and lysoled every inch of that dorm.

---we also bought shelf liner for drawers just to protect our clothes from old wood and metal

---if he's gonna have food to eat in room or take to microwave down hall to eat, a handheld can opener, microwave safe bowl and plate, a set of utensils and an oven mitt/hot pad

---not sure how bathrooms are, but we had 2 rooms that shared a bathroom and you couldn't lock yourself IN the bathroom. Me put a radio in there and if anyone went in (shower or use the facilities) we turned on the radio and you knew it was occupied. We also were able to put shower curtain on a shower curtain rod across where the commode was so in case someone needed to grab something or had guests that didn't know the radio rule, we still had privacy

---if they have their own shower, an over the spout caddy, corner caddy, suction cup caddy, etc to leave items in shower.

---power strips. We had regular ones and then there's one with a super long cord (like 10+ feet) in case we needed to stretch across somewhere

---a couple fold up camp chairs for company. We had lofted beds and 1 desk chair each and no sofa or bench. If anyone came over, we needed extra setting. Those camp chairs folded up and we could stuff them in our closest or a corner.

---we had 1 window with metal blinds, but room was warm so we got a spring rod and dark curtain to cool room

---as far as school supplies go, I liked hanging up a huge desk blotter calendar on the wall and wrote class stuff on it. I know kids rely on phones now for calendars and reminders, but I still love being able to turn and see. Same goes with a 1 subject notebook for each class to take notes.