So your little baby is headed to college, and your head is pounding because you have had to think about money, scholarships, that horrible FAFSA, SATs, graduation gifts…I could go on. And now you have to buy, pack, and store all those little items that your child is going need to successfully live on their own for the first time.
I started looking at lists my son’s junior year in college. I wanted to start buying things, necessary things, before we got to that last minute crisis. I didn’t know if my son would be headed to the dorm, which I preferred, or if he was headed to an apartment with his buddies. Cost wise, at least when we were looking at monthly rent, wasn’t that much different. But when we started looking at items he needed, the discussion turned. The boy didn’t need cookware in his dorm, but he was going to needed it in his new apartment.
Sending your child to college may be up there in stress with moving yourself from one state to another. And it is an unrelenting stress that bombards you while your reeling from the idea that your child, your beautiful little baby, is going to have to live on his own. I spent hours in therapy trying to wrap my head around all of it.
Of course, I did take comfort in the fact that these days there are companies such as Walmart, Target, and Amazon, who will simply take your order from wherever you live and deliver the necessary items to your child wherever they are. They didn’t have that convenience in my days; if I needed toothpaste, I was out of luck until my parents came to visit me (ok, I could borrow some from a roommate, but you get my point). So there is a little room to feel more in control; but not much.
If you look online there are so many sites that will happily give you a list of everything your child needs for existing in this big world. And I will say, I was a little surprised that some of the items I hadn’t even thought of: like, nail clippers (who remembers that their son is going to have to trim their nails at some point?). Here is a list and a website that I found to be helpful and comprehensive: College Made Easy. And of course, every major retailer has their own lists; but, personally I didn’t want a list from Walmart, I wanted a list from someone not trying to sell me things I didn’t need; just what I needed to think about. That’s not to say I didn’t purchase many of the items I needed from Amazon, Walmart, Target, and even Temu when I could, I just didn’t want their lists of what my son needed to bring.
Below are some items I found that my son actually needed and used. Of course, this list isn’t comprehensive, so be sure to find a site that will give you a full list and try and figure out what your child actually needs to take. My mother reminded me that no matter what I pack for my son, there was going to be items he didn’t need that I would have to cart back, and there were items that I was going to forget. And this would happen for years, even after he got that all important college degree.
This is a list more suitable for young men, and I will be doing a separate list for my girl. The things they need and the things they find are important is very different. But then they have been that way since they came into this world.
Use the summer, the deals and coupons and everything else you can think of to find ways to minimize this cost. Based on the sheer amount of money I am going to be forking over for his tuition, you would think his college would at least provide toothpaste for him. But what he is going to need to live on his own is simply another cost in the large expense it takes to send him out in the world (and I am keeping a tab!)
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I will never forget my first look at the bed I was supposed to sleep on my freshman year of college. It was puke green, hard and plastic. I had no idea how many people had slept on it before me, and no one, including myself, ever thought of the idea of a mattress pad. My son is not a fussy kid, he barely cried as a baby, but how is he supposed to succeed, (and with the amount of money I am paying for his schooling, he needs to do just that), when he can’t sleep? So a comfortable mattress topper to the rescue.
My mother actually made my first aid kit when I went to college. It included everything from Band-Aids to Neosporin. Honestly, I didn’t need the majority of it, and certainly not in the quantities my mother thought I would, but there were items that came in handy (especially that Tylenol). First aid kits today have the majority of what your child hopefully will never need, but if they do, it’s there. And it’s convenient. Your average first aid kit may not have the Tylenol or Ibuprofen that will be needed, so make sure you are adding that to the kit.
We all know that our children are going to need the dreaded shower shoe. However, this shoe, which please see reviews for sizing, will not only work in the shower stalls but at pools, and even when they are just relaxing in their dorm. My son is a person who prefers to be in front of us computer coding everyday rather than going out, so having a shoe he could wear all day and then right into the shower was my goal. And while there are quality flip-flops out there, my son doesn’t like the toe separator, so this was a good compromise. Plus, knowing my son, it will probably last for at least the first year.
Everything that our child needs their first year of college is going to have to fit in one half of a small room. Therefore, large jugs of laundry detergent aren’t practical. If you child is going away for college, (I feel your pain), they need everyday items that are going to fit easily in either storage bins under their bed, or on top of something. Think of items that get things done, like cleaning their stinky clothes, but won’t take up much space. Putting our mom’s brilliant hats on…go!
On inescapable truth is that our children have a heck of a lot more electronics than the kids had when those dorms were first built. Rather than having cords running here and there, and causing tripping issues, look for something with multiple outlets and multiple charging slots. Kids have changed but unfortunately those dorm rooms have not.
Kids don’t travel light, it’s a fact of life. And while you can try to buy only the basics for your child when they are headed to a life without you, the truth of the matter is they are either going to acquire more stuff, or you are going to have to buy more stuff. While my son tends to complain about some of my ideas for storage in his dorm room, the truth of the matter is that getting creative is what is going to save the day. Do I hope that there will be enough storage room under his bed? Yes. Do I hope he has a closet and a dresser? Yes. But that isn’t going to be enough. And as a gal who spent three years in dorm rooms (I was on scholarship), I know there is no such thing as too much creative storage. Just keep reminding your boys that storage doesn’t make them into a girl.
While I have trained my son to always wash his towels when he does his laundry, the truth is I will have no way of knowing if he continues this in college. Therefore, I am willing to spend a little extra dough to get him a good set of towels. While it would probably be smarter to get him the cheapest ones I can find, I think he needs towels that are going to hold up not only to those ancient washer and dryers all dorms have, but will hold up to being dropped on the floor, kicked around and basically never hung up to dry.
I actually went through multiple choices with my son regarding the shower caddy he would use. I was completely taken back when he thought one was too girly, or one looked stupid, and then when he just shrugged and said I’ll just carry everything to the bathroom; but this one passed his inspection. Maybe it’s a guy thing, but when I finally explained that I didn’t care if he used it or not, it was for the storage of those bathroom items, he finally got on board.
Even a hundred years ago, when I went off to college, a refrigerator that could fit under something was a necessary purchase. This one comes with a freezer which was important to me because while I know that my son will not being eating fruits and vegetables, there isn’t a day that goes by that he doesn’t eat a frozen pizza. Boys! (By the way they have caddys that hang off these fridges that will hold silverware and plates…)
Don’t forget the walls. These days they make great floating shelves for dorm rooms that can be used for storage. Now, my freshman dorm had concrete walls so we had to get creative here, but it’s something you want to look at during orientation. Among all the other things you will have to remember from that orientation.
Underbed storage, unless you have a weird dorm room that doesn’t offer this, will become your best friend. I recommend storage with wheels, just for your own ease of use; my son doesn’t really need them until he has to take them back home. Be creative here and taking the other pros and cons of the room in consideration, figure out exactly what your son needs. Are they in a climate that will change? Is there enough room for all those little extras they are going to need? Is there space for your son to grow into as he realizes all the things he forgot to get from the beginning?
Let’s be honest. My son is not going to clean his dorm room. I imagine he won’t clean anything except his clothes until there is a steady girl involved. So trash cans, paper plates, plastic silverware, are going to be his best friends. I also know that for Christmas I will be getting him a new set of sheets and telling him to throw the ones away that I got for him at the beginning. I also thought about getting him this pillow which says, “Call your mom”, but he would just throw that away when I wasn’t looking.
My son also has nicked all my ideas on laundry baskets. He will not use the backpack ones; he just wants what he has now (too bad it wouldn’t fit in a dorm room). So this laundry basket caught my eye because I believe I could hide it in a closet. And don’t forget the hangers he’s going to need, especially if he doesn’t have access to a dresser.
As I said, this isn’t a complete list by any means, but it is a starting point. Use those lists that others provide to reference all the things you are going to have to buy. And buy early (not when he is ten, but rather throughout his senior year). Use Prime Days, Labor Day sales, after Thanksgiving sales, Christmas sales – you get the picture). Buy the little things in between but in smaller quantities. The only way to successfully outfit your kid for his future, and set him up to succeed, is to be strategic. And mothers are nothing if not strategic.
From My Girl Friday 
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