Thanks Sue. I think I'll call the school today. I want to know how high of the floor the bed is so I can purchase some bins that will go under the bed. I have also asked ds to try on long pants to make sure he still has some that fit. Then we can tackle packing the fall clothes.

I do have a pile in a corner that is his bedding pile. And I think the school supplies are under control I just need to put in a organized heap.

I wasn't stressed until I spoke with my sister last night. She conferred how she was getting a bit anxious since her sons is leaving in 7 weeks. That when I realized that since my sons departure was so much more imminent I better get moving.

Our DS is heading off in 3.5 weeks! Our older one graduated last year, and we moved a lot of things in suitcases. They stack well in the car, hold a lot of stuff, and come with their own wheels and handles :) so we could fill up the school's Dolly with the sterilite, fan, rug, book boxes, folding bookshelf and hutch, and still roll two suitcases each. The big difference was that he was only 2.5 hours away, and DS#2 will, like yours, be 11 hours away :( and we won't see him till Thanksgiving.

This one won't take as many books with him, and the room has more shelves but less hanging space, so that will be easier. Add this kid just lives more simply than the other.

I did start collecting up all DS#1's stuff (linens, lamp, fan) back into one place, now I need to see what we need to get (toiletries, desk supplies), get new shoes and clothes (and find out for sure if he needs concert attire, he's a musician). Thinking of ordering through Bed Bath and Beyond for some stuff and just picking it up at the store there. This time when we move in, we will have DH and my suitcases, as well, so less room in the car. Although, we will be only 3 people, not 4. And we are waiting for DS to get in touch with his new roommate to see who's bringing what, like a rug, broom/Swiffer, do they want a fridge, that kind of thing.

But first we have to get through the wisdom teeth extraction today, poor guy.

Your school may have lofting kits available that you can set at various heights to store things underneath. Bring your own mallet (with your name on it).

One daughter was allowed to ship items so we sent bedding ahead of time. We flew, so we brought suitcases, which stacked inside each other for me to take home.

On move in day, we went shopping for all the extras.

Side story: Sue good for you for taking a step back! I never did. My oldest transferred from out of state to be in state. But, she did went to live in a dorm.

Did the same set up and move in day. The only difference was that I could drive home that night.

My eldest starts in about seven weeks as well. I have added a mallet to our packing list, thank you bpathome. Our school provides scant advice on what to pack. And we do not learn who the roommate is until move-in day, so coordination of bulky items is very last minute.

For those whose schools do not allow you to ship items early, check and see if you can ship to your hotel. And you probably already know if you have a local Container Store, they will have your order ready for you there.

Also Bed Bath and Beyond, and I'll bet WalMart and Target let you order-and-pick-up, too. Of course, you probably want to get the sheets and towels early to wash them.

My tip, also bring a roll of paper towels and a bottle of 409 or Windex. You just never know what conditions you'll find, and you can leave them behind with your student (and bring them home still full in May lol!)

Great too about the mallet. I will put tools on list. Called the school, the bed height is adjustable so I will get 2 bins. I think I will have to do shopping for some things there. Our car choice is either small (Prius) or behemoth (Tundra super crew cab) . We will have mine and DH's stuff too. I think I am ending up taking the truck

DS went to college in Texas and we live in NH, so we flew. Mostly just took clothes in suitcases then purchased things at BB&B, Staples and IKEA. We did have his bedding shipped directly there. At the end of every year, he rented a storage unit to store most everything and just brought some clothes and his laptop home. When he graduated, we boxed everything up and shipped from UPS. So glad those days are over!

One thing that we purchased was a small handheld vacuum. Not sure it he ever used it but he said the girls always borrowed it. :)

Cordless screwdriver. Regular screwdriver. And DS's college is very picky about the kind of power strip.

Oh my gosh, this brings back so many memories! Many schools have great help available to help move your student in. Usually it's free, hosted by volunteer organizations on campus. Check and see if yours does. I would definitely recommend a dolly if you end up with boxes, and there isn't help with their own dollies available. Don't count on finding any close parking places near the dorm, unless you arrive at O-Dark-30.

Beds are almost always the long singles. DD's her freshman year had the option of a raised long-single with the dresser and desk under it. Nice option, although she said the ceiling was low enough that she couldn't sit up straight on her bed. Speaking of beds, I never met one college freshman who actually made their bed more than once a week, if that. Hope you have a good, easily washable comforter/ cover for your son (LOL). They will eat in bed. Drink in bed. Study in bed. Always forget to take their shoes off when camping out on their bed . . . so trust me, that cover will get very dirty, very often. Two sets of sheets was probably one too many for both my kids, but they did head off with two. DS had a dorm room with two long single beds, one on each side of that small room. For him, we brought along bed lifts, so that he could put storage bins under it. Great idea! Oh, and they love extra pillows to lean against in bed!

One VERY IMPORTANT recommendation: do not count on being able to buy anything at any of the nearby Walmarts, Targets, Walgreens, etc. They run out of almost everything a student needs within a few hours. Or sooner. After that rude awakening with Kid #1, I learned my lesson and brought everything I thought we would need: extra Command hooks, snacks, tape, notebooks, pens, pencils, duck tape, extra hangers, a hanging shelf for more clothes for the closet ( which are notoriously small), etc., etc. with us unopened. I brought back whatever we didn't need and returned it to my own store afterwards.

Mom recommendation: bring along a (big) box of his favorite "mom snacks" that you make to leave with him as a surprise. Homemade cookies or brownies are the best, as they're also shareable . . . which is another bonding/new friend maker.

Best advice to give your son to do that first day after you all leave: Get together some fellow guys in other rooms from down the hall and suggest going for a walk to "cruise and look for cute girls". It works wonderfully as a first day/evening bonding to make new friends. Worked like a charm with DD and her new fellow hall-mates that first day, too . . . except hers was a co-ed dorm :- 0 A group of them went together with her, the girls and the guys. Five years later, they are all still good friends.

One more recommendation: look for places to rent textbooks online and order them that way. You can save so, so much money doing this! DD is now in grad school and she's still renting them that way.

Get him involved, it's his life, get him actively doing everything that needs doing.

Truly, as someone who had it all Done for them, you need to get him to do it, even if it's more work for you.

You are all amazingly helpful! Special power strips, tools, cleaning supplies, I am making a list and checking it twice.

Lynn, I can't imagine showing up at Target expecting to pick last minute things up and finding the place emptied out.

Bumblebeez, I understand your point about getting our children more involved in packing and all, but my DS1 is pretty anti-shopping and a lot of this involves a lot of shopping.

Oh and renting textbooks, really? I had no idea this was a thing. DS's classes go online tomorrow, but they don't register for anything until orientation, so he'll be in charge of getting his books at least.

My oldest is leaving in four weeks for college-we are flying from east coast to west coast. We have no idea the size of her room and just found out this week that she is in a quad-not a suite but a quad! A bit disappointing as it will be very tight on space. We both made lists based on recommendations from a variety of places. Being a girl, of course she is much more into coordinating things. We did the Pack and Hold that Bed bath and Beyond offered-dd created a registry of everything she needed/wanted then we went to our local store. A store rep gave us a scanner where we walked around he store and scanned everything. It was then put into the computer where it scanned the BBB nearest her school to check their inventory. That store had all but one item, everything was pulled from their shelves and boxed that night and is on hold for us to pick up. We are flying in a day ahead and picking up a few last minute things at IKEA which thankfully is only 10 mins away. She has very few things other than clothes, her laptop, etc that she is bringing from home. Anything we forgot we can ship via Amazon Prime.

We are currently on vacation so I can't check our lists but it looks like most everyone else covered all the must haves. Did anyone mention a doorstop? I read somewhere they are very useful on move in day to keep the door propped while carrying everything in.

One thing I do know is that her school does not allow lofting of beds and bunking is only allowed with prior permission from res life. If you do loft or bunk your child's bed, PLEASE ensure that you use bed rails. I was just reading on a college website on which a woman posted her son died after falling from a lofted bed. Others chimed in mentioning many other falls/injuries their kids/friends had. I'll link when I return from vacation - the mom has started an organization educating colleges and parents about the dangers of lofted/bunked beds that do not have bed rails (surprisingly many colleges don't provide them).

You can rent text books through Amazon -- it works amazingly well. They are almost always cheaper than the bookstore prices. They send the book with a return prepaid box/envelope, tell your son to make sure and keep it! Then they send you reminders shortly before the book is due back, at the end of the semester.

DS rented some textbooks on campus, good deal, except that he didn't return them on time and was charged for them. ARRRGGGHHH!

I got DS a comforter, top sheet, and flannel blanket with a fitted foot. Much easier to make, looks tidier longer (not that HE cared, but I figured anyone who walked in wouldn't be jarred by bedlinens cascading off the bed on his side of the room at least).

Rita mentioned power strips. Yes! And extension cords.

Door stop idea is brilliant.

Command hooks and adhesives, BUT show your student how to REMOVE them. Pull DOWN, not OUT.

For packing the car, I suggest that you use space saving vacuum bags rather than bins. Ziplock is one brand and they have an extra large size that is great for blankets and quilts. Use other sizes for clothes. It is incredible how much you can fit in the bags and when you suck out the air with your vacuum cleaner hose, the bags shrink down to just inches high. The bags are easier to fit in and amongst all the other items you need to pack in the car. The bags are reusable.

If you need bins for in the room just buy them when you get to your destination. Bins just take up way to much room in the car.

"Best advice to give your son to do that first day after you all leave: Get together some fellow guys in other rooms from down the hall and suggest going for a walk to "cruise and look for cute girls". It works wonderfully as a first day/evening bonding to make new friends. "

DO NOT DO THIS!!!!!! As a university admin I'll tell you flat out that could get your child in a whole lot of trouble very fast. In today's campus, anything that even sounds like an encouragement to harassment ('cruise and look for cute girls') is completely unacceptable.

If you want to give your son any advice encourage him to find some other newbies to go for a walk and explore campus or find the nearest gathering point. But do not ever tell them to go cruising in a group looking for girls. Nonononono.

Yeah, Badgergal, I was thinking about that last night after someone reminded me I also had to have DH's and my stuff in the car. We will get the bins there, I will pre-order from some store in the area so they dont run out.

I am trying to think through the 'piles' then complete a few and then I can assess. My piles are:

School Supplies

Linens

Fall Clothes

Sports Clothes

Summer Clothes

Shoes

He is going to have to travel light and get some stuff there. My husband keeps reminding me that his best friend from HS went away to school, same distance and his mother said I am not driving you it's too far. So he put his stuff in a couple of suitcases and hopped on a greyhound, Life goes on................

My son is very happy to not have things at first. He wants to have less, rather than have something he will not use, want, need. He gets his clutter aversion from me. I am so proud!

LOL Running no worries I wont be telling my son to 'cruise and look for chicks' . We do not talk about women in that manner. As a woman in IT I interact with maybe a woman every other day. My sons have heard me rant often enough.

Additionally, I dont know about all schools, but certainly DS's has a mega packed orientation experience planned for arriving students with the intent of keeping them busy and getting them immersed and involved from the onset. Its very exciting.

Gosh, I heard the looking at cute girls comment the way it was intended, pretty harmless. It frightens me to think that we police language in such a way as to put the worst possible spin on something innocent most young people do anyway and then we are surprised when time and again young people do some pretty unthinkable things because after all they never said something as untoward as they were going to look at cute girls. At any rate, new student orientation is a huge thing at my son's school as well and fairly jam packed with activities. Prospective frosh weekend was nonstop for him too- I think NSO is even more so.

I just found this list of commonly used dorm items reviewed by the NYT https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/31/education/edlife/shopping-college-student-freshman-dorm.html?sl_rec=random&contentCollection=smarter-living&mData=articles%255B%255D%3Dhttps%253A%252F%252Fwww.nytimes.com%252F2017%252F07%252F31%252Feducation%252Fedlife%252Fshopping-college-student-freshman-dorm.html%253Fsl_rec%253Drandom%26articles%255B%255D%3Dhttps%253A%252F%252Fwww.nytimes.com%252F2017%252F04%252F21%252Fstyle%252Fmodern-love-to-stay-married-embrace-change.html%253Fsl_rec%253Drandom&hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=smarterLiving-promo-region&region=smarterLiving-promo-region&WT.nav=smarterLiving-promo-region.

ETA I have no idea of why this link is so incredibly long.

That link is humorously long, but it did have some good info. I do like the idea of a lap desk and I think I will put one on DS's care package list and or christmas list.

"It frightens me to think that we police language in such a way as to put the worst possible spin on something innocent most young people do anyway and then we are surprised when time and again young people do some pretty unthinkable things because after all they never said something as untoward as they were going to look at cute girls."

Unfortunately given that far too many universities have had issues of sexual harassment or assault, often associated with what has become a much heavier level of drinking by students, there is very much less tolerance for light hearted 'let's go scope chicks' type of comments and behavior.

And as the parent of a daughter I have to say were I to hear that advice given to another freshman by a parent I would not be happy--young women today are also not nearly as flattered to have groups of young men wandering around in packs ogling them.

Trust me on this, don't tell your sons at orientation to find a bunch of guys and go look for cute girls. Just don't ;)

I am not going to comment to defend my suggestion. I do stand by it, though.

When my first was prepping I was where you are at. I just glanced through the suggestions so I apologize if these have been mentioned. The bff was the last to go from a family of 3 so his mom had a HUGE list for us to glean from. Some dorms restrict the use of extension cords so we got a huge power strip with a LOOONG cord. Window fan, if there is no air conditioning.--very old school but they are the primo for sucking out the hot air and bringing in the cooler night air. The first month is BRUTAL in the dorms. If yours is sharing or lofting a bed a shelf that clamps right onto the bed frame was helpful for clock/alarm..now phone near by. Those three are the items mine had that no one else on the floor thought of. It really is a matter of walking through a week of life and observing what all you have at their disposal at home. Food/bathroom/first aid/bedroom/entertainment/clothes/storage and how to economize and cram all that in a very small shared space. For sure after you move him in you will make a 'wally world' run and get the things you forgot or now realize are needed. Unfortunately in a college town move in day means empty shelves for many of these last minute items. The upside for those of us who have boys go first..they aren't so into decor. When the daughter's started packing it was all about the DECOR and that makes it more fun but also more complicated.

These are super space savers.

https://www.amazon.com/slp/vacuum-storage-bags-for-clothes-with-pump/ss8r2ju7jczy55r

I dug out older DS' bunkie shelf that clips on to the bedpost (I know he used it, I knocked into it every time I visited) and the canvas organizer that holds on to the rails with Velcro and has 3 flat bins and a couple of pockets. I can tell he used it by its condition lol but still fine. Of course, if DS#2 doesn't loft or bunk, it won't work as well. I told him to get in touch with his new roomie to see who's bringing a rug!

Funny college move-in day story: Our DS is 10 years older than his little sis. As Arcy mentioned, most incoming freshman guys are NOT interested in having their dorm rooms decorated. As a result, we brought a lot of the basics for him, but that's it. I remember watching out his window there, as DS, DH and DD carried up his few boxes and bags. Dads of incoming freshman girls were walking by pushing big dollies loaded down with towers of boxes, usually more than 2 loads. I remember thinking, oh my gosh, they seriously can't be bringing all that for just one girl! Fast forward to moving in day for DD . . . and, yep, we were right there doing that exact same thing! Art for her walls, a lamp that had to, of course, coordinate with her new Pottery Barn Teen bedding ensemble, tons of clothes she absolutely needed (lol), makeup and all the hair stuff, etc., etc. and, I'll bet that many parents of the guys were shaking their heads at us, too!

Oh, Lynn, there is no joy in shopping for my eldest son. He is Mr. Minimal. And we have no daughters, so I will never get to relieve my college shopping days (Laura Ashley comforter anyone?)

And you can't coordinate items like rugs and such at his school since they do not reveal roommate assignments until move-in day, so we'll pack a rug, window fan, thank you arcy, and a toaster oven (DS1 loves toast- toasters are not allowed.)

LOL, Rita, about the Laura Ashley comforter. I'm embarrassed to say that I still own my college comforter. It had matching sheets but those are long gone. I remember I even made my own duvet for it using sheets despite the fact that I don't normally sew! The duvet is also history but the comforter is in a closet somewhere and gets pulled out on rare occasions for use as a blanket.

Dd got a tapestry from Urban Outfitters (current teen trend) for her birthday, insisting she would hang it in her dorm room, but alas, she was assigned a quad due to over-enrollment so not even sure she will have wall space for it. She was drooling over a matching duvet but she is budget conscious and didn't want me to spend the money for it. My sister then told me my niece had the same duvet and that it was soooooo comfy so I was going to surprise dd and get it for her. Then about two weeks ago, before I bought it, she saw that they were on sale and asked if we could get it....so surprise not happening but she was excited to get the duvet. We will get an IKEA comforter for it when we get to school (flying and IKEA is 10 mins from her school).

next in line for college for my kids is my son two years from now. I know it will be completely different shopping for him so I'll enjoy this while it lasts!