It’s all been leading up to this moment..Dear Husband and I just returned from a long weekend with Sophie, spent moving into a college dorm. And boy, do I have some tips! There are so many great online resources on this topic, and I feel it is my duty to contribute to the collective knowledge of families and students…
Use it as project management learning opportunity
I am a born planner and project manager (just please, no MS Project!) so my inclination was to jump in and project manage the hell out of this task. I told myself repeatedly that this was Sophie’s dorm room (not mine!) and she needed to own this planning and outcome.
Well, I’d give myself a C+ on this effort. Yes, Sophie did take on the list creation and a bit of the logistics. But I did step in here and there. We were only in Boston for three nights, so we didn’t have time to waste trying to figure out where Target was. I would recommend using the moving into a college dorm process as an opportunity for your student to partner with you. Each of you has responsibility for certain tasks. And perhaps add a few reminders to the junior PM about due dates??
Order and ship some things ahead of time
I know the received wisdom is that Bed, Bath & Beyond is the college dorm one-stop shop (more on that below). But I was so grateful that we didn’t wait to buy a few key items. These include:
- Sheets- I am picky about sheets. And I didn’t want to take any chances on not finding the Twin XL that dorm room beds take. On the flip side, towels are something that can easily be picked up at a few different places.
- Mattress topper-There is “one” mattress topper that “everyone” gets. I have no idea if this is true, but I went with the flow. I had a hunch that it was going to be bulky and a pain for Sophie to deal with if we had to order it later.
- Basic winter gear- It snowed two of the three days we were in Boston. I am very glad we equipped Sophie with winter boots that fit, hats, gloves, coats. I guess you could buy this when you get there. But if you have a picky teen, you are going to want to figure this stuff out early. I think we bought her coat in September!
Basically, if you are picky about something AND it isn’t 120% guaranteed to be in stock, I’d order it ahead. Anything else- well, we’d either find it in Boston or Sophie could order it from Amazon later. Or perhaps do without!
And in terms of logistics, we investigated shipping to the UPS Store near Sophie’s campus. After a few tries, we decided to ship to the hotel- and it went very smoothly. They held the boxes for us until we checked in.
Don’t count on Bed Bath & Beyond
It had been a while since I had entered into a BBB store. The last time I was there, it was not a pleasant shopping experience- really stuffed full of merchandise, with displays filling the aisles.
Well, how times have changed- probably due to impending bankruptcy. The store was definitely sporting a more minimalist vibe- perhaps due to a lack of inventory. I was super glad we didn’t count on it for the bulk of the moving into a college dorm shopping. We would have been very disappointed.
And same thing goes for the small Target right near campus in Boston. It’s good for picking up some basics and snacks (it reminded me a bit of the little store on my own college campus :)) But when I saw the parents and kids milling through the very small selection of sheets and towels, I was very grateful we had gone to the mega-Target in Somerville.
Finally, manage expectations and make it easy on yourself
- Do not overschedule yourself. Silly me, I had plans for hitting the MIT Museum and the Boston MFA. Yeah, that didn’t happen!
- Emotions will run high and low. Allow yourself and everyone else the time to rest and relax. Don’t expect everyone up at 8am!
- There are times to pay for valet parking. For premium economy seating. For a rental car. For someone at the hotel to bring the huge bags into your room. This could be that time.
- Take some deep, cleansing breaths. I had no idea that a person could spend 2+ hours in Target. But yes, it is possible! And when that person darts back and forth across the store, rather than methodically going up and down the aisles, with list in hand- well, a person’s mother could start to get antsy. But I remembered that I was there to support her and help with moving into a college dorm. And then I relaxed!
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