There are many milestones in parenting, setting up a baby's crib, then moving that baby to a big bed and so on. Fast-forward 18 years and it’s setting up your child’s college dorm room. TODAY contributor Elizabeth Mayhew has these tips for getting your child’s room in gear: Those of us who have been off to college remember the professors we had, classes we attended (or didn’t) and the friends we made, but very few of us remember those few weeks before leaving home (some of us for the first time) and the harried preparations that took place. Lugging clothes, computers, sheets, towels, mini-fridges and an endless supply of ramen noodle soups into an often charmless, cinderblock dorm room to live with an unknown fellow student has always been daunting. But now, with more than 10 million kids living in college dorms, marketing and supplying students with all they need is big business. All you have to do these days is enter a mass retailer — Wal-Mart, Target, Staples or Bed Bath & Beyond — to see that back-to-school/college dorm shopping is maybe only second to the holiday season for massive retail sales.
The good news it that so much is available — more than ever — at affordable prices; just make sure that before you spend next year’s tuition bill on this year’s supplies, you are armed with some key bits of information. 1. Before you shop for your dorm room, check with your school to see if they can provide you with details of your room — its size, configuration, etc. Some colleges even allow you to take virtual tours of your room before you arrive at www.dormtours.net. Your school will tell you what is provided and what is prohibited (most schools do not allow anything that gets hot, like hot plates or space heaters — even candles). It is also wise to contact your roommate to find out what he or she is bringing so that you don’t end up with two microwaves or two mini-fridges. You can also check out the MicroFridge. 2. Chances are you won’t be able to take your favorite bed sheets. Most schools have extra-long beds and sheets that require extra-long bedding. I recommend buying a good quality mattress pad and bed topper to make those much-needed Z’s all the better.
Also forgo flat sheets — make it easy on yourself by having only a fitted sheet and a comforter with a duvet cover; it will be easier to “make the bed” and one less thing to wash. Also invest in some extra pillows — when friends drop by, your bed will have to double as a sofa. Savvy students also know to get blocks or bed risers to raise their beds up to provide much-needed storage. 3. Don’t go crazy with the clothes; if you don’t love it, then don’t bring it. Also remember you will probably head home for Thanksgiving, which is only a few months away. You can do your wardrobe switch then. The two things you want to bring a lot of are underwear and socks — just in case you don’t do your laundry as frequently as you should. Speaking of laundry … plan on having a stash of quarters for the times you are forced to finally do a load or two. And rather than schlepping a hefty container of detergent to and from the laundry room, buy Dropps instead; they are dissolvable premeasured packets of detergent so there is no measuring, no heavy lifting.
4. Dorm rooms are usually outfitted with the basics: a bed, dresser, desk and chair, but you will want to bring some extra items to help you minimize clutter. Make use of back-of-door, under-bed and closet storage. Hanging shoe bags can hold everything from socks to a flashlight or snacks for the late-night munchies. Boxes and magazine holders can help keep class papers sorted. Stacked cubes or boxes next to your bed can store items and double as a bedside table. And because you want to look your best — even if you have been wearing the same unwashed jeans for two weeks — you might want to invest in a full-length mirror. 5. As for study time, I suggest bringing a task lamp for you desk — dorm rooms usually have overhead lighting only. I would also consider swapping your dorm-provided wooden desk chair circa 1950 for an up-to-date ergonomic model. The one thing you are sure to have a lot of is books. Umbra’s clever, space-saving bookshelves and magazine rack attach easily to the wall;
just make sure when you take them down at the end of the year that you fill in the holes with spackling (or toothpaste). You might want to include one book that opens to reveal a secret compartment for valuables. 6. This will probably be the first time you will have to share a bathroom with 100 other people and chances are you will have to walk more than 100 feet to get to it. A shower caddy is a must-have for dorm life. I would make sure you have a pair of flip-flops for shower time as well. 7. A note to parents: Even if you don’t have a student going off to college this month, you should encourage your kids to take responsibility for their laundry, rooms and study time; you will set them up for success once they do go to college.For those who like feeling as if they’re sleeping on a pile of feathers, or in a Ritz-Carlton penthouse suite, nothing will bring you there like a plush mattress topper. An extra (literal) layer of softness can be all the more necessary in this age of computer-generated comfort from bed-in-a-box brands like Casper and Tuft & Needle, which aim for a median level of comfort so that you don’t need to test out your mattress beforehand;
you can feel relatively sure, based on their extensive research, that it will feel “fine.” But what if you want to feel not just fine, but like you’re sleeping on a cloud? If you’re looking for plush, there are two options: down and alternative down, which mostly feels the same, but has no allergy-causing potential and is often much more affordable. What makes one cushiony fabric really stand out from the pack is the way it distributes the fluff. While in some cases a down filler will shift or bunch up, the best toppers are able to maintain an even distribution throughout the night. Others run into problems when the outer shell has a synthetic feel, which can seep through and affect overall softness, even when it’s beneath sheets. The happy medium here is Parachute, which is, of course, another sleep start-up. Instead of focusing on the mattress, though, Ariel Kaye founded Parachute two years ago to sell sheets and duvets she designed to mimic a hotel bed she first slept in during an Amalfi Coast getaway.
I was turned on to the brand during an informal survey of interior-designer friends and bedding experts. Two of them, interior designer Danielle Arps and home-goods designer Aelfie Oudghiri, said that Parachute’s down-alternative fiber bed, filled with a hypoallergenic microfiber and released this August, was the most natural and luxurious-feeling, like a super-dense comforter from below. So I decided to try one out.I sunk right into the Parachute and it shaped to the form of my body, following my every move throughout the night. While a memory-foam topper might act similarly, this felt light, airy, and cool, instead of thick. And there were no hot vibes like I get from foam. Kaye and her team developed this topper to solve the problem of down alternative often flattening quicker than real feather down; Parachute’s stands at three inches tall (they also offer a duck-feather option). And instead of bothersome synthetic coating, Parachute uses an Oeko-Tex certified cotton shell that’s both soft and free of synthetics and chemicals.