Disclosure: This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #Phones4School #CollectiveBias

It’s that time of year when the kids are going back to school and ultimately, that means if you have college aged children, they are either living in your house forever, or they are going away to college.

Now, with Walmart best plans, you can keep in touch with your college student with
!

Fortunately, my kids are young yet and still have a long time before I will let them leave, but I do have family members that are leaving home to head to college.

For those parents that have kids leaving, here is a survival kit for your college bound kid!

+ Bathroom caddy/carry all – you could even fill it with cute little soaps, lotions, shampoo, conditioner, razors, shaving cream, toothbrush, toothpaste, etc. (Although if you have a son, you may want to stay away from the cute little soaps!)

+ Shower flip flops – and make it fun! Decorate those bad boys for your loved one (or not. Again, not sure how our sons would appreciate it! But it’s the thought that counts, right?)

+ Towels, washcloths, shower puffs, etc.

+ Laundry bag or hamper – if you want them home visiting, give them something to bring their laundry home to you in. It’s not ideal to still do your college aged child’s laundry, but hey – you gotta take what you can get when it comes to visitation!

+ Cute bedding!

+ Hanging organizers – space in dorm rooms is limited so provide some extra space by giving them hanging shelves/organizers.

+ Under the bed storage – again, limited space.

+ Desk or floor lamp

+ Garbage can

+ Mini fridge – although a mini fridge with a dry erase board would be even better! (
)

+ Food storage

+ Cheap dishes and silverware

+ Toaster oven – gives you a toaster and microwave/oven in one! Again, we want to save money and not go out every day for meals!

+ Keurig – they can make hot or cold coffee plus other beverages. College students need to save money so it is cheaper than running to Starbucks every morning!

+

The Nokia Lumia 521 is a great smartphone for under $100 and it only costs $34.88 per month for Unlimited Talk, Text, and Web. Plus it’s a non-contract so its even better!

You can keep in touch with your college student and not have to worry about going over their minutes, texts, or data/web. They will have no excuse to answer your phone call when you call them!

Nokia Lumia 521 is a Windows 8 powered phone with a 1GHz dual core processor, and a touchscreen that even works with long finger nails or gloves. It has a 5MP Camera rear camera and is light weight.

I got to play with the phone a little bit before handing it off to the college student in the family, but one of my favorite features was the ease of accessing music on the phone! My phone doesn’t take music well, but this one is a one touch button to my favorite music genre!

Not only will the college student in your life love this new phone, but mom will love being able to reach her ‘baby’ with no excuse of running low on minutes!

Do you have a college student going away this school year? What advice do you have for other parents who also have kids leaving for college?