After some online schooling from the road, A.J. is moved in! Here’s a list of things I bought to set my son up in his college apartment in Boston!

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For those new to this website:

Tamara Rubin is a multiple-federal-award-winning independent advocate for childhood Lead poisoning prevention and consumer goods safety, and a documentary filmmaker. She is also a mother of Lead-poisoned children (two of her sons were acutely Lead-poisoned in 2005). Since 2009, Tamara has been using XRF technology (a scientific method used by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission) to test consumer goods for toxicants (specifically heavy metals — including Lead, Cadmium, Mercury, Antimony, and Arsenic). All test results reported on this website are science-based, accurate, and replicable. Items are tested multiple times to confirm the test results for each component tested. Tamara’s work was featured in Consumer Reports Magazine in February of 2023 (March 2023 print edition).

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If you have been following our “starting college as a freshman during a pandemic” saga, you know that just before we left Oregon to drive to Boston to drop my 18-year-old off at college, we got an e-mail from his college (Berklee College of Music) saying the dorms were being canceled (closed for the foreseeable future) — and then another e-mail… saying classes would be 100% online! 

A.J. has been dreaming about living in Boston for the past five years and we couldn’t let CoViD-19 considerations (& a global pandemic) dash this kid’s dreams when he worked so hard to get here (fighting against numerous disabilities and challenges caused by being Lead poisoned as a toddler and against-the-odds earning a significant merit-based scholarship to the school of his dreams!). So we decided to press on and make the drive cross country to drop him off “at school” anyway… despite not knowing what that would look like, including having no idea, under the circumstances, where we would actually be “dropping” him off!

After an amazing (and extremely educational!) month-long cross-country drive, we finally made it to Boston… and we LUCKED OUT! We found him a perfect (newer construction, Lead-free, spacious!) apartment right near the school (in the heart of Boston, just a few blocks from the Prudential Center) with three other CoViD-19 conscious (responsible, safe) freshmen!!

The only challenge that remained was setting up his apartment with the many things he would need (including several things that he wouldn’t have needed, had he been in the dorms and had the school meal plan to provide his nourishment!)

And so, below is a list of things I have bought for my son for his college apartment *so far* (since the dorms were #Cancelled!) — these are all Amazon affiliate links for things I have actually purchased for him in the past two weeks. I have no concerns for Lead with any of these items. I also took into account many other environmental considerations in purchasing most of these items (as I do with everything I purchase in my life), not the least of which was making sure to (whenever possible) choose things he might have for a lifetime, things he would use far beyond his college years and well into his journey into independent young adulthood.

I will update this article with images of these items (and more/updates) soon, but am typing this on my phone (as I sit next to a river in rural Pennsylvania with my two younger sons!), so my tech abilities are a bit crippled!

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The list of things I have bought so far for my son’s new apartment at college:

1. Pots & pans – https://amzn.to/35TaMS9
2. Nail clipper – https://amzn.to/2ZY2WmK
3. Glass cups – https://amzn.to/2FRJu3U
4. Dishes – https://amzn.to/3ct9EWZ
5. Sheets – https://amzn.to/2RKnzOG
6. Colanders – https://amzn.to/32MaI4M
7. Blender – https://amzn.to/2FLTa02
8. Mattress – https://amzn.to/32LIwz6
9. Chairs – https://amzn.to/2RIvYC2
10. Brita Water Pitcher w/filter – https://amzn.to/3hOsWai
11. Bathroom Rug Mat – https://amzn.to/33IOi3P
12. Wastebaskets/trash cans – https://amzn.to/2RJQbaP
13. Wastebasket liners – https://amzn.to/3j2u7V3
14. Laundry detergent – https://amzn.to/3ck5yQw
15. Dry Erase Board – https://amzn.to/3j1iJZa
16. Dry Erase Markers – https://amzn.to/32LIMy4
17. Dry Erase Board Erasers – https://amzn.to/2FZR2Bm

To be updated with more shortly!

Tamara Rubin
#LeadSafeMama

Amazon links are affiliate links. If you purchase something after clicking on one of our links, Lead Safe Mama, LLC may receive a small percentage of what you spend — at no extra cost to you.

The picture below is A.J. — the first night in his new apartment!