I just moved my daughter out of her freshman year college dorm. Here's everything I wish I'd known ahead of her first year.

The author (right) moved her daughter (left) out of her freshman year dorm.Courtesy of VaNessa DuplessieI recently moved my daughter out of her college freshman dorm.I realized a lot of the items I bought for her dorm, she didn't even use.

I also learned that we both grew a lot during her freshman year.When I helped my daughter move into her UCLA dorm last fall, I thought I had prepared for everything. From planned tuition payments to dorm "necessities" and a well-stocked first-aid kit, I had spreadsheets, checklists, dorm shopping lists, and enough big blue moving bags to organize a small apartment.

Fast forward nine months, and as I waited for my daughter to finish packing her freshman dorm room, something surprised me. The things I had spent the most time worrying about weren't the things that mattered most.A few days later, we began the 1,000-mile drive home to Washington in a packed SUV, with nearly half of her belongings tucked away in a Los Angeles storage unit until sophomore year.

Somewhere along the drive, I found myself thinking about everything those nine months had meant to both of us, and wondering how one college freshman had accumulated so much stuff. Then I realized the extra stuff wasn't clutter. It was evidence of a life well lived.

If you're getting ready to send your child to college for the first time, here's what I wish someone had told me.First, you'll probably buy too muchLike many parents, I wanted my daughter to have everything she could need before I drove away, so I wouldn't worry. By move-out, some of those purchases were still unused.

One item never even came out of the box: the Woozoo fan I bought before realizing her dorm room had air conditioning. This was the item Facebook told me was a must-have.If I could do it again, I'd buy less before moving in and wait until she actually needed something.

Amazon delivers to college campuses surprisingly fast, and throughout the year, we shipped everything from class supplies and clothes to medici