<p>I think I am going up to Boston next weekend to help my younger son move out of his apartment, move a bunch of junk to my cousin’s house and then come home to NC for part or all of the summer. I am a little annoyed that a big boy like him can’t get this done on his own or with the help of some friends. Wife drove him up in the fall with the car packed full of stuff. She stopped in both directions to visit friends. I am going to fly, rent a car, and then we both fly back together. I don’t think my parents fetched me from college at the end of the year, although I honestly can’t remember specifics. Another reason to keep them closer to home I guess.</p>
<p>My parents never once set foot on my college. I went from New Orleans to University of Miami.</p>
<p>I took the plane to and from all by myself, and put everything I could in my suitcases. I did get a footlocker at an army surplus store that I filled up with towels, sheets, school supplies and toiletries. Flew that up using air cargo. Can’t remember how I got it from the airport to my dorm, but I did it myself somehow. I also somehow got a mini fridge up there eventually. </p>
<p>How did I do it? I wish I could remember. Didn’t even know how to drive in college, so had to have brought everything from home.</p>
<p>We helped daughter the first year. She and her friends rented a storage unit to store their stuff,but they couldn’t rent a car and didn’t have any older friends who had cars who were around and willing to haul their stuff to the unit. (furniture was involved) H and I helped by renting a car and helping with the moving. One of the other roomate’s parents helped in the fall, getting all the stuff back to their dorm.
Son, on the other hand, even as a Freshman did it all himself, but then he just loaded stuff into his car and drove it home, splitting it between two weekends, as he was close to home.
I don’t think your son is that unusual. Next year I’ll bet you won’t be involved.</p>
<p>My husband moved our D1 out last year, but only because she needed two cars to bring everything home. When he got there, she was completely packed and ready to go. It took him .5 hour to move everything out.</p>
<p>Older son has a car at school (close to an 8 hr. drive away). He drove himself up and moved in by himself. He’ll pack up, move out, and drive home at the end of the year without our help. Anything squishable, he will have to stuff into a large wheeled duffle and those XXL big packing ziploc bags. Everything else will just get thrown into the car. </p>
<p>Younger son is a freshman without a car at school so we will drive up there in the morning (about 3 1/2 hours away), throw the stuff in the car, and drive back the same day. He too was sent back to college after the Spring break with a bunch of those XXL big packing ziploc bags. We told him that he has to have everything packed and ready to go by the time we get up there. If he doesn’t have the stuff packed and ready to go, I’m seriously thinking about holding his surfboard hostage for at least half of the summer.</p>
<p>I was concerned about this too. I wanted to go up and help her, but she insists she has everything handled. Four of her teammates from her sport (upperclassman) have a good size storage unit that they share, and they said there is room for her things. No need for MA winter clothing here in GA, bedding, fridge, etc. </p>
<p>I remember seeing a thread last year about tips for students packing and storing teir things in these units. I can’t seem to find it, if anybody can find it, I would appreciate it. I don’t think this unit is climate controlled, and I don’t know if that affects things.</p>
<p>NJres, I bet if your son knew you weren’t going to bail him out he would figure it out on his own.</p>
<p>No way I’m flying across the country to move D’s <a href=“mailto:cr@p”>cr@p</a>. She is on he own wth that one. She did bring home some of the stuff that she no longer needed, and her college has some storage room for out of state students.</p>
<p>Back in the (very olden) days, my college had some storage space for us over the summer. When my son was at a school that involved flying to and from, he flew home on his own. I helped him with the “administrative” details of arranging storage/shipping of items. But he did the feet-on-the-ground part of it and flew home himself.</p>
<p>Your S can do the same, if you don’t want to fly there. There are storage services for college students. You can search for threads here about this.</p>
<p>My parents are coming up to help me move out, only because their Tahoe is so much bigger than my Concorde since they have the removable 3rd row.</p>
<p>My plan (and we’ll see how this works out) is to get a few of those huge blue Rubbermaid bins and put everything in there. Stackable, easy to move around. And will most likely fit in the back of my car.</p>
<p>I’ve never helped my kids with move-out while they were attending colleges – except that when my son graduated last spring, his father & I drove up together to his college, and we took as many boxes as we had room for from his apartment back down in the car with us. He moved out on his own from his apartment and drove down with the rest of his stuff about a week later. </p>
<p>I have also helped my son move several times when he was living and working locally, at various apartments ranging from about 20 minutes to an hour’s drive from my house. During most of that time my son did not own his own car. I didn’t really think of it as an imposition – it just seemed logical that if I had a car and lived nearby, I’d help. </p>
<p>My daughter attends college on the east coast and I have never helped her with move in or move out – even when she started college, she flew out on her own.</p>
<p>when my d came home-which was most summers, dad went to get her- driving distance though, less than 200 miles.</p>
<p>she did store some stuff at a friends and something at a storage unit but along the way, at least one or two boxes have been lost and things broken .
I was very upset personally, when a bookcase she was storing at a friends was broken ( ?) and they threw it away.
My dad had made it in high school and since he died when I was 17, it was the only thing of his I had, besides a Pendelton wool shirt.
oh well
just double check on what you store and take pictures!</p>
<p>For DD who goes to school FAR away…she stores her stuff herself and flies home herself. For DS who went to college closeby…we drove him and fetched him every year.</p>
<p>Back when the dinos roamed…it was VERY easy for me to move myself home from college. EVERYTHING I owned fit into one suitcase…I packed and either got a ride from friends or took the bus. Kids nowadays wouldn’t be able to fit all the “stuff” into one suitcase.</p>
<p>BUT most campuses do have some kind of arrangement for storage of the “stuff”. I don’t miss having the stuff here…and am glad that DD arranges to leave it THERE.</p>
<p>I was ready to fly down and help but got the message - “just need you to send the suitcase you forgot when you visited. I’m fine. See you when I get home.” Well, mixed emotions. She can handle everything, she’s growing up and responsible, - but I’m not needed anymore 
Well at least not for that. It is nice to save the money though.</p>
<p>D found mini-storage and together with her boyfriend and large taxi took all her stuff there. In her college town there are many storage sites and if you are early enough, they willl pick up otherwise normal to use a taxi. S packed his stuff up but is lucky, his storage place is dropping off empty boxes to his dorm and then picking them up when filled. If we lived near enough, I am sure I would have gone to help, if only because I’d hear about the exams and studying and there being no time!!! Since we are several thousand miles away that takes that out of the equation.</p>
<p>I’m not sure what to do because the summer is so up in the air. My daughter, a junior, moves out at the end of April. Her lease on the new apartment for next year starts June 1. She can store her things in the basement of the new apartment, which, according to the landlord, is safe. BUT, we have not heard if she is getting an internship in NYC yet. She has reserved a dorm at NYU. She probably won’t hear before we move her out at the end of April. What to do? Keep her bedding and things that she’ll need if she does get an internship at her boyfriend’s (near NYC) although I’d rather not impose? Drive everything she’d need at home (20 hour drive) back home? Trust the landlord and put most of her things in the basement of the apartment? Ugh. AND, with our luck we’ll give up the dorm (which we’ll have to do in order to get some of the money back, we had to pay in full) and she’ll hear back from an internship. </p>
<p>But yes, I go up and help her because I don’t want a 20 year old driving 20 hours alone. The boys did road trips with friends (20 hours and 15 hours, respectively).</p>
<p>DS moved himself from dorm to dorm a couple of times. Including a 42" tv…
His first year was the only one where he came home for the whole summer. I did go out and move him out but it was my choice because his stuff was going to store at my parents and I wanted to see them. He had moved in alone as a freshman so I hadn’t met his friends, seen his room, etc.
I would say they are definitely capable of doing it alone or getting friends to help out.
When I read the thread title I thought you meant that your student came home with friends all the time, not by himself. Generally speaking whenever ours comes home he brings along a few buddies. That’s a whole other topic.
HGFM, good idea. That’s what we’ve done. Put everything you don’t use over the summer in rubbermaid, take it home, stick it in the garage, take it back in the fall.</p>
<p>Rule to live by: The more space you have, the more junk you accumulate.</p>
<p>I met a parent once who told me she limits her child’s toys to one big rubbermaid. As it gets to overflowing, he had to donate/throw away toys to make room for the new ones.</p>
<p>I think limiting yourself to that one rubbermaid that you keep in the garage over the summer is a great idea.</p>
<p>S doesn’t have a car. Unless he finds a place to store his stuff (a place that I’m willing to pay for if necessary), I’ll go get him. However, I bet that the idea of his cramming everything into my Beetle again will cause him to store his stuff and find another way home.</p>
<p>My mom used to take me to and from college each year, bless her soul. It was a 2.5 hour ride. For grad school – 3,000 miles away – I was on my own.</p>
<p>google packmydorm.com, collegeboxes.com, etc. See if they work at your kid’s school. Save the trip for when they really need you.</p>