<p>So, the decisions are made, deposits are in place, roommates are selected. Now how the heck do we get all his “stuff” to school (we will be going by car) What do you pack it in? Suitcases? Boxes? Trunks? Laundry baskets? It’s been way too long since I went away to school so can’t look back on that and remember. </p>
<p>Just curious what other parents do.</p>
<p>Boy, are you going to get posts on this!</p>
<p>We use rubbermaid type tote boxes (bought at Lowes for around $8 each) and we write the name & dorm name & room # on masking tape and apply to each box. This is because the school usually has older student helpers on move-in day & it helps the stuff get to the right place. They do have stickers they give you to do this with but if you applied the info at home the week before, you don’t have to stand behind your minivan writing on them.</p>
<p>Buy them all the same size & you can bring them home & nest them for storage until it is time to fetch your student next spring. Or he can keep some in his closet to store gear & send the rest home. </p>
<p>Then there are those flat boxes to put under the bed.</p>
<p>There are also those bed risers that look like black upside down flowerpots—you will want those! Get sturdy ones. </p>
<p>Do get, while you are at Lowe’s, an inexpensive handtruck; many dorms do not have elevators. Then you are very popular with friends because they borrow yours to move their kids into school. They are handy with things at home, too–moving the air conditioner just got to be fun!</p>
<p>The school may sell or rent dorm fridges—go to Sears, choose one, order it and have it delivered to the Sears nearest the school (assuming student is not flying across country). On move in day, after the other stuff ins in dorm, drive to store, pick up & bring to school. One less thing in car. Ditto other appliances if needed. BYO fridge costs less than renting from school because you can sell it later to another student. </p>
<p>Order as many of the textbooks as you can used, on Amazon, and have them sent to his school address. Be kind and do not load the school’s post office with too much of this in the weeks before school starts. </p>
<p>Most universities do not have very ergonpmic desk chairs. We learned the hard way that this is very bad for kids’ wrists (though it was in the days before laptops). Oldest D now wears wrist braces at times; they will never be the same again. IF your son will sit at the desk a lot to work, and not on his bed or the floor, go to Staples, etc and order an inexpensive ergonomic chair with adjustable arms & seat. Have it delivered to the Staples closest to the school. Pick it up along with the fridge on move in day. Show him the right height to sit at if he does not already know. </p>
<p>Very important—if he does not already know, teach him now how to do his laundry!!! </p>
<p>And also some general cooking. The school my D goes to has kitchens in almost every suite & almost everyone is in a suite. Very few of the kids eat many meals at the food court that passes for a dining hall. They all cook–for many of them “cooking” means heating up a Banquet dinner or Rice a roni. Get your son beyond those & he will have many friends! </p>
<p>Bed Bath & Beyond will find you & send you coupons—they also have lists of things they want you to believe your child cannot live without. Some of it is correct–sheets—some of it is funny. </p>
<p>Have fun; you will have a wonderful summer making all these preparations. You will also be deluged with advice, have fun reading it all! Bon Voyage & blessings to your son in his new venture!</p>
<p>Free advice from my 20 something son. Put everything you THINK you will need in your living room. THEN only take HALF of it to college. You won’t even use half of what you take.</p>
<p>Now…how to get it there! We had minivan but also four people to transport! We packed as much as we could in pillowcases and plastic garbage bags. NOTHING went empty…we filled the mini fridge with “stuff”. DS had some stackable milk rate things…those went fully packed as well. We just shoved it all in, and we’re clear that if it didn’t fit in the vehicle, it probably wouldn’t fit in the room either.</p>
<p>Ugh! I need to know how to get the stuff to college if we’re flying. Maybe I need to start a new thread.</p>
<p>Flying…we did that with child two. First off…I hope you are able to fly Southwest where two bags travel free with each passenger. Here is what we did (going 3000 miles away). We had four suitcases (I brought two home with me, one went in the trash, and DD kept the 4th):</p>
<ol>
<li>Was for DDs clothing.</li>
<li>Was for linens we were bringing from home (her bed quilt and towels she got as grad gifts), plus any additional clothing she could fit in.</li>
<li>Held school supplies and decorative items (family pictures, teddy bear, etc). She had some computer related “stuff” that went in that bag also.</li>
<li>Held MY clothes for the 4 day trip, plus anything else she wanted to squeeze in. Also…hair dryer, flat iron, electric toothbrush.</li>
</ol>
<p>We each has a carry on and a personal item. DD carried her musical instrument case and I carried the laptop case.</p>
<p>We looked like pack mules! When we put it all in the rental car, we looked like the Beverly Hillbillies without a rocking chair!</p>
<p>We went to Bed Bath and Beyond here and ordered bulky things (mattress pad, sheets, pillow, cushion for desk chair, desk lamp, etc) and we picked THAT up at the college location.</p>
<p>We also made a run to staples where we bought the cheapest printer they had, some printer paper and extra cartridges.</p>
<p>Then we made a Target run for all the toiletries, laundry soap, etc.</p>
<p>Don’t take so much “stuff.” Especially flying. When he/she comes home on their own it needs to all fit in two suitcases and one carryon. That’s how we did it - including bedding!</p>
<p>And yes, buy the toiletries and printer when you get there.</p>
<p>Mine even managed to pack her bedding, including mattress topper, with all her clothes into her own two checked bags and one carry-on. Parents brought only carry-ons.</p>
<p>Girls seem to need twice as much stuff as boys. Told D1 she got one load in the minivan, including mini-fridge. S1 filled half the minivan, including fridge and desk chair.</p>
<p>For D, we did put everything in the living room before we packed the van. She was able to weed a lot out. And still filled the van.</p>
<p>Defintely use Bed Bth & Beyond, scan at home store and pick up at destination store. You aren’t committed to it until you check it out at destination so you can change your mind. We did that with the long distance trip and it was great. Also, don’t take all the clothes. The season won’t change for at least a month or 2 and what they want to wear may well change once they get there.</p>
<p>I second the “Bed Bath and Beyond” … you choose your stuff locally, scan it - and it’s packed and ready for pick up at nearest store to new school. We traveled across country. Used this tool for a lot of stuff. Bought a lot of stuff at Target. Only took clothes with us in suitcases. </p>
<p>Getting there is the easy part - what to do each summer is the hard part. Good luck!</p>
<p>Don’t forget your BBB coupons! I totally embarrassed DD when I forgot mine and politely said “does ANYONE have any extra coupons?” a nice lady behind me opened her purse and she had a huge clip with about 50 coupons. She gave me the 9 I needed!</p>
<p>Also far away college had one HUGE advantage! DD’s “stuff” was stored THERE instead of in my living room all summer. Priceless!</p>
<p>Awesome suggestions!! Sadly I don’t have the summer to get ready because he’s going for summer B! I love the garbage bags and plastic tub ideas and will definitely hit target and bed bath and beyond.</p>
<p>He has a good desk chair already so will have to make room for that. Of course, one of his issues is the dorm he will be in for summer is a nice new suite style dorm with three roommates and a kitchenette. But! He really wants to live in the engineering dorm for fall/spring and its the old fashioned type dorm I lived in. I told him not to commit to the summer room for anything he can’t use in the fall.</p>
<p>Don’t know how we will do this with S2 in a couple of years-he has more clothes and hair products than I do!</p>
<p>Don’t forget you can rent storage units in the town of the college. And two or three kids can share one. We use one that is right next to Johns Hopkins in a repurposed former office bldg. It beats heck out of cramming all that stuff back into the car & having it lying around the house all summer (obviously some of it has to return home with the student).</p>
<p>Those vacuum sealed space saver bags - and similar ones - work. Hook up to a vacuum and you see the bulky stuff like comforters and towels shrink to much smaller. Made stuffing the car easier.</p>
<p>The only problem with those vacuum sealed bags is the stuff EXPANDS…so make sure you don’t cram in more than will fit in the dorm storage in the room.</p>
<p>Also, if it doesn’t fit under the bed, plan to bring the storage vessels home OR pitch them (those garbage bags can either be tossed or taken home easily…and like I said, we used one OLD suitcase that made a ONE way trip only an was tossed).</p>
<p>For the car move, we tried to pack in things that were going anyway…pillowcases, laundry bag, fridge, storage cubes…all filled.</p>
<p>When I was a frosh I made the classic mistake of taking too much and as much as that was there was even more to bring back. By senior year, I left with a backpack, laptop & case, gym bag (filled with books) and two hefty garbage bags of clothing.</p>
<p>For flying, we used Southwest Airlines which allowed 2 free bags per passenger. It was me and DS. Knowing that he doesn’t need extra suitcases in his room and has no value for more than one suitcase, we filled up 3 boxes and a suitcase. The boxes were sturdy computer boxes and fit within the maximum dimensions allowed by Southwest. After unpacking, the 3 boxes were flattened and saved so that next month when his first year is completed, he can store his belongings until he returns in August.</p>
<p>His pillow was my personal item and the laptop was his. Plus we had two carry-on bags with additional stuff.</p>
<p>For stuff via flying, here are a few options:
<ol>
<li><p>You can order stuff online and have it delivered to dorm or to someplace closer. We ordered things and had it delivered to inlaws who lived near the college such as fan, bedding etc.</p></li>
<li><p>We did the southwest airlines deal with 2 bags each. Bought these rolling duffels for $38 each: (there are larger 32" duffels, but it barely exceeds SWA requirements, should they choose to measure the bag)
[Everest</a> 29" Rolling Duffel Bag - eBags.com](<a href=“http://www.ebags.com/product/everest/29-rolling-duffel-bag/225864?productid=10164550&lastSearchTerm=everest+29"+rolling+duffel]Everest”>http://www.ebags.com/product/everest/29-rolling-duffel-bag/225864?productid=10164550&lastSearchTerm=everest+29"+rolling+duffel)
Also bought some large nesting suitcases as well.
4 travelers, 7 bags. Girl takes 1 full duffel of shoes, 1 full duffel of toiletries etc.
Rented an SUV to take bags from airport to college. Picked up a preordered fridge from local Walmart. The duffels fold up flat.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>For moving back, we are doing <a href=“http://www.collegeboxes.com%5B/url%5D”>www.collegeboxes.com</a>. They will ship suitcases and boxes.</p>
<p>When I now ask if she needed everything, she says still says yes and said that other girls brought a lot more.</p>
<p>The Container Store also has the program where you can shop at home and pick the items up in the college town like Bed Bath and Beyond. The foldable shelf that fits on top of the desk is worth the trip - or buy it online and have it shipped.</p>
<p>Ah the car rental! Just a warning. We also had to rent a car for our Beverly Hillbillies drive from the airport to the college (ok…we also needed it to go to BBB, Target, and Staples). Well…the trunk of our rental was big enough for the suitcases…HOWEVER the opening TO the trunk was too small to squeeze them through. We could fit two on the backseat with the carryon items but not all four suitcases. SO we had to upgrade (not a big deal luckily).</p>
<p>Some people rent the truck, some hire movers, others go in several cars, some push so much into the vehicle that there is barely any space for passangers. Maybe a horseis an option for you? Whatever you have, multiple trips might be required.</p>