This is a good point @momzilla2D, I want to wash everything first too. Perhaps we will ship a box of bath/bedding items from home to school, including sheets, comforter, towels and mattress topper.
Iâm under the impression that it all depends on which college they end up in. There very well could be a fee for summer storage, but I believe they make it very easy. I read about this somewhere, if I come across the info again Iâll let you know.
In this day and age, EVERYTHING can be sent if something she needs is forgotten, so I have little worry about D19âs dorm room and her comfort lolâŠwe are really lucky to have so many things just a few computer clicks away. We were never the types to go âback to schoolâ clothes shopping. Weâd just get things as the kids needed them or outgrew clothing, so I figure the dorm room will be the same. The basics we will definitely bring like washed sheets (amen to that @momzilla2D) and I think Iâll be getting that Costco mattress topper for herâthanks @Mwfan1921 I kept looking at mattress toppers at different places but there were so many to choose from I didnât know how to choose. Thanks for making it easy on me ; )
@crknwk2000 Ditto on the toppers. Sometimes the reviews are all over the place. Lasting smell, too flat, no supportâŠ
@SunnyFlorida22 Thanks, thatâs fine if it is convenient. We were planning on some sort of Public Storage type thing anyway. I recall always doing that with friends.
@Mwfan1921 You could compromise and get your D silk pillowcases and not the sheets!
S19 is only 5 hr drive so we will drive him to school. However, D17 has to fly back and forth to school. We did not âship to storeâ but rather used the Bed, Bath and Beyond âpack and holdâservice. Basically, we walked around our local BBB with a scanner and scanned everything D17 wanted/needed. The clerk helping us puts in the BBB location nearest to Dâs college and then prints out the list which looks similar to a bridal registry. What this list tells you is if everything you want is in stock at the college location. Then that evening (or something like that) a clerk at the college store will go around and pick out everything on your list and put it in a huge rolling bin that is then held until you arrive at the college store location for pick up. At that point, you can go thru everything in the bin - if you donât want it anymore, you simply set aside. You can add anything new to the bin you might want. Then you take the entire bin to the cashier (with your 20% off everything coupon-be sure to sign up for that online) and pay. The 20% off coupon is valid until the end of Sept so you can keep using it on your total sale, you donât need multiple coupons. In fact, I just got one in the mail today even tho I havenât signed up again.
The only things D17 brought from home were her personal items (clothing, purses, makeup, photos, hair straightener, etc). We used the IKEA zip up duffel bags (still using them two years later!). She had four total, plus a carry on rolling suitcase, and a backpack with her laptop. We didnât have to pay for any of the checked bags. We flew out two days early but one day wouldâve been fine.
We also prepurchased a fridge and microwave for the room thru Target. Her roommates split the cost with her. It was cheaper than renting thru the school vendor. We rented a Ford Explorer. It was pretty tight fitting everything but if we hadnât had the fridge, it wouldâve been fine. At Target, we picked up the fridge/micro and a few other things we didnât get at BBB like cleaning supplies, medicine (thermometer, Motrin, bandaids, etc). We then went to BBB and picked up our stuff there. Lastly, we went to IKEA (they have inexpensive down comforters and pillows) for a few remaining things.
One thing we did not do was ship stuff in advance. While Iâm sure it differs at each school, we did not want to have to worry about trying to pick up a bunch of packages at a mail center at school, not knowing if there would be long lines, etc.
I have to say, the BBB thing was so well run. D17 goes to school in a highly populated area where there are two huge universities and one medium sized university all using the same BBB. The employees were so efficient and the process was very smooth. One interesting tidbit-the BBB in this Southern California location actually sells booze too -had its own department! I was joking that I never knew the âbeyondâ equaled booze! We canât even get beer/wine in grocery stores where I live!
Lastly, BBB actually set up a satellite store on campus for move in day - obviously you canât find everything but they had lots of necessities like fans, trash cans, mirrors, towels, hangers, etc. We were actually able to return at the satellite store an over the door towel rack that didnât fit that weâd purchased at the physical store. Saved us a trip back to the BBB. Not sure how many campuses have this kind of deal with BBB but it was a nice surprise.
Hope this helps some of you who are flying.
That could be a good compromise @wisteria100 âŠI do feel like I am saying ânoâ a lot lately ?
@Mwfan1921 whispers My D doesnât really know the difference between silk and satin.
My kids go to school 2 hours from home so we drive. I am finding the chat on the air travel component interesting regarding strategies on how to get all their stuff to school. However I am very curious what everyone will do with all this stuff at the end of the school year? Does everyone rent storage units to hold all their newly acquired items until the next year?
@Stuffedquahog no idea! But lots of kids at Bowdoin canât drive there so they must do something! Guess we will just follow in their footsteps.
@Stuffedquahog I donât know much about it, but there are companies that will store it and deliver it to the dorm the next year, so itâs waiting for you when you come back.
Hereâs oneâŠ
https://www.dormroommovers.com/
We rented a storage unit each summer for DD1âs dorm stuff. We lived a plane ride awayâso it made the most sense to leave her stuff there rather than cart it all back home. It was pretty inexpensive to rent and worked out well.
There is no BBB near kiddoâs school so weâll have to make do with Ikea. They also wonât accept shipped packages until the kid is actually moved in to the dorm, so we canât ship stuff there before we go. Well, considering the lag time on shipping packages itâs possible that we could send something slow freight, but thatâs risking it not showing up for a month. Probably an extra checked bag and telling the kiddo to cut down on Stuff.
I was sort of looking forward to dorm shopping with the kiddo - bargain hunting, thrift shopping, the works. But now itâs going to be sandwiched in between touristy stuff and getting over jet lag. Ah well, I do have that giant shopping cart at Ikea to look forward to.
@Stuffedquahog My sons go to college in Montreal. There is a company there called Valet Depot. You order the number of bins you need. They drop them at the dorm and pick them up on a day you setâŠand then drop them off in the Fall. Itâs incredibly cheap ad convenient.
There are storage companies near my daughterâs college also, but for her first two summers she has been able to store her things at a nearby house of students wanting to make some extra money. Even though most students live on campus all four years, there are a few upperclassmen who live in houses near the college (and may be away for the summer) and this has been a good and cheap option for us.
@elena13 In Montreal, students live on campus one year and off campus three. We are fortunate that my oldest will be in the same apartment for all three years. We are actually taking stuff up for my youngest next week and storing in that same apartment. 
D19 graduated yesterday, looking happy and beautiful. Her school has a great outdoor amphitheater used for graduation and other events, and fortunately the dayâs thunderstorms held off long enough to get the whole ceremony in. S22 had a half-day at school and said he saw them setting up the gym just in case, and he said it looked really ugly.
The school has honors for distinction (nominated by teachers) and merit (determined based on grades), and D19 received both. Graduates received their diplomas in order of their tenure at the school, from least to most, so D19 was second, in alphabetical order behind another student whoâd also been there only two years. Later, during the special awards, we were somewhat surprised that she won a CAS award (for the creativity, action, service part of the IB). She was surprised, tooâshe was applauding a friend whose name was called before hers and it took her a second to realize sheâd been named as well. Her service aspect was pretty ordinary (working ticket sales and coat check at dance performances), and her action part was just gym class and yoga, but she told us later she figured it was for her creativity part, her independent continuing study of Mandarin.
My mother and my in-laws are in town, and we all went out to a nice dinner last night. Today weâre hosting a brunch, and then our final week in Europe begins.
And to be a bit on-topic with the current discussion: Weâll be driving D19 down to New York from Boston in August for her move-in at Parsons. Lots of stores there, of course, so I imagine weâll be able to pick up anything she needs after we get there. Amid all the move planning, we havenât yet given it a lot of thought, but weâll definitely take advantage of all the resources and advice offered here on CC.
My S19 is going two hours to the southwest so he doesnât have any weather-related purchases to make or any summer storage to worry about. Moving him into the dorm with an instrument that takes up 2/3 of the cargo space in our Forester is a bit of a challenge. We will most likely just rent a minivan for two days.
Earlier this week, he finally relented to my increasing plaintive requests that he check his freaking school email. Turns out that he had a designated âappointmentâ time last week to register for his classes online. (Which I think is odd - I think we both just assumed that he would do that at orientation, which is a week from Monday).
He got the LAST available spot in any freshman English class, but his schedule is kind of a mess with M-W-F crammed (with unknown orchestra rehearsal times TBD). Having no time to practice for three days per week isnât going to fly so maybe he can move stuff around when he has an actual appointment. At least heâs signed up for something!
I made the first official college-related purchase this week - 10 extra pairs of boxers! Iâll probably be picking out his dorm stuff for him (although he expressed a preference for blue bedding over gray - boys are so easy!)
Hi everybody! We are back form our CA road trip and I have missed a ton of posts! Congrats to the most recent graduates! @RightCoaster I just love your story and am so happy your S was able to help make that happen.
As for boots, D is going to New Orleans so all I need to worry about are rain boots! When I was young Bean Boots were popular but I didnât love mine, then again back then they werenât lined, just an uncomfortable rubber bottom and I had to wear this cold, giant wool ski type socks if I wanted to be warm! A few years ago I got all of the kids Sorells for when we visit up north, they like them but I found mine to be uncomfortable (in college I had a pair I loved, but this pair gave me blisters.) When I was going to Minnesota in the dead of winter I decided I had to try something new, I got a pair of Columbia boots that are lined with the stuff they use for marathon blankets and built to feel more like a sneaker than a boot. My family all said they were ugly but they were so comfortable and kept me warm in the below zero weather so I did not care!
Our CA trip was awesome. Got to see my brother, my high school roommate and DHâs college roommate who has been his best friend since pre-school! Yosemite was perfect, we had great weather and the waterfalls were raging because of all the snow they had this year. Got to see tons of mule deer and even a bear which I did not expect since we were not doing any back country trails. The Big Sur back to San Francisco coast was amazing, my favorite part was seeing sea otters at Point Lobos just south of Carmel! Saw seals and sea lions and elephant seals as well (oh, and the only herd of wild zebras in the country!) but I just love the otters. As DH said, every view in CA is just so dramatic from the sequoias to the cliffs!
Took the red eye last night, took a very short nap and am now doing laundry because D19 and I leave for Tulane tomorrow so she can meet with her advisor and plan her schedule! She is still asleep but has a few videos to watch and forms to fill out. Once all of that is done we will repack and have to leave tomorrow for the airport at 7am - going to be so tired! One of my favorite bands is playing in NO tomorrow so I am dragging her with me, hopefully we will make it for the whole show.
We spent part of today posting flyers for our townâs 4th of July celebration in neighboring towns as part of DDâs work for the Chamber. So this week she found out sheâs in charge of raising $50,000 for new playground equipment 
Sheâs psyched but also feeling the pressure and wondering how exactly to go about this!