Depending on where her roommate lives, she can also ship things to her roommates house and have her parents bring it. My roommate lives close to my school, so when her parents brought her stuff, the brought a few large bulk items for me as well. Of course we asked first.
We moved our DD2 from mild weather in So. Calif. to Boston and then later to PSU. We did not send any winter clothing as the stuff we can buy in Calif. is not adequate for east coast winters. She found that it worked well to wait and buy it there where her more winter-savvy roommates could help her purchase what she needed. When we initially moved her, we took SW so got 2 free suitcases each. I went to a thrift store and bought a couple of extra large suitcases for $5 each. We packed them with her stuff and then once we arrived at school, unpacked them and donated them back to a thrift store. Less is definitely better! Many rooms don’t have room for TV’s, and most schools have printers they can use if needed. Papers get turned in on-line for the most part. If they need a fridge, coordinate with roommates to buy it there. We pre-ordered bedding and towels and picked them up when we arrived. Is she in Boston? If so, public transportation is good and she will figure out how to pick up any extras she might need. You can make a quick run when you are there to pick up things like snacks, hangers, hooks, bed risers(depending on the set-up they may give her more under bed storage), etc. Really the only thing she needs to take are clothes, some personal toiletries (make-up, hair dryer, etc- the shampoo type stuff you can buy there), and maybe some pictures, decorations that make her feel at home.
We made sure that the bags we left for S when he moved into the dorm would collapse flat and/or fit in the closet without taking up extra room. Since dorms are much more compact that the room he lived in at home, this was VERY important so he wouldn’t feel cramped. Must duffles will collapse down to the frame (and any wheels) and fit into tiny spaces. Buying from Thrift Shop and donating back to thrift shop is a great strategy.
He also bought himself and sister cheap bikes from police auction. The bikes worked but weren’t attractive to thieves who wanted nicer looking rides, so they never had theirs stolen and they were under $10 apiece.
We also used large thrift store suitcases…except for one that I brought home with me. DD kept only her carry on at college. It was plenty big.
Okay, I would NEVER dump on my roommate (and their parents) to bring MY STUFF to college. Their car is already probably stuffed to the top, and they are worrying about their own stuff. If they ask I would probably say yes is possible, but honestly… don’t ask. You can ship to the college – contact the college in June and ask what shipping address to use (have your kid keep an eye on their email box, my kid totally skipped over the email with her mailbox number in it, and had to be directed to go find it…).
I still buy my girls’ clothes and shoes. D1 is trying to add her BF to my list of people to buy for.
I would buy everything online and ship them, except for her personal belongings like clothes, pictures and stuff animals. I moved to a new city a year ago. I furnished my whole apartment via online shopping - bed, dining room set, lamps, kitchen utensils…etc. I got free shipping for most of my things.
The only problem maybe if her school’s mail room is far from her dorm, then she’ll have to schlep those boxes to her room.
Some kids wear flip flops to class in winter in Mass (I see it in my Ohio college town, for that matter) At a small college, they’re only outside for a few minutes going to class, dining hall, etc.
Now at a super-large school where waiting for a bus might be necessary, or walking 10-20 minutes across a super-spread out campus? Then they may need serious coats, hats, long johns, etc.
My kid, in Mass, wears a pretty light down jacket and has gloves, scarf and a hat. She adds layers if she plans to be out for a long time.
PS: BBB does that buy here, pick up there thing, but so do Target and the Container Store and a few others.
Recently, I bought a dorm refrigerator for D on Amazon. I know how far the mail room (basement of student union) is from her dorm (third floor) half way across campus. I left it up to her problem solving skills to figure out how to move it. She did it.
I also think online shopping is the way to go.
@intparent Because of shipping costs and how close she lives to campus (less than 30 min) it wasn’t an issue. It’s not dumping stuff. It was a large board and printer. Those are things that are hard to travel with and shipping is very expensive. Also, renting a car to drive to a nearby Bed, Bath, and Beyond was expensive. It’s an outlet that is worth looking into if you have a nearby roommate. Walking to and from a packaging facility with a bunch of heavy items is also difficult. It reduces the load a bit. It doesn’t hurt to ask.
You can typically mail to your college if you check with them. I realize it was convenient for YOU. As a parent, I would find it it a bit of a hassle, especially when getting ready to drop my own freshman off.
“Depending on where her roommate lives, she can also ship things to her roommates house and have her parents bring it. My roommate lives close to my school, so when her parents brought her stuff, the brought a few large bulk items for me as well. Of course we asked first.”
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It would cost the same to ship to the school as it would to ship to a parent nearby, so why not just ship to the school? I don’t get the point.
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For my kid who was within driving distance, I moved him there in a Prius. I couldn’t guarantee I could bring other people’s packages / boxes.
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Barring a very unusual situation, I would feel uncomfortable imposing on people I hadn’t met.
Having said that - my kid who was a plane ride away did wind up storing boxes at the home of the brother of a friend of mine - the brother lived in the same town as the campus. However, my friend / her brother offered. I didn’t call them and ask them.
We had good friends who actually worked at DDs college. It never dawned on me to ship things to them. They were helpful in so many other ways (I stayed with them during both accepted student week, and orientation…and they were our emergency contact as well).
Really, we moved the kid 3000 miles from home, and didn’t ship a thing…nothing.
We were easily able to transport what she wanted from here in four large suitcases, and two carry on bags.
Did the BBB order thing.
But really…there are stores almost everywhere! And plenty of online places will ship to colleges.
We have great friend who were a 30 minute drive from campus. We just never considered thought of asking to mail anything to her. We flew 2500 miles and were fine bringing things as checked luggage and buying the rest on site.
"Because of shipping costs and how close she lives to campus (less than 30 min) it wasn’t an issue. It’s not dumping stuff. It was a large board and printer. Those are things that are hard to travel with and shipping is very expensive. "
I still don’t understand why it’s cheaper to ship to a person who lives near the campus than to the campus itself. Shipping is done by zones. It doesn’t make any sense, unless I’m missing something.
Agree with Himom. There are stores everywhere. Bring the things you absolutely want and need from home…buy the other things at the college site.
For any purchases…don’t make them near your home…make them near the college. No sense in schlepping stuff a long distance that you can buy there.
I think you are overthinking this. You have 4 large suitcases available, plus carry ons. 1 for bedding/ towels, or you can have them shipped but I like to wash them, 2 for clothes, 1 for misc items, some of which can also go in the carry on if need be. Carry the big coat on the plane if it didnt fit. When you get there, buy the tv, lamps if needed, a small fan if needed, and if desired a backrest pillow. Pick up some laundry detergent and any other items that got lost in the shuffle. Done. What is it that you are imagining won’t fit in the 4 suitcases but will fit in a small dorm room?
Or order the bulky stuff for delivery if it saves time or car rental.
4 suitcases is a lot to store. I would take some back with you. Also duffle bags for the soft items may work well and store compactly.
Somehow my D2 ended up with almost ALL the good suitcases at school by this, her junior year. I told her to bring a couple back with her over Christmas and she did… but I guess I didn’t tell her to leave one EMPTY, she just brought pretty much the entire contents of her dorm room. Even she could not explain why she did that… So she needed to take both back with her again. Sigh… at least she flies Southwest so it is free for them to go back and forth.
We only let S keep two suitcases–one duffle that collapsed flat and one that could be used as a carryon. He never needed much more than that. Over summers, he’d mostly stuff things in garbage bags and store with friends. One summer, he and D rented a storage unit.
Less really is more. Wait to see what room mate is bringing as well to minimize duplication. S bought the printer/fax and room mate brought TV. The dorm came with fridge/micro and a safe. I did buy lamp and printer near campus.
For summer storage: My D was lucky that there was a campus UPS outlet that picked up her items to store in front of her dorm and then delivered to her new dorm room in the fall. When she moved off campus, she had to shlep her stuff from the UPS site to her apartment - zipcar to the rescue!
S did not have campus storage, so we rented a storage facility that he shared with his roommate. Luckily, he has a car so he just took a few trips in his car. We did have to remind his to wash all the clothes before he stored them!
My army/navy surplus store has parachute bags. We have several of them that have been used for bringing kids back and forth from camp and college. They hold more than a duffel bag and stuff easily into something small. It may be worth buying those (they are super cheap) versus having your kid have 4 hard suitcases she has no room for.