Oh my stars. So much stuff was moved today. Some words from the now wise. . .
Did my D really need the 8 scarves/infinity loops I packed to bring home today? No. No she did not.
If your kid comes home for Spring Break or Easter, have them bring as many winter clothes/jackets as they can to reduce clothes you have to get home in May/June.
Why did she take so many personal books to college? Silly her. First, she read a lot for, um, her CLASSES. Second, the big 'ole library had anything else she might care to read. . .
Take less decor. I mean seriously. Whatever they think they need – reduce by half. A few homey things does wonders to a room. The rest gathers dust. I know b/c I was cleaning off that dust today.
This ones one me – kid doesn’t need the whole dang medicine closet when she can walk to a CVS. In August I bought everything I could think of she might need – and 80% I brought back home today.
Finally, your kid will come home with even more than they took. She went Goodwill shopping. She ordered some things online. People gave her clothes. Pretty sure some stuff just multiplied. So, just plan on that when figuring out transport home or summer storage.
All that said, she’s home, she’s happy, it’s all good!!!
Have her pay the cost of anything superfluous. Two airline bags is our max for the FIFO kids. Driving distance? Whatever she wants and can pack in the car. If she wants summer storage, it is on her dime.
My kid put everything she wanted to store into 3 Rubbermaid tote and stored them at a friend’s house over the summer her first year - her sheets, towels, lamp, decorations, and a few other things. The rest, which was like one duffel, camp home with her.
Been there, done that. After my daughter’s move out freshman year, we bought an SUV because all of her stuff barely fit in our sedan when moving her out that spring. We knew sophomore year would be lived in a dorm with a kitchen and she would have even more stuff. A big joke we share is the year we packed her up to come home and realized I had sent her 7 extra deodorants in various care packages over the course of the school year.
He stored everything he won’t need during the summer. Everything he brought home fit in the trunk with plenty of room to spare. Our older son isn’t storing anything, but the only thing that didn’t go up on move in day is a fan.
My wife’s going alone to pick him up, so they can pile stuff on the back seat.
There is a distinct advantage in sending a kid on a plane across the country, on their own, to attend college. Any kid who is attending school in an urban or suburban area needs about the same amount of stuff as they would if planning a 2 week vacation – everything else can be bought as needed. Especially nowadays with Amazon prime delivery.
We brought a ton of stuff home after freshman year and stored some at a family member’s home. She accumulated so much. This year we stored everything she didn’t need for the summer (storage is expensive!). We’ll need a uhaul van to move her in the fall. So why did we still bring home a car-full of stuff?! Stuff is just multiplying and we have two more years of this! I’m pleading with her to stay in the same apartment for her last two years because moving so much stuff is getting old and I don’t want to add furniture to the mix.
D1 was 3 hours by car. She knew we could be there at will and bring things or take them back. But, she learned a LOT when the freshman closet was 60" wide, for four gals. That’s 15" each. (Double, converted to a quad.) Then there was 2nd sem jr year, when she and her bff came back from a semester abroad to one 30" closet to share. Two clothes gals.
I’m a light traveler. She’s out of college and much better.
After college, when I moved across country, I went through this ‘what can I get there’ concern. I joke that Joanie, from the Doonsbury comic, was making a similar move and fretted whether she could buy Crest toothpaste in Berkeley.
D stored stuff in a shared locker with several other friends fo two summers. It cost about $80 I think. Much more convenient than bringing everything back home. She takes less stuff back to college each year.
Mine brought nothing home. Just left it. Other than two suitcases. Stuffed the closest things to him into said suitcases and that was it. They move light which just kills me.
I can relate. Our D’s stuff multiplied and had babies. We brought an SUV full home at Easter and were still filled to the Mac at move out. DD is taking herself back to school next year and already announced she’s only taking half back.
And here is the best part…all that stuff you hauled home, you put in one room, right? It will sit there until it’s time to move it back in the fall. Then she will load up whatever she wants to take back…and the rest will be sitting in your living room.
If you really want her to pare down…have her do it now.
Yes , pare down NOW. Save any stuff she’s not taking for another kid (if you have one) or keep for future apartment. Unless you are positive it won’t ever be needed and/or don’t have space. I hate waste, lol
We had to rent a U-Haul van to get all of D’s stuff to college her first semester. We rented a storage unit the next summer. Then we brought all her stuff home at the end of her sophomore year because she was going to study abroad the next semester.
Then we found the solution: We got her a Ford Fiesta and told her she had to fit all her stuff in it to go back this semester! Worked like a charm. She got rid of a bunch of things.
Blossom saves receipts. Not consciously- they just end up in a shoe box in the closet.
That was a god-send after college graduation when virtually EVERYTHING that was bought the summer before Freshman year of college from the Bed Bath, Target and Walmart “must have’s for college dorms” list went back. Sheet sets still in the original packages. Cute organizers shrink-wrapped with lovely photos of how to arrange your toiletries and school supplies. A lovely comforter set with matching shams.
No, I didn’t get cash but I got merchandise credit for hundreds of dollars of stuff which had never been touched. We had hauled it up for freshman move-in; the stuff sat- pristine- until move-out when it went into campus storage. Finally after commencement, with the entire family pitching in, we moved the kid out and I realized that most of what we’d sent up freshman year was useless (and in fact, never got used).
Blossom’s tip- buy nothing. With Amazon, Walmart.com, etc. no matter how remote the campus, your kid can get whatever, whenever. Until you see the space you have no idea whether there’s room for the comfy armchair or not; room for shelving or not; a need for a desk lamp or not. Anything you move or ship to campus is likely to end up at Goodwill or in a landfill, unless you save receipts and can take the unused stuff back to where it came from.
I was miffed and annoyed until I realized that most of the excess was on me. Did my kid want a comforter with a matching set of shams? No he did not. Would my kid have been happy with old towels from the bottom of my linen closet? Yes, he would have been. I was the one who thought “dorm living” meant being color coordinated.
Pack light. Pack light. And take this one to heart- if you live somewhere warm, and your kid is going somewhere cold, do NOT invest in a down jacket, boots, scarves, etc. I promise you it won’t snow in August, and your kid will have time to figure out what everyone else is wearing. Paying $150 for a ski jacket when most kids wear an Old Navy fleece ($12) for most of the year is nuts. Wait to buy anything big ticket.
Yes, it’s hard to believe but contact lens solution is sold EVERYWHERE. You don’t need to pack the pharmacy!!!
Yeah, I’m kind of dreading pick up of my DD tomorrow. DS went to college a plane-ride away, so he got very good at paring down, storing stuff over summers, only bringing home what he could carry. He graduates this coming weekend and has already started figuring out what he can donate/give away/throw out out there. Plus, he just isn’t the kind of kid who accumulates things. But DD is finishing her first year a two-hour drive away and was just not good (despite our urging) about bringing winter stuff home over spring breaks. And I know she accumulated stuff. But, she’s limited to what will fit in the car, so…
