<p>For anyone who has been through move in day (especially with a daughter who will be bringing plenty of clothes etc.)…do you have any suggestions on packing? Should we bring hanging items on hangers? If so, do you suggest taping a group of hangers together and covering the clothes with a plastic bag? We’ll be getting help from the students moving our daughter’s things to the third floor of a building without an elevator and are just wondering about the best way to pack…boxes, plastic bags? Any help would be appreciated!</p>
<p>I would probably skip hanging stuff when packing, although it does depend. I would use boxes for the bulkier stuff (i.e. computer, printer, electronic stuff) and probably bags for the looser items, mainly clothes. The main issue I have is moving boxes that are big and heavy to carry up the stairs, otherwise with a rolling cart it’s fine.</p>
<p>We have a D who has too many clothes and can’t part with anything.</p>
<p>For us, the easier solution was to buy really cheap garment bags (or use large plastic trash bags) and put a bunch of clothes on hangars. We’d put a wire tie (or large rubber bands) to secure the hangars. It makes it easy because you simply hang the whole thing when you get there.</p>
<p>A couple of caveats–the method of traveling (works great by car/truck but not for flying), and knowing a little about the space you’ll have to work with when you get to the dorm.</p>
<p>I’ve moved three kids into four schools so far. My daughter also has a lot of clothes. If you have room, it was much easier to unpack clothes on hangers. Also, you may want to bring something to clean the drawers, like 409 or a good basic cleaner and paper towels. Some drawers are clean, others not so clean. And some people like to line the drawers with shelf paper, so bring a scissors. A good little basic tool kit is great to have, as well as a first aid kit to leave in the closet. We got one at Target and it was really useful. Don’t forget vitamins as kids tend to get tired and catch things easily, especially those first few weeks. Oh, this tip from my son was great: During move in, or right after, pop some popcorn in the microwave and leave the door open to the dorm room. It’s a great way to meet people as you can smell it all the way down the hall!</p>
<p>If your daughter is moving into a school where there will be helpers available on move-in day, the most important thing is to make sure that EVERYTHING is labeled with her name, dorm, and room number. Stuff gets mixed up sometimes. The need to label everything may not be compatible with the leaving-the-clothes-on-the-hangers strategy.</p>
<p>Also, be aware that the helpers may move your daughter’s things rather roughly – for example, by putting them all in a big bin and taking the bin upstairs in a freight elevator. Therefore, think in advance about delicate things that you might not want to entrust to the helpers – such as a laptop or a musical instrument – and make sure that you or your daughter hand-carries them to the room instead.</p>
<p>I didn’t discover those giant sized ziplock type bags until after move-in day last year, but they are now our staple for moving clothes, linens and the like during breaks and end-of-year. She’ll use at least a half dozen of them to move in this year.</p>
<p>D1 is a fashion diva. Bring hanging clothes on hangers in garment bags or covered by large trash bags. Tie hangers together at top with twisties or ribbon. Wipe out drawers and line with paper. Bring extra hangers!!! Command hooks are great to hang purses, scarfs, jewelry, hats, etc. Space bags are wonderful, compress large items and easy to carry!!! Large rubbermaid tubs with lids are also good for packing clothes. We also have used extra large laundry baskets that we unpack and bring back home. Label everything!!!</p>
<p>In a couple of weeks we will be doing our 6th college move-in and we keep refining our techniques! Here are some of the things we’ve come up with that help us alot! D’s school is about 6 hours away so we drive her there for move in and drive there to load here up at the end of the year.</p>
<p>All hanging clothes are left on hangers. Pants are hung on those hangers that let you hang 4 or so pairs on one hanger - a huge space saver (available at BB&B, etc.). We bought a sturdy car clothing rod (available at Wal-Mart, Target, etc. - sometimes in the automotive section). The rod is put in the back seat and all the clothes are hung on that. When we get to the school, one person crawls into the back seat and unhooks the rod from the far side. The other person is standing outside the car on the other side and they unhook the rod on that side. Carefully the person in the car scoots across the seat with rod in hand. We carry ALL the hanging clothes in one trip on the rod, with one person holding each end. We’ve never had anything fall off in the transport. Carrying a bunch of clothes in on the hangers just kills your hands. We always have people say, “Why didn’t we think of that!” If someone needs to sit in the back seat on the trip to college, the clothes can usually be smashed to just take up 1/2 the area back there.</p>
<p>We use a color coded box system. I went to Staples (any office supply store) and bought those file storage boxes with the lids. D has four red and four blue. Blue boxes are packed with stuff that stays at school and doesn’t need unpacked when we get there. D slides those under her bed. They contain extra toiletries, extra school type supplies, etc. D doesn’t have a car at school and getting something when you run out can be a little tricky. The red boxes contain stuff she will need immediately - school supplies for her desk, toiletries ready to use in the shower tote, etc. When the red boxes are unpacked, we take those home with us. </p>
<p>Also, I found a contraption called a Magna Cart. We had people trying to buy it from us on move in days! You can Google it and find where they are sold. It is basically a fold up hand truck or dolly. Usually by the time you get all their stuff in the car, there is absolutely no room for a full sized hand truck. This one folds up and slides in a 2 inch space. REALLY saves your back. We stack four of the above mentioned boxes on it and away we go!</p>
<p>D is spending half the summer at a language camp at a college half way across the country, which caused us to have to pack everything she was going to need in suitcases. This was the first time I had used Space Bags (also available at Wal-Mart, etc.) and boy were they ever space savers. We are going to use them for her trip back to her regular college here in a couple of weeks. D uses a down comforter with duvet cover at school and wanted to take it to summer school with her. Originally it was going to take up an entire large suitcase (wouldn’t have been possible to take it). In a Space Bag with the air “sucked” out, it was about 2 inches thick and just lined the bottom of the suitcase. We are going to use the smaller bags for her socks and underclothing, medium ones for towels, sheets, etc. and the large ones for the comforter, bed pillows, etc. They will REALLY save space in the car.</p>
<p>The older they get, the less they bring. Your child doesn’t need the entire contents of his/her bedroom. Keep in mind that leaving a dress outfit at home is very useful for the holidays, etc. </p>
<p>Some winter things can be picked up at Thanksgiving while he or she brings home some summer clothes.</p>
<p>I saved sturdy see-through bags (from purchases of pillows and linens) to pack the extra sheets and sundries- they fit under any bed. Also used some small flat boxes for school supplies. Just take off the top and put them in the desk drawers. Laundry hampers will hold pillows and blankets - get a couple of the “pop ups” for light and dark laundry.</p>
<p>Have the student save the extra plastic bags, etc., in an unused suitcase under the bed. They always pack in an immense rush at the end of the year, with many dorms closing right after finals, so having the storage items at their fingertips will help a lot.</p>
<p>D and her room mate worked out a plan for purchasing things and we were assigned the television. I was hoping they wouldn’t want one and D doesn’t care but room mate wants one. What is smallest size I should consider for the room - I have always been told not to get one with the DVD player built in but should I ignore that for the sake of space?</p>
<p>“D and her room mate worked out a plan for purchasing things and we were assigned the television. I was hoping they wouldn’t want one and D doesn’t care but room mate wants one. What is smallest size I should consider for the room - I have always been told not to get one with the DVD player built in but should I ignore that for the sake of space?”</p>
<p>Assuming that there’s cable in the room, the size should be worked out by the roommates as size frequently determines price. Prices can get pretty high for big televisions. I have a CATV to USB converter so that I can watch TV on my computer monitor at my desk in my home office if I want to. The computer has LCD monitors so they take up little desk space.</p>
<p>Our son doesn’t have a television in his campus apartment. He watches very little television at home.</p>
<p>Midwest Parent, your suggestions are terrific! Love the clothes-on-a-rod suggestion. Thanks!</p>
<p>I second leaving more at home. Freshman rooms especially tend to be small. And they accumulate more as the year goes by…so if the car is stuffed to the gills in August, there is no way it will fit in the car in May.</p>
<p>Love the rod and popcorn ideas!</p>
<p>MidwestParent - Thanks so much for your guide. That’s exactly what I was hoping for! Details about someone’s experience from top to bottom. I’ve seen so many good suggestions, but it’s hard to put them all together. I don’t think we have an elevator - so we can’t use a dolly and I"m not sure if we can fit a rod in the car (it might be tough to carry it up three flights of stairs!), but the color coded box idea is great.</p>
<p>BusyMomof4 - You might be surprised that a dolly would still come in handy, even if your child’s dorm doesn’t have an elevator. (I thought due to ADA requirements, all dorms had to have elevators). Anyway, even if there IS an elevator, there is usually a line and it is faster to take the stairs.<br>
D’s school gives you a bright yellow sheet as you drive in that you have to put on the dashboard. It is marked with the time you arrived and gives you 30 MINUTES to unload and move your car!! They also take your cellphone # and did call when the 30 minutes were up!! It is always about 100 degrees on move in day and you may have to park quite a ways from the front of the dorm - we were at least a half a block away. The use of the cart just to get the belongings from the car to the front door of the dorm can be a life saver. The cart can carry more than you can, thus less trips AND you aren’t physically carrying it. Just a suggestion!</p>
<p>Also, we carried the rod up flights of stairs. The people on each end just have to be sure to raise and lower to keep it level. :)</p>
<p>Another thing that we bought that was invaluable was a footlocker. The one we got was from C & N Footlockers - they make well constructed, colorful trunks that serve many purposes. You can Google them - we ordered D’s on-line. D uses hers to store an electric blanket, heating pad, small gifts for friends (no time to look for and buy them at school), extra cash, her camera and iPod, etc. You can padlock them and can order them with small wheels for the back to you just grab the handle on one end and wheel them in. It it a storage space and safe all in one. D just rolls it under her bed. It will also make a great “coffee table”/storage place in an apartment sometime.</p>
<p>After younger D’s freshman move-in last year we have a priceless photo of my dear H lying flat on his back on the dorm room floor, completely drenched in sweat, sunglasses still on. He was exhausted!</p>
<p>For those of us with sons & who are flying to take kids to school, it’s pretty different. S packed very lightly, brought his laptop & did a lot of shopping up there for bedding, towels, and the few other things he needed. Each summer, he has found a friend to leave his things with so he doesn’t bring everything home every year. I agree that even if the dorm has elevators, it’s much easier to use the stairs.<br>
(S’s dorm had 2 elevators for 8 floors, 20 rooms/floor. You do the math! As mom’s perogative, I did use the elevator to get his bulkier things up with me while hubby, D, S had made several trips up & down the stairs (he was on 7th floor). S acquired hangers & shelf paper in LA from a family friend who was discarding them.</p>
<p>My older son’s school said that they would have kids to help move him up to his room. There was also no parking and we were in a quick unload loading zone, and the process was far more complicated than we had predicted.</p>
<p>Bottom line lessons learned:</p>
<p>A portable dolly would have saved the day (but we didn’t have one). Put linens that don’t weigh as much in plastic bags (durable kind with handles can work well) or those large ziploc storage bags. We made the mistake of packing these items in duffle bags with clothing (without wheels) and these bags were unbelievable heavy and awkward to maneuver. Storage bins can work well too, and double for carrying dirty laundry to the washing machines! </p>
<p>Big rectangular suitcases can accommodate a lot of stuff - and this is good for kids flying to school. Make sure you can nest those suitcases later on, if you bring more than one. They take up a lot of room under a bed, if you can’t. If you are driving to school, duffles can fit in the nooks and crannies of a car, often easier than the big bulky suitcases.</p>
<p>I like the idea of garment bags to carry a bunch of hanging clothes in. You can put these in the car easily and the added bonus is that you already have these items on hangers, which you might never have enough of!</p>
<p>My niece leaves her hangers in her dorm at the end of her academic year (nice surprise for the next resident!). They are a hassle to bring back and forth (especially if flying). You can get them very cheaply at any discount store in the college town. </p>
<p>Don’t forget trash bags. Large kitchen drawstring kind can be very useful on move in day, and something the kids often forget. It also makes trips to the dumpster a little more manageable. Not every floor has trash cans, we have found. </p>
<p>Bring a iced cooler with water and drinks for the first day. No matter where the student is going to school, it will be hot on move in day. You will be hot and tired from moving in, and the dorms can be stifling hot. </p>
<p>Bring the best small turbo charged fan you can buy for the student’s room. They aren’t expensive - under $15. Believe me, they will be impossible to find on move-in day. All those fans will be sold out, no matter where you go to college. It should be the first thing you unpack and set up!</p>
<p>Hmm…the carrying the clothes on a rod to the room idea is intriguing, but D didn’t want to do anything that looked too “weird” while moving in, ha ha! We packed almost everything in big plastic tubs that we got at home depot. I think she left all her clothes on hangars, but then folded them in groups and put them in the bins. She took them out, and hung them up immediately. Lots of other stuff (toiletries, desk “supplies” etc). were in smaller boxes within the bins. That way, we were able to take all the bins away with us. </p>
<p>Things I suggest you absolutely have—a fan with IMMEDIATE access, boxcutters, etc. to break down (or open) all the boxes of new stuff so you can flatten them for the recycling bin, and a hand-truck. Even with the stairs, you can use it to get stuff from the car to as close to the stairs as possible. Get to the dorm EARLY…like, half an hour before the move-in time. The mob scene outside the dorms only got worse as the day went on. Since we were driving 7 hrs from home, we drove to D’s school the day before move-in day and stayed in a motel. We drove to campus the evening we got there, just to check out where/how we’d unload. With some urging, D went inside, and was able to get the room key and go through the “check-in” procedures, even though it was 9:30 at night. Although we didn’t have the use of the student volunteers to help, moving in with NO other people, at night when it wasn’t so hot was a good sign that her dorm experience would be a good one. It also helped being the first one there, when it came to dorm furniture, desk location, etc. ;)</p>
<p>When D packed to come home in the Spring, she separated out all the stuff that she didn’t plan to bring back in the fall…and there was quite a bit. I’m afraid I was the culprit for the growing pile of crap she took last year. I used college “packing list” ideas from CC as well as a bunch of other places and kept buying “handy” things all last summer. I think as a mom, I just wanted everything to be there if she needed it, since I couldn’t be. Ha! It didn’t take long for me to understand that if she needed something, she really was quite capable of getting it for herself. Anything else she bought during the year was out of the monthly “allowance” we sent her. Since she figured out that she’d rather buy clothes and go out to eat with friends than spending too much on toiletries, etc.at the student union convenience store, she quickly figured out how to take the bus from her campus to the local Target.</p>
<p>As the last poster said, prepare for it to be hot, the walk up and down those 3 flights of stairs will be brutal, and you will witness some incredibly rude and thoughtless people (usually the obnoxious parents of other kids). For the first time moving in to the dorm, students and parents are all on edge, and it can make for some family moments that aren’t the stuff that Norman Rockwell paintings depict!!</p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>I can still remember my own freshman and sophomore move in days as if they were yesterday. Arrive early in the day (no I don’t mean get there hours early and just wait, but early like the very beginning.) My dad somehow charmed the soph RA’s, who along with orientation counselors helped, and we got great help. They remembered my Dad months later. I personally don’t like trash bags for moving, and in the many moves I have made back then and since, I try not to use them.</p>
<p>I think light cardboard boxes are key if you must schlep up stairs, or my favorite plastic tubs with lids. Get a couple of underbed size containers, they will come in handy. The closets may be small, so a couple of others that can be used to store handbags, shoes etc that are closet size are also good. Use labels and label with the contents for easy unpacking.</p>
<p>We had our S fly with duffles with built-in wheels that collapsed to nearly flat (easy to store almost anywhere). I would highly recommend this, since it saves having to use the under-the-bed space for storing suitcases. S is trying to keep his possessions minimal, which we encourage.<br>
Some of those who drove to campus filled their vans & living quarters with TONS of stuff, including dressers w/ plastic drawer sets & lots of plastic bins for the dorm. The dorm rooms are really quite small & feel even smaller when you load it full of “stuff.” We will encourage D to think minimal too.
D hardly uses hangers or a closet now, so I can’t imagine her needing much hanging clothes closet space in college either. She can use that space to hide her “stuff,” I guess. She has a hard time parting with “stuff,” especially papers & artwork.</p>