<p>I’m thinking we will store my son’s stuff at a local storage place over the summer. Any tips about what to store stuff in? Bags, boxes, trunks? I am clueless.</p>
<p>DD stored her stuff last summer. She bought a few of those large Rubbermaid bins. She packed EVERYTHING in plastic garbage bags and put the stuff in the bins. She and her friends chose a place which had storage units inside a building as opposed to freestanding units. It worked out well. She did say…pack everything in waterproof just in case.</p>
<p>I agree Thumper - we did the plastic bins that the plastic bags fit into - loaded it up and then tied the top - then the lid - they stack well also - we never had any problem with moisture - put the bottom one on a wooden pallet tho to keep stuff off the ground - we used an out-side storage - locked with security.</p>
<p>Do not use any paper/cardboard for storage - it absorbs moisture.</p>
<p>We also used several of the vac bags - inside 2 trash bags - for stuff that would not fit into bins - bedding/etc…</p>
<p>What did you do with the bins when they moved back in?</p>
<p>check with companies that serve the colleges. My daughter went in on a unit with some friends with a company that picked up at the end of the spring and delivered it all back in August. Made it all very easy, but my daughter is very, very organized.</p>
<p>Got all the same size bins - stacked them inside each other - put them in the closet for shoes - or such LOL - they traveled between the closet and the storage unit for 4 years - and then came home :D</p>
<p>Can stack them inside each other and flip them over - throw a scarf over them and use as an end table too</p>
<p>DD did the same as jeepmom’s. They stacked inside her closet and that was that. My kid’s bed is slightly raised…enough that they would have fit underneath as well…but she didn’t do that.</p>
<p>Second (or third) what JeepMOM and thumper said. My d has had the plastic storage bins, the ones with hinged lids attached to the container that fit together in the middle so you don’t have lids to keep track of as well. They nest nicely and she keeps several in a storage closet and some others under her bed for storing sheets/towels and things like extra toothpaste, aspirin, heating pad, etc. She is in NYC and her room is pretty small and storage is at a premium. That being said, using a storage unit that is very convenient to campus worked well for us last summer. It was tricky, though, as she had to move stuff in and out a couple of times because she had an internship during most of the summer, but time at the start and at the end when she had to store her stuff.</p>
<p>I highly recommend plastic rubbermaid bins, cheap $1 plaid laundry bags, or cardboard boxes. Local storage near the university is also a good idea (especially if you live more than 50 miles from the university). There are usually Public Storage facilities in every city. $1 for the first month and usually $60+/month afterwards depending on the size of the rental space.</p>
<p>We used carboard boxes and heavy trash bags (contractor bags). Son also put some things in duffles with wheels since he had 2 of them in his dorm room. I told him to throw out anything liquid (he did not store detergents, or toiletries), and obviously no food. He did need to wash most of the clothes since they were baking all summer without air. It was fairly simple for him to take care of even though it sounds overwhelming. All of his summer clothes were brought home, so it was not an emergency anyway. He was set up within a day with everything being clean. We went the cheap route and used the small freestanding garage type of storage units. Also, we reserve and prepay our storage in March for May.</p>
<p>one suggestion to minimize stuffy smelly contents resulting from being encased in hot plastic all summer is to insert several drier sheets in various places in the boxes. It does help…</p>
<p>churchmusicmom, that is a great tip! Thanks.</p>
<p>S used Public storage in his college town.they were far and away the cleanest and most secure and prices were fair.He shared a small unit with one other kid,with the $1 first month deal it worked out to be about $100 each for them. He did use the wood pallets for the floor just so air would circulate,they had them available on the premises.He used some bins, some plastic garbage bags (too lazy to buy more bins).Everything in the bags needed to be washed,as he put it in storage w/o having washed it first…and some needed to be thrown away b/c of that (like towels and some bedding)
He used his old mattress cover to wrap around the TV set with duct tape,just for breakage issues.We would have replaced that anyway.They were on the third floor of the place but plenty of evelator availability and moving carts. He reserved probably first week in April,I’ll encourage him to go a little earlier this year,by a week or two.</p>
<p>Is your son at Grinnell? Back in the dark ages (okay, early 80’s) we could store things on campus in designated storage rooms. I only recall packing boxes, readily available from dining services. Things have probably changed since then!</p>
<p>Those new giant zip locks bags are great too. We put D’s printer in one, pillows in another, etc. They are inexpensive, pretty tough, and fold back up when you’re done with them!</p>