<p>Hang in there! Hope all goes well.</p>
<p>Good luck oldfort. We'll be waiting to hear how everything went. I am dreading the 25th but anticipating a happy day as well. I can't believe how much we have to do that day! I'm just glad that we're good friends with roomie's parents so the whole day won't seem so strained.</p>
<p>We found that having some water bottles on hand was very helpful. In addition some convenient snack food available. Time gets a way from you and stopping to eat does not always fit into the moving plans. Result: just one more reason to be cranky.</p>
<p>Anybody moving in over the next couple days in the West South region (MS, LA, AR, OK, TX, west TN) needs to remember to take frequent breaks and drink plenty of water! They're calling for heat indices of 105 to 110 again, and we don't need heatstroke. Now let's see if I follow my own advice.</p>
<p>Anybody have any tips for students whose parents can't be with them on move-in day?</p>
<p>Anybody else's kid leaving this weekend and no packing going on???</p>
<p>We fly out in 5 days. 2,800 miles to school. Must - stay - calm. Second child to go, so we know the drill, sort of; each child is so different. Since we're flying in, we need to be a bit more thoughtful about being self contained once we hit campus. A lot of her stuff will be purchased once we arrive (the list continues to grow-I have scoped out the shopping sector and our plan of attack for the nearest city). Organized and self contained just makes for quicker and more efficient transport from rental car to dorm room. Her school sent many labels with her dorm name printed on them and a place for her name, room number and cell phone number - VERY clever (I think they might be color coordinated by dorm)!</p>
<p>I know of a local student who will be moving in without a parent in tow. I'll do my best to make sure to check in on her, see if we can do anything to help her out (or any other "strays" that may be in need of a parental hand). I'm sure I'm not the only parent with that mindset, so solo students should not be afraid to ask a friendly face for a bit of help. Just be thoughtful of the really weepy ones, they may not be your best bet! Be on the alert for a parent like myself, the one looking for perpetual activity so she WON'T weep. The students gravitate to each other pretty darn quick, leaving the parents on the sidelines, so you will not be on your own for long. </p>
<p>Tissues, lots of tissues. I do just fine as long as I'm busy and occupied. I'll just need them in the car after.</p>
<p>Freshman move-in day worked great. We stayed out of the way and let my D and the upperclassmen handle the move. Parents are supposed to get out of the way as soon as possible, but be available for a WalMart run and provide any other help needed.</p>
<p>This year will be different. It is apartment time so there is no one to help with the move in. Some of the stuff is already there, but there are plenty of additional items and furniture to deal with. I would gladly trade for the typical freshman move in experience.</p>
<p>First child (junior) - I have no idea where his stuff is (some in storage, some at friends, lots on his bedroom floor) - and I have no interest in any of it. Someday soon he'll throw a bunch of ratty stuff in his car and off he'll go. I'll be sad until I see the mess he's left behind...</p>
<p>Second child (freshman) - leaves Saturday - still in complete denial. </p>
<p>LOL</p>
<p>Mom's - Maybe we need to label our kleenex boxes with OUR names. I mean, what if some other mom swipes it? Or, worse yet, a dad?!</p>
<p>Move in day is this Sunday. D has not unpacked from vacation and we got home Monday. I asked her please not to wait until Saturday night to do laundry and repack.
I thought we had everything, but after reading another thread I have another list of stuff to buy. I hope it all fits into 2 cars.</p>
<p>And thanks for the labeling tip, I never even gave that a thought.</p>
<p>I got some Avery labels and printed them out with name, dorm & room number. Nothing goes into the cars without a label!</p>
<p>weenie,
regarding your post #25</p>
<p>I was going great guns last weekend washing linens, etc and "staging" the stuff on two long fold up tables pushed together. Was feeling pretty darn good about myself! :) .</p>
<p>But we leave on Saturday and I haven't done anything else. At all.
<<<sigh>>>
Denial ain't just a river in Egypt...</sigh></p>
<p>Did you ask because you have ground to a halt too? Or were you referring to your child not packing?</p>
<p>D leaves in 13 days. Yesterday, we organized and packed everything except her clothes. Leaving that for next week. At least now, we can watch TV in the den again as we spread out the piles between there and the master bedroom (which is much bigger than D's room). H has been grumbling for weeks as he passed by the den with comments like "and WHO is lugging all of this stuff into the dorm" and "I can't believe you bought a rug!"........... I just tell him to be quiet and his job is to drive the borrowed minivan, and assemble the few items that need to be put together when we get there. He keeps saying that in 1971, his parents dropped him off at his dorm with one suitcase, his stereo, and 5 crates of albums, so WHY does she need all of this "stuff"?? She is living in a suite with 3 other roommates, so there is more to bring than if just living in the traditional double-room. Wait till he finds out that we may be hitting the local IKEA on move-in day for a futon - LOL!</p>
<p>I got back last evening after the move-in. Could it have been hotter? I think not. Luckily Hendrix College (Arkansas) had plenty of young bodies to help lug the boxes upstairs and plenty of cold bottled water for the sweltering convocation held outside when it was still nearly 100 degrees. I recommend packing the car the night before to cut down on forgotten items. Good luck everybody.</p>
<p>Second son who graduated high school this year leaves next Wednesday for a year in Germany - Rotary Youth Exchange - where he'll attend high school and live with three host families. </p>
<p>Amount packed so far: zero!</p>
<p>Chances to come back for things he forgot: zero!</p>
<p>Mom's stress level: 5 out of 10 and rising fast!</p>
<p>We are leaving in 6 days. There's a pile of stuff on the dining room table, but no clothes have been packed. Son is very low maintenence-type, will probably want to wait till the last minute. I feel like we should be doing more about this - is it all going to fit in the car? - but I'm in a bit of denial that he's really leaving and although he's excited to leave he's not excited to pack, so not much is happening.</p>
<p>I mentioned the labelling thing, and he actually didn't throw a fit. I thought he'd accuse me of making him look like he was going to day camp, but I suggested labelling things with the room number (not his name) and he thought it was a good idea.</p>
<p>Son appears to be packing.... So far it looks like he's going camping. LOL :eek:</p>
<p>Packing? We leave tomorrow. We have dinner reservations with a colleague of dh's in Pittsburgh, so we really can't spend all day tomorrow packing. I went to Target yesterday and came home to discover this a.m. that I didn't get all the bags in the car. Argggh. Mathson has done nothing except work on his new laptop. I did let him know yesterday he needed to pack up his stuff today. He's not up yet. :) No stress here!</p>
<p>That's a very good sign, Weenie. At least you haven't had to deal with the piles of paraphernalia all over the house like so many of us with girls! :) (I just wonder what he's packing...sleeping bags? Mess kit?? Freeze-dried food???)</p>
<p>Last night, DH decided it was time to reconfigure DD's new laptop and install all of the software and that perhaps he might need a little help. She leaves in a week. I guess he was in semi-denial before this.</p>
<p>We leave tomorrow for the drive to St. Louis and move-in Sunday morning. We're partially packed and hoping it all fits in the van--since we just discovered that the roof-top carrier we haven't used in years has been home to mice and all the foam gaskets have disintegrated! Sears also just closed down so no place to buy a new one!</p>
<p>I never would have thought to label boxes or get insurance for dorm room contents--thanks for all the suggestions and tips. And yes, I'm one of those parents who'll need a tissue box with my name on it.</p>
<p>Good luck to everyone! I'm not looking forward to this time next summer when I'll have a college sophomore AND freshman to get to school. And my rising senior D is not interested in the midwest so they won't be going to the same region.</p>
<p>If you find yourself with lots of boxs, fridge, cases of water, seriously consider a handtruck. </p>
<p>Both my kids schools had no assigned parking close to dorm, it was first come first served; we arrived early and still had long ways to schlepp. </p>
<p>If you do bring a handtruck, guard it with your life. It'll disappear in no time.</p>
<p>I was offered various amounts from $10 to $100 for mine. I'll bet if you showed up on some campuses with a pickup truck full of handtrucks, you could make a killing doing rentals.</p>
<p>Good luck to all.</p>