<p>Does anyone have any advice on the best way to move D home from university? She will be away for study abroad for two semester which is a full academic year plus two summers. We don't really want to leave her things in storage for 15+ months.</p>
<p>University is in North Carolina - we live in Washington state. </p>
<p>So far cargo vans, etc. seem pretty pricey - mileage costs for coast to coast are expensive plus the daily rate.</p>
<p>She has the usual accumulation of clothes, books and a few larger pieces like microwave, bookshelf, chair, etc.</p>
<p>Sell the microwave, bookshelf, chair in NC. If you (and Westcoastdad, if any) intend to fly out there anyway, pick airlines based on cost and amount of baggage allowed. If it's 2/person and 50 lb limit there's 200 pounds of stuff for free. Put the rest into sturdy boxes and weigh them to see if shipping them home UPS will be cheaper or more than paying extra baggage fees. BY the time you rent a van, pay for gas (!) and one-way drop off fees and nights in hotels and meals and time off from work it's a net loss.</p>
<p>^^ definitely concur. Sell or donate the big stuff, or find a local friend with a garage; the storage costs will cover purchase new when she returns. Ship the rest home by UPS or Fedex Ground.</p>
<p>When D was packing up last spring for summer and for term abroad, she gave/loaned those bulky things to other girls in her sorority for them to use, in hopes D could reclaim them at her return. She "gave" away her frig by cleaning it and putting it on the porch to dry, can you say gone in 60 seconds!! Not a big deal since it was a multiple generation hand me down and she was moving into the sorority house, so could not use it anyway.</p>
<p>Have her bring home ALL her bulky wintery clothes for spring break. Maybe you or others in the family can go visit her towards the end of the term, take only a carry on and check maximum baggage.</p>
<p>Interestingly DD wanted to take everything she could to feel at home her first two years, accumulated lots of decor goodies, etc. Once she had to sift through and bring home what she could, then studied abroad, and now is back for spring, her entire outlook is much more temporary, with important stuff remaining at home.</p>
<p>We only go from WA to CA, but it is still a flight or a 15-20 hour drive. We were lucky enough to have grandparents a few hours from school, so a hop there on a weekend would allow her to store things until she was ready to deal with them, and us visiting them the next time would allow us to drive the stuff home. Now that we don't have that storage resource and she is looking at only 3 more terms, she is keeping way less stuff at school.</p>
<p>Your D may feel the same after being abroad. So, evaluate the bulky stuff, is it really worth moving? I, too, would probably sell/loan/dump the big stuff and either ship or take by plane the rest.</p>
<p>UPS Ground shipping is quite reasonably priced if you go to a UPS Customer Center. Sell or give away or donate the big or heavy stuff and box up the rest and ship it home UPS.</p>
<p>This is important: If you have several boxes to ship, it will be MUCH CHEAPER if you go to a real "UPS Customer Center". Don't use The UPS Store (the former "Mailboxes, etc.") - these are more expensive. Go to UPS</a> Global Home and search for the Customer Center closest to her.</p>
<p>Same as everyone else but an additional reccomendation for gettings some spending money would be to use craigslist.org for disposal of the large things. Donate anything she doesn't sell.</p>
<p>D spent summer and fall semester away and gave us a bunch of stuff to bring home last spring when we visited (this was a West to East Coast move). She gave away some things, sold some things on a student version of craigslist on campus, and stored big stuff she wanted to keep. The rest was packed into boxes and shipped home via FedEx Ground or brought home on the plane.</p>
<p>How about a road trip? Fly one way, rent a van and drive back to Washington. I know it sounds ridiculous, and it probably isn't inexpensive, but it might be fun, and good opportunity to see the country and have a family trip...and get the "stuff" home.</p>
<p>Run an ad at school looking for a senior student from the West Coast who plans to DRIVE home. Make an offer to compensate for the right to attach a U-Haul to the car. Picking up the entire gasoline expenses and motel charges might be less expensive than using UPS.</p>
<p>wow, xiggi, what an original solution! And I'm collecting them for future reference, since we've got a cross-country freshman. </p>
<p>But how do you handle liability if anything happens to the stuff along the way?
Does the driver say it belongs to him so it's covered by the Uhaul company?
I'd just want to know the student driver was honest and not going to sell the stuff off the back of the uhaul...I think like this, lawyer's daughter, can't help myself.</p>
<p>I like the idea, though, just hesitate about the liability question if any stuff goes lost along the way, if there's an accident, whatever.</p>
<p>When I moved from CA back to E coast, I used UPS, about $50-55 for the large cartons. They picked the boxes up from house, without extra charge.</p>
<p>S is making this move this summer. He doesn't want to drive across country, so I suspect itwill cost about $800 to ship car. Does anyone know if car can be packed when shipped? S will give away/sell desk chair, frig, etc.</p>
<p>My son sold everything that didn't fit into three duffle bags and carried the duffles on the plane. Oh, and one box of books he shipped media mail, very cheap.</p>