<p>For my freshmen twins- different colleges-
To get them and their stuff home- is it better to fly, take a train or bus, or have us
pick each of them up? It's not too early to plan.... I'm thinking I have to pick one of them up because there's too much stuff to take on a plane or bus.
One is in school in upstate NY and one in OH (he can leave most of his stuff with a friend) and we live in Long Island. BTW, they both plan to live in dorms next year). Right now, I'm planning on the OH student flying home, and leaving most of his stuff with a friend, and the upstate NY student being picked up.</p>
<p>We’re planning on renting a small storage unit in Knoxville and leaving alot of our daughter’s stuff there over the summer rather than bring it all home and then cart it all back.</p>
<p>My D’s dorm had a storage room where one could leave boxes (not furniture or bikes) She put boxes there and farmed her bike and bookcases out to friends who were staying in town over the summer.</p>
<p>DD and 2 of her friends shared a storage unit last year. It took all the big things we bought there and some of the things we did not want to transport back and forth. It worked out well, but use the on-line reservations, they were cheaper.</p>
<p>corn: I’m sending you a PM…</p>
<p>Last summer S1 flew home (cross-country); that was always the plan. He had been living in a dorm room, but knew that he would be off-campus this year. He ended up packing all his stuff (including a fair amount of clothing) in boxes that were parceled out to various places. He knew a few people already living off-campus, who stored stuff in their garages; one friend was driving home and took all of his electronics (he had built a server for the dorm last year); a sofa was left with the parents of a friend who lived locally. If I recall correctly he also mailed home a box, just so that his luggage didn’t exceed the weight allowances.</p>
<p>My kid lives across the country. She and three friends each paid $50 for the whole summer for storage for their stuff. If they hadn’t stored it THERE it would have been in MY living room here. It was well worth the $50 to have the stuff stored THERE. She came home with suitcases of what she needed.</p>
<p>My friend’s daughter, who’s school is a long way from home, went in together with some friends and shared the rent on a storage locker.</p>
<p>My son also rented the storage locker for the summer after his freshman year, he prepaid for 4 months and filled it to the brim with all his winter clothes, skis. his bedding, lamp, TV and all the things he didn’t need to bring home for the summer season. It worked out great and he was able to fly home since all he had was summer clothes as checked baggage and he carried on his backpack with his laptop, camera, iPod, tennis racket etc. It saved us and him the schlep of carting all those things back home that he really wouldn’t have needed for a summer.</p>
<p>Ditto for D on the storage locker solution. Both summers, after freshman and sophomore years, she shared the cost of a unit for 3 months with 1 or more friends – which made it pretty inexpensive. And, since she’s leaving next week for a semester abroad, she got a unit for the entire time, through this summer. Still better than driving to NC with a vehicle big enough to fit all the bulky stuff like plastic drawers, futon, etc, etc…</p>
<p>Ditto on the summer storage locker. S and D both used these in their respective cities through Public Storage. Did it online and got the first month for $1. </p>
<p>In both cases, it was easier (and now with baggage fees) perhaps cheaper to store near the schools. Just make sure the unit is properly cooled if you have electronics to store.</p>
<p>Note that if you sign up for 3 months or more the rate is lower, also often the second to smallest storage locker is cheaper than the smallest size…</p>
<p>If your kid stores a minifridge (or a bigger one) make sure they understand how to defrost, clean and dry out the unit before they put it into storage. Otherwise they will be throwing away the mold factory in September and buying a new one.
It takes at least 24 hours to do this - unplug, open and let the frost around the freezer part melt, propping the thing up so it drains into a sink or tub. Clean it with a Clorox type spray. Leave it with the door open overnight - better yet with a desk lamp or other mild heat source beaming in to dry it out.
Yes, this is the voice of someone whose kid just unplugged, stuffed the fridge into a storage unit and left town… black mold, pink mold, stinky yuck…</p>