Experienced parents - any tips for moving out of the dorm?

Parents Forum
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<p>Yes the dolly helps, we have one that can be vertical or horizontal, very handy! </p>

<p>Tell them to defrost their refrigerator BEFORE you get there!
Or be prepared to stuff towels into it so water does not leak all over your vehicle. </p>

<p>They will be crabby! Lack of sleep, too much partying after exams are over with! </p>

<p>Even if their room is immaculate, your kid’s school may send you a billl for “Community Damages” to public areas in the building, which is shared by everyone in the dorm. The most we have ever paid for Community Damages is around $25.00 I believe.</p>

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<p>LOL, great tip about the fridge, but boy, it’s been decades since I’ve done it myself.</p>

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<p>First, pretend the dorm is a furnished apt. your child moved into, and it’s the end of the lease. What do you do? Aside from making it “broom clean”, you also want to TAKE PICTURES of the way you left it so any problems that crop up, can be dealt with by photo evidence. Presumably you also took photos of pre=move in (if not, do that next year). Why? B/c in spite of the dorm notes about “inform us of any broken items you find when moving in”, the student usually does that, but the broken chair, outlet plate, window, etc. REMAINS unfixed throughout the year, and now it’s the end of the year and who do you think is going to get stuck with the cost of the damage?!? So photos and copies of letters in a file are super important!</p>

<p>Second, once there, assess the room. As one poster above mentioned, student’s “stuff” has expanded, from the care packages you’ve sent up, from the student store and text book purchases, to store purchases, to piles of paper, maybe a new printer. It piles up, whereas, you’re probably still drivng last year’s car.</p>

<p>For us, it was cheaper, much much cheaper, for us to send a carload of stuff by Fed Ex ground. Arrives at your home in about 5 days, and cost about $15.00 for a good size box packed with stuff. Since it does go by weight, you are better off shoving heavy things like books in your car, and stuffing the boxes with winter clothing, blankets, duvets, pillows, and other bulky but not heavy items. Fed Ex has boxes and tape, and sending it ground is a bargain. Plus you can keep the boxes and use them over ad over.</p>

<p>Cleaning and dusting: I’m sorry, but yelling at your kid for being a lousy duster during finals is, imo, not cool. There are those top shelves, the radiator, the window sills – so many places for dust to accumulate that, frankly, people don’t notice, and not just students, but adults who’ve been living on their own for 30 years. Dust-bunnies abound, and unless one has a dust allergy, it’s just going to be around after a year unless the student is a dust bunny hunter. Most aren’t. Doesn’t matter whether they’re male or female.</p>

<p>Bring a sponge and a couple of dry rags. A little bleaching cleanser like ajax or comet is useful in a variety of ways, from cleaning the scum off the desks to cleaning bananas off the walls.</p>

<p>Car packing: Most don’t realize it, but most cars have “secret” storage places – lift the carpet in the trunk of your car and you’ll be amazed at all the stuff you can stick in there. VWs and Priuses both have substantial secret storage space under the rug, perfect for a variety of things, from books to blankets. There’s also extra storage on the back sides of the cars behind little panels. So inventory your secret storage and use them!</p>

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<p>One box lawn and leaf bags. That’s about it.</p>

<p>DS actually had a post-season sports meeting last year so I did most of it myself. Between the bags, his laundry basket, his backpack, one large duffle he had moved out there in, and his lacrosse bag, it wasn’t bad at all. Plus the garbage bags take whatever shape they need to when packing the car.</p>

<p>Wouldn’t have occurred to me to bring cleaning supplies. I can’t imagine a school that doesn’t want to hose down the dorms after the kids leave.</p>

<p>(Oh, and maybe some light rainwear for yourself. I don’t know why it’s always 100 degrees on move-in day and drizzling on move-out day.)</p>

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<p>For moving back home for the summer, we put a lot of stuff in big plastic tubs with tops and I labeled the tubs with what was in them and stored them in the basement. We also left a lot of son’s winter clothes in bags. Labeling stuff and putting it in one area of the basement made it a lot easier the next fall when he went back.</p>

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<p>S just announced that his French oral final exam is Friday at 3 PM. Originally, he said that his last exam was the French written final exam 3:30 - 6 PM Thursday, so his dad and I made plans to go down there on Friday morning to get him. To add to the fun, his appointment to check out with the RA is at 4:15 on Friday–going earlier or later will cost him $92.</p>

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<p>I wish I’d thought of that!</p>

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<p>What were you doing in S’s room? :p</p>

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<p>Be careful when using trash bags to pack stuff to go home - you don’t want someone to think the bag is actually trash and throw it out.</p>

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<p>LOL, not a big danger of that at my house! You’re assuming that some member of my family besides me would actually see a bag of garbage and do something with it!</p>

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<p>Funny missypie - I really meant at the dorm - my son’s school has a webpage about moveout procedures and they warn about using trash bags. I guess in the past kids have packed stuff in trash bags and then put it out in the hall while vacuuming or whatever and the bags were picked up by custodians and thrown out.</p>

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<p>Son is graduating so everything comes home this time. Previous years he stored it at a local storage unit due to he and roomies having a common room they needed to furnish for the previous 3 years. Last year he resided at his eating club so he will be leaving some of the “stuff” there!</p>

<p>Past couple years his friends from home went up with me to help him pack, move the really heavy furniture (soda, chairs, tables…) up and down 3 flights of really, really windey stairwells (old architecture) and enjoy the campus and all his new friends. We usually go for a few days and they all have a great time…we actually all look forward to it.</p>

<p>They all say its like he took them all to school with him for the four years!! Nobody got left behind…They have all the fun and he gets to do all the work!</p>

<p>For graduation it should be a hoot. His sister’s and brothers AND their friends are coming, some flying in, some driving. So they can all help and enjoy all the festivities. His club is hosting a big dinner, several parties, bbqs and then a special party for just the parents at his club.</p>

<p>We are really looking forward to it all. Have the hotel rooms all booked, relatives are also coming so it is going to be more hectic than usual, the more, the merrier!</p>

<p>He is thinking of also doing a “pre-moving” run home to get rid of some stuff since so many people will be there. And I miss him. </p>

<p>I have an old pickup truck (new to me!) that will haul all his bigger stuff and buckets back. Since it is the last trip home, it all has to fit in the back, and everything else in the buckets. Buckets stack neatly for now and we’ll organize the bucket stuff at home.</p>

<p>But the previous 3 summers I bought 20 x 20 x 20 boxes at Sam’s and packed it in there. Stacked neat in the truck and then neatly in storage. He already had cleaning stuff so just used that and then put in small bucket in storage. He’ll leave that stuff at his club this year.</p>

<p>Have fun…I know sounds crazy but I love the time I spent with each of mine packing up and talking about all the things that went on when it is still fresh in their minds. Some of my best memories are with them moving in and out!!</p>

<p>Kat</p>

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<p>Get the giant XXL Ziploc Big Bags, opaque so you can see the contents.
Great for clothing, linens, towels and sorting out items like school supplies, knicknacks and whatnots.
You can burp out the air out of these reusable wonders and lay flat across the car seat/trunk.
At home print out labels(use color paper/sticky back sheet) with your son’s name and place on the bags to avoid losing his stuff in the moving chaos.</p>

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<p>NO!!! My son already tried taking down his posters and called us to say that we better bring spackle, the putty knife, and sandpaper. I believe the directions for removing these call for you to pull down on the sticky strip first. He just grabbed the hard plastic and pulled the whole thing off, leaving holes in the drywall. </p>

<p>Also, I agree with the poster who said to have an R.A. come to the room while you’re still there. That way he can point out any problems that he sees. Many kids left without doing this and were surprised when the bills came.</p>

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<p>D. has moved out 2 times, all by herself and both times we got back deposit for keeping it in OK shape. She has never asked for help. Second time a lot of it went to storage though. First time she had to bring everything home becuase she was moving to a different dorm for sophomore year. However, they are very strict about dorm condition at her school, kids cannot hang stuff on the walls except using special hangers that go into strips that are installed on the walls by school. There were other restrictions. i believe if you leave it to a kid, they are going to be just fine.</p>

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<p>We won’t be dealing with this under next year but I’ll share my best tips from having had to pass several military housing inspections:</p>

<ol>
<li><p>Get a copy of the current rules for passing inspection. Make several copies and bring them with you. Sometimes the person doing the inspection is not up to date on the rules. If you do nothing else, do this. We’re not dealing with this next year but I plan on sending a copy to my son so he can get started as well.</p></li>
<li><p>Clear trash bags for non-trash. There’s nothing like throwing a half full can of soda in a black trash bag only to realize a half second too late it’s the black trash bag holding the bedding. Clear trash bags take care of that problem beautifully. </p></li>
<li><p>Snacks and water. Taking breaks is tempting enough without running out of the basics.</p></li>
<li><p>Something portable to listen to music on. It gets very quiet when the stereo gets packed (am I showing my age? do people just listen to their individual ipods these days?)</p></li>
<li><p>If cleaning the room when it’s empty is part of the deal you cannot have enough paper towels, windex, bon ami and basic bleach cleaner. </p></li>
<li><p>If the rug must be left clean as well, rent a wetvac from a local store well inadvance. This will also make you incredibly popular with the other parents! </p></li>
<li><p>To keep it all running smoothly, bring a legal pad, lots of pens, packing tape you can write on and sharpies. Make a master list and put it up. Cross items off as you go.</p></li>
<li><p>Even if you didn’t take pictures during move in, take them after move out. </p></li>
<li><p>Get a reciept of some kind from the person doing the final inspection. Be polite but firm if they insist no one has ever asked for one before. Even a phone photo of their list with your kids room signed off on will do in a pinch.</p></li>
</ol>

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<p>Wow, a whole bunch of tips on this thread that never would have occurred to me. Thanks missypie for starting it, and thanks to all the experienced parents for sharing your wisdom!</p>

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Sounds like he has to work something out with the RA if that check-out time is during his final exam. As for your plans, why couldn’t he just let you into his room and let you have at it while he’s taking the exam?</p>

<p>I just saw mine last weekend. He’s totally exhausted and somewhat undernourished; he has a rough week ahead, then finals, and he has no physical reserves for it. He only gets a weekend between finals and summer classes. All year his dorm room has been tidy, dusted, and in pretty good shape (especially his side of it, but his roomie’s side is good too except for the dust). I’m more than ready to take a load off his shoulders by packing up all his stuff when the time comes; it’s one of the few times this school year when I’ve offered to help and he’s been willing to take me up on it.</p>

<p>Besides, I plan on holding him to that “come home, sleep for a few days, then clean the house” plan he mentioned. :D</p>

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<p>Few days before move out kid and roommate need to empty out the fridge, wash with baking soda/soap.
Leave door propped open to let air dry. Unplug. Find the wire rack shelves, ice cube tray, whatever was included in the rental.
Must be clean and dry when RA does walk through for room check out and fridge rental agreement.</p>

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<p>Well at least there won’t be chaos. Son is in the choir and has to sing at commencement so I’m just hoping the dorm stays open long enough for him to move out.</p>

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<p>Mine have a car on campus. We are going down the week before to move home the majority other their things but the final packing and cleaning will be done by them.</p>

<p>If I bring the Magic Erasers do you think they will return home unopened? I have a strong suspicion they will go the way of the first aid kit, “I had band-aids?? I thought that was my roommate’s.” </p>

<p>Rather than getting a bunch of different cleaning supplies a pkg. of the multi-surface cleaner wipes and some cleaner that contains bleach may be a less expensive option.</p>

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<p>Just found out that the school lets students who are participating in graduation stay in their rooms an extra day. Maybe Son will be so bored and lonely that he’ll actually start to clean and pack.</p>

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<p>D’s school will have receptacles for things like clothes, electronics, linens, etc. that students do not want. Items will be donated to charity. Other schools may do this, too.</p>