it takes multiple people hours because you don’t just take everything and put it in the car - you have to throw out the 20 + empty amazon boxes with bubble wrap from the stuff you sent all year, clean out the fridge (and all the expired rotten food), sort through the dirty laundry, undo the bed linens, take the stuff off the walls (and windows), throw out the half empty toiletries, gently pack and wrap the delicate souvenirs accumulated from events throughout the year, run to a friend’s room to return whatever it was that was borrowed and is in your child’s room hidden so she didn’t realize she still had it, stop and say goodbye to the kid two doors away who is leaving, go buy yet another bottle of cold water from the store next door because you are hot and sweaty, etc.
I’m telling you…the best thing about having the kid 3000 miles from home was that she stored her college stuff someplace beside my living room.
The kid 2 hours way moved his stuff home every summer…where it sat in my living room until it was time to return to college. Never got unpacked at all.
If I had it to do again, I’d pay for storage at the college town regardless of the distance from my house.
Thumper I got the same benefit with a kid 2000 miles away and the same disadvantage with the one 2.5 hours away. Unfortunately the one 2000 miles away is a minamalist and only has a few tubs of belongings and the one who brings it all home has enough stuff for herself and 3 other kids. Just my luck.
Speaking of crap…We still have a garage bay filled with the apartment stuff brought home after graduation last May, with much of it originally in my dining room through summer. Of course our german car sits outside the garage…to clarify, my son had 3 foreign room mates for 3 years - athletes - who came to college with a single trash bag of clothes and a tennis bag, and left with the same stuff. We had furnished the apartment for all of them, and as an added bonus, got to bring it all back with us. Craigslist anyone?
I feel tired just reading this thread.
Heading out as well this weekend. I doubt anything will be packed. However, with a very small dorm room I am not anticipating much more stuff than he had in August. They will be carts available and supposedly parking nearby. The cleaning time will likely be similar to the putting away time in the beginning. Time for checking out, saying goodbye, using those last swipes. I figure it will take 3-4 hours from start to finish. Unless your kid has accumulated mountains of crap, it shouldn’t be as bad as some fear. But it is frustrating to find nothing packed.
Garbage bags, duffles, plastic bins all work. Don’t forget blankets to wrap up the TV or other delicate things.
Good luck to all. I really can’t believe freshman year is over.!
Now you guys are making me feel bad. I had vacation time all scheduled to drive out with W to pick up D at the end of year. But just got notice of a mandatory week-long meeting I have to attend instead so W has to do the pick-up on her own. 
My D goes to school out of state, but the Box-It-Up service could work for students getting home via car too. The student signs up for boxes, tape and labels to be delivered to the dorm - when the boxes are packed, they pick them up and store them over the summer - delivered to new dorm in the Fall. Why bring home stuff that could stay at school? The cost was very reasonable.
This thread is reminding me of picking my sister up at college. My husband and I arrived at around 8am, and she had to be out of the dorm by 11am. She’d been done with exams 2 days previously, so we had every expectation that she’d be ready. She had a large single to herself, had stuffed it to the gills, and hadn’t started packing.
She did have her suitcases out and unzipped, which to her was “ready.”
We put her in charge of throwing out trash and returning items to other people and places – and basically we told her we were going to grab everything not nailed down and throw it into the car, and that’s what we did.
Got her out of there in time, but only barely. This was 1995, and my husband STILL talks about it.
@anomander I wouldn’t necessarily worry and don’t feel guilty! Move-outs don’t HAVE to be bad, it’s all about the kid. I had tons of stuff at college, but I’m hyper-organized. By the time my parents showed up everything was packed, stacked neatly in a corner & labeled. It took about 30 min to get out, and that’s because we opted to wait for the elevator. I acknowledge that I’m weird and unusual, but there’s a happy medium. It doesn’t have to be awful. Communicate with your D – there’s no reason things like tchotchkes and spare sheets can’t be packed in advance even if she’s worried about finals. 10 minutes of packing is actually a very good break from studying. 
Box-It-Up sounds wonderful but when I google it, only Occidental is mentioned. Most of these types of services are available to large universities or schools in a major metropolitan area. Students in small LACs in the middle of nowhere often don’t have these services available, nor do all small LACs necessarily have storage facilities.
I know there are several other companies that offer that. At Oxy, the summer storage is off campus.
I’m grateful to those who recommended the IKEA Frakta shopping bags. I ordered a set of 10 size Large from Amazon for $19.99 and they’re being delivered to the Amazon Locker on D’s campus tomorrow. I like them because they are soft sided, making for an easier time fitting them in a car than a cardboard box, plus they zip up so no need for packing tape, plus they have handles for carrying them from the dorm to the car. D’s LAC is bringing a company on campus for Fri/Sat of move out weekend that will box and ship, but I suspect that gets very pricey, like going to the local UPS Store franchise.
Like others, I really appreciate the mention of the Frakta bags. I need the zippered ones, since my son’s stuff is going to be stored over the summer. I have an Ikea about an hour away and in a few minutes am taking a road trip with a friend to see the bags in person–planning to buy many and send them off myself. Happy trails!
Thanks for the reminder, @Corinthian! I just ordered some as well, and had them sent to my D along with a small care package from Amazon. No excuse for her not to at least start packing before I arrive!
The large Frakta bags don’t have zippers according to the Q&A in the Amazon product listing. The extra large do, but they are more expensive than from the Ikea site (don’t get Prime that way though).
Poke around the college web site or ask your kid. D’s LAC has a local company that offers that but it’s not called that name. Service is the same though.
@corinthian are you sure you got the ones that zip up for that price? If so, could you please post a link? 
^ the large 10 for $20 are not zip up, they’re the open top ones. Still probably very useful, maybe moreso for some.
Oops. Drat. I messed up. I tried to cancel the order on Amazon but may be too late. Maybe this is what comes of being helicopter, lol.