To move using a minivan, D16 packed the following for her shared room in a suite:
2 plastic underbed drawer chests (electronics, clothes, paper goods);
5 lidded plastic bins (aka totes?) filled with desk/school supplies, textbooks, toiletries/medicines, some cooking gear, laundry/cleaning supplies;
2 big plastic trash bags (bath/bed linens);
3 big plastic trash bags covering clothes on hangers;
1 accordion file;
1 gym bag (jewelry, clothes);
1 cardboard bankers box (food); and
2 medium trash bags for shoes/boots.
She also had a few loose items (medium step-stool, canvas laundry hamper, bike helmet, plunger/brush, shoe rack…) and my large boat-tote with move-in day tools and cleaning supplies.
We also brought a small folding platform hand-cart, which was a help. D16 planned to send home all the bins/totes, the bankers box, and my move-in kitbag with us.
I bet she packed twice as many clothes as she will likely need, but no harm done. She will have to cook herself breakfast on weekends, because of limited dining hall hours then, so that explains the bit of cookware. (Her roommate brought the fridge and microwave.) The rental minivan was more than adequate for the move, and accommodated mom, dad, and kid. This list might just help me when planning to move her back home next May!
Last year as a freshman, my daughter lived in a crowded one room quad. My husband bought her a footlocker so that she had a place to lock anything valuable and she stored her heavy winter coats and things in there in the off season, and lighter out of season clothes in there during the coldest season. She brought two duffles (one rolling for when she had to travel at the end of the year by herself) for her bedding and the rest of her clothes. She had three plastic bins for the rest of her stuff (lamp, toiletries, shoes, boots, school supplies, books, musical instruments and sporting equipment, etc.). She had half of the underbed space and it fit the footlocker and two bins. The other bin sat atop her “closet” (a very small armoire type thing). She literallly had a top bunk and a corner where her desk and dresser were pushed together for some surface space. When one tote was empty during the year, she just slipped it over another tote and it didn’t take up extra space.
This year she is in a single and we added another plastic bin for the pots and pans that she is sharing with her roommates in an apartment style dorm this year. She also brought a couple boxes of foods that no doubt will be consumed and not be returned home. Her totes and luggage easily fit under her bed.
We live overseas so have no chance to change out clothes seasonally over the year, since it is silly for us to ship it back and forth. The plastic bins have to stay with her too. Her roommates parents were kind enough to store her things all summer and her bins and footlocker kept her things easy to stack in their basement (so they said) and consolidated.
Does she have too much stuff, maybe. But it works for her.
Five bins…with school supplies? Just curious what those supplies were. My kid can fit her school “supplies” in a shoe box. And cleaning supplies and other things wouldn’t take up more than a copy paper box.
But my kids both are light packers which is an excellent life skill. They can both take two week vacations with only a carryon bag.
I’ve got a minivan and when it’s full we stop packing (plus I have to see out the back). I figure anything she really needs can either be shipped from home, bought at the bookstore or bought and delivered via Amazon. Plus she’ll probably come home with more than she brought anyway. But get back to me when I’m actually a member of the Hailey Dunphy Moving Co. (A Modern Family reference, not my kid’s name)
One question for the minimalist movers: How do you avoid stuff creep from the other roomate(s)? If one person in a double doesn’t bring a lot and ends up with more room on their side of the whatever, are there issues with the overpacker wanting more room because they have more stuff?
Whether 6 bins will fit depends on the size and shape of the bins. My D uses the Sterlite modular stacking drawers under her bed and they’ve worked wonderfully to increase storage. They’ve also been useful for packing up at year end. She raises her bed to a height of @ 2 ft. and uses 3 large drawers as the base (@24" wide by @ 10 1/2 " high) then tops those with 4 medium (12" wide) drawers and 3 small drawers (8" wide). They fit neatly under her bed and hold bulky clothes, first aid and cleaning supplies, extra sheets, etc.
I was certain that her stuff wouldn’t fit into her 1/2 of the dorm room when she moved in freshman year, but I was wrong. Once the bed was made up, desk supplies and clothes unpacked and put away, posters and decorations hung, etc. that mass of stuff was seamlessly absorbed by the room.
Draw the room to scale and plan where the things your D is bringing will go to see whether everything will fit. You’re likely to have a harder time fitting things into the car (space bags are great for shrinking bulky bedding item) than the dorm.
My opinion…don’t encroach on the other person’s share of the space even if they bring NOTHING with them. That’s their space, and the deserve to have it empty, not cluttered with your stuff.
Spent most of yesterday driving down the I-95 corridor in the Northeast. Passed tons of cars packed to the gills -every square inch - heading to colleges. OP’s daughter won’t be the only one with a lot of stuff.
OP, it seems like you feel you are doing your daughter a favor by enabling her to transport a truckload of stuff to college.
So many here have explained to you why it is a bad idea.
Once she is at school you need to let her start making decisions and you be there to support her. Perhaps this one time before she goes you can encourage her to prioritize what she really needs. It’s ultimately up to her but less is more.
I would add that some kids are able to come home before seasons change and, therefore, can bring fewer things initially. In my D’s case, the weather turns from hot to snow before she’s able to come home so her clothes run the gamut from sundresses to bulky sweaters and boots.
To transport clothes and shoes, D uses one large and one medium suitcase (which she stores in the trunk of her car) and garbage and duffle bags. And at year end she packs up her clothes and bedding, brings those items home, and moves bins, rug, lamps, decorative objects, etc. into a storage facility.
Some kids like my S are minimalists. Other kids like my D like to make their room homey and have more clothes/shoes so they utilize storage systems to keep things neat and organized. As long as a student’s stuff doesn’t encroach into the roommate’s space and the student is able and willing to move it, I don’t see an issue with bringing a lot of things.
Re the school supplies. Current college kid is a studio art minor. School supplies include portfolio case, large sketch books, maybe a canvas, box for brushes, paints, 20 different pencils, etc. CS major–spare laptop, external hard drive, crap I don’t recognize the functions of… School supplies can take up some room.
just like a task expands to fill the time allotted to it, I think some people are just the type to fill the space allotted. It’s kind of like when you have a baby. You can make a decision that you are going to keep on driving a passenger car and put a packed diaper bag in the front and a stroller in the trunk and off you go, or you can buy a minivan or SUV and all of a sudden that thing is packed with all kinds of crap because you have the room to house lots of stuff in it.
I helped move a friend’s D home from Vandy (long story) a few years back. They are “stuff” people and the stuff that was in there! Decorations for every darn holiday. A collection of mugs. Handbags for every outfit. Scrapbooks from high school. A tall mirror (as if there weren’t mirrors in the bathroom). It filled an SUV and a passenger car. They saw nothing wrong with it. Of course it’s their business, but personally I prefer to be more streamlined.
I was helping my sister pack (she is moving) and she is hyper-organized. We discussed how we have kind of a “bug out” mentality - wanting the ability to pack up and go rapidly. Even though I’ve lived in the same house for 24 years and have no plans to move!
As many have pointed out in this long and interesting thread, it’s obviously preferable to take just what one needs- the devil lies in the details of what one exactly means by “needs”. What we’ve found is that our D’s residence hall has two types of modular furniture: one allows for half-lofting while the other doesn’t. The university says they have no record of which furniture type is in which room (“treat it as an adventure” were their exact words) which would normally be fine. However, the ability to half-loft or not really dictates the type of storage bins our D can take. With a half-loft she could have taken the taller stackable storage bins but, since we have to err on the side of her bed being on ground level, we’ve opted for a single large flat roller type bin that fits under any bed. In addition to that, she’s got a 4-drawer fabric roller storage cart. Whether she can fit everything into these along with the provided (small) closet space & 3-drawer chest will be interesting but, as someone said earlier, I believe that rooms absorb a little more “stuff” than what one might imagine at first blush. And, if not, we can always take stuff back with us.
With that in mind, our D is taking the following:
Electronics: laptop & affiliated equipment (surge protectors, extension cords, etc). Decided to leave printer at home - will use school’s. Cell phone & tiny speaker- she refused to take the larger blue tooth speaker (“why would I need it? someone might steal it”.)
Table lamp & one floor lamp.
School supplies (binders, writing instruments, notebooks, etc.). About 4 standard grocery plastic bags (not including text books).
Largish school backpack for lugging stuff to classes. Water bottle & umbrella fits in side-pockets
Toiletries (body wash, shampoo, cream, etc.) Should last at least one term- fits into about two standard grocery plastic bags.
Two sets of sheets. Blanket, bed pad, & foam. Pillow & “back pillow”.
Two sets of towels & 1 bath robe.
One large suitcase and one small suitcase worth of clothes including shoes. I think she has about 7-8 shoes.
Fridge & ironing board (roomie is bringing microwave & iron).
Caddies: shower caddy, shoe caddy (space for 20 shoes but will also use for misc items), bed caddy (pocket hangs off of bed so you don’t have to get down to access phone, etc. if lofted), & fridge caddy. Yes, they have fridge caddies: it basically straddles your mini-fridge and has pockets so you can store (small) dishes & cutlery on side of fridge.
Plate, bowl, mug & cutlery. Can opener. Misc cleaning supplies.
Two picture frames: one painting & one small of family.
15, One tower fan. No ac in dorm.
Large fabric laundry hamper (has 2 partitions for darks & lights). This appears to be one of the largest items (along with the mini-fridge): it’s much larger than the standard mesh laundry bag I used back in the day. Laundry supplies.
Hangars. Lots. Also one of those “multi-hangars”- looks like a flower pattern hanging on a hook so you can thread multiple scarves, etc. through it.
Tall mirror. I know some say “why would one need a mirror when they have them in the bathrooms” but, other than the obvious convenience of having one in the room, it opens up the space and allows small rooms to look a little larger.
Command-hooks/double-sided-tape/3M-velcro to hang things up without putting holes in the wall (not allowed).
Medical stuffs: cough syrup/NyQuil, ibuprofen, band-aids, tummy-med, etc.
Hmm. think that’s about it. It looks like a lot of stuff sprawled across the living room but I believe that’s partially because none of it’s been packed: they’ve been literally dropped off after shopping runs. I believe that much of it will fit inside of other items: in the storage bin, laundry bag, & even the fridge during transport. Bed-stuffs compress.
For the two of you still reading, I listed our items (in excessive detail) to provide an idea of what we consider “normal”. Your miles may vary. I pack very efficiently- our D less so. While I think that this may lead to more stuff than we would want when attempting to pack things up at the end of the year, neither do I consider it excessive. For those who get by on less: well done. However, I would caution those who appear to be on their high-horses in essentially scolding the original poster: that’s great if you & yours can get by on a pair of jeans, two hangars, and a toothbrush. Gold star for you. Feedback is obviously what was requested so if you think their D has too much stuff then say so but no need to get too sanctimonious about it. Just my two cents. Life in general, and first-time dorm moving more specifically, are indeed learning experiences and we often learn more from our mistakes than from when things work out swimmingly. So, if OP’s D eventually says, “Whoa! way too much stuff this time!” great. Or, if she finds that it all fits, great. All the best to everyone! Hope everyone’s D’s & S’s enjoy their move, academic year, & entire university experience!!
I never saw an ironing board in college. You can iron on a desk with a sheet or towel over it. Seems like a heavy, bulky utterly dispensable item.
My kid got one of those popup hampers but I honestly don’t see the advantage over a simple laundry bag which was good enough for everyone in my day. The pop up hamper was surprisingly difficult to deal with in moving–wouldn’t stay half compressed when I brought it home half full of dirty clothes, and it wouldn’t fit into the carryon suitcase which was the only bag she took returning to school and so it was left behind. Awkward and way more trouble than it’s worth in my opinion. She can buy another one, but I hope she’ll just use the laundry bag she also has.
I would be careful of framed art. It would be impossible to hang in many dorms because of the rules about nails in walls. My kid had one framed item and it already got broken during a move and is now left behind. I’d stick with posters you can roll up in a tube and go.
Hey, this is why I got all sanctimonious: So, my spouse and I are leaving for a 9-day trip in Europe this Friday. Now, my line of thinking is - well, so of course we’ll just have 2 carry-ons; a carry-on is more than sufficient for a 9-day trip if you know how to pack right. I traveled all over the world for my job and that’s super-easy.
No, spouse wants to bring this huge, oversized suitcase (it’s really a monster). I said - fine - but then we should just share one suitcase, there’s more than enough room for all of our stuff. I dutifully pack my side of it - taking up 1/3 of this suitcase - and said, great, now you can pack your side. He says - no, that’s not enough space. I’ll need a carry-on as well. I said - oh forget it. I’ll just move my stuff back to a carry-on and you can have a big oversized suitcase and look like the damn tourist you are, LOL. The worst part is that he’s not even a fashionista of any sort - I could excuse all this luggage if he were some kind of dapper guy, but we’re talking polo shirts and Wrangler jeans, LOL.
So between that - and moving my kids to and from when NO ONE SEEMS TO KNOW HOW TO PACK EXCEPT FOR ME - I get a little sanctimonious on the topic!
My son was a music major. He had an ironing board…and he used it…and the iron.
PG. I won’t share one suitcase when I travel because I want MY stuff with me. Simply put…if they lose that ONE suitcase, both you and your husband are out of luck.
I think leaning to pack light (and that includes what one needs to take for college) is a life skill.
This year I almost filled up my entire minivan + car top carrier, with the backseats down and one middle row seat removed. Included were two large suitcases of clothes, probably 15 pairs of shoes in boxes, a number of hanging clothes in a bag, a hamper, bathroom supplies, kitchen supplies, a TV, school supplies, a minifridge, my bed set & pillows, a handful of books and posters for my room, and that largely being it. However, this included ALL my clothes, summer fall winter (seasons change quickly in Boston), interview outfits (my school is very preprofessional and there are a lot of business events), and of course medium boxes of kitchen and bathroom supplies that wouldn’t be necessary in a freshman dorm. If it doesn’t fit in a minivan, you have too much, but otherwise imo it’s better to bring up what you can and take back what doesn’t fit.
It’s interesting how we each interpret things the way we want to see it. I see that a lot of posters children are doing what my D is doing…nothing wrong with it! And I do not make decisions for my daughter (again - not sure where you got that idea!).
I must say that I have learned a lot from this thread. I really don’t think that it is too much stuff - as others have brought more to their dorm.
We are not minimalist-type packers - nor are we hoarders!
I am also not packing for a vacation - so that train of thought doesn’t make sense to me. On vacation I don’t want to lug every item I own! But if I am moving - then YES - everything plus the kitchen sink sounds right!
She would NEVER encroach on her roomies side -so if she doesn’t have enough room we will just bring it back. No biggie.
I want my child to feel comfortable in her new home away from home. And if that means taking a lot of stuff…so be it!
