<p>Calmom, </p>
<p>Usually fewer heavy boxes. If I remember my charts correctly, there's a "base" rate, and extra pounds add up much more slowly than additional boxes.</p>
<p>When my S went from CA to PA for school, we shipped all the beddings with UPS. The reason is that I wanted him to be able to make a bed and sleep on it the same day and I was unwilling for him to sleep on newly unwashed bedding. So we shipped all his towels and beddings WASHED.
Other than that, we bought most things once we arrived at the school.</p>
<p>With my D, I bought beddings online and shipped to my aunt's house 35 miles from the school. I kindly requested if my aunt could wash the sheets and towels first before we arrived to pick them up.</p>
<p>Just me.</p>
<p>This link: <a href="http://wwwapps.ups.com/calTimeCost?loc=en_US%5B/url%5D">http://wwwapps.ups.com/calTimeCost?loc=en_US</a></p>
<p>will let you calculate time and cost for UPS shipping. It is ALWAYS cheaper (and slower) to ship books and so on at the postal media rate (4th class). But that's a special rate for books.</p>
<p>I just compared the different shipping services:
1. 20x20x20 box, 50lbs., value: 300$
2. 20x20x20 box, 70 lbs., value: 300$</p>
<p>UPS: 55$ ; 64$...same price as long as l x w x h is <80 in.
USPS: 47$ ; 50$ ...much more expensive if package size is over 20x20x20
FEDEX: 43$ ; 50$ ..same price as long as l x w x h is <80in.</p>
<p>Oh yes, I forgot...These are prices for Shipping from San Francisco to Boston.</p>
<p>Summer storage is great at my daughter's school. After freshman year, I went up and helped pack. The school had an arrangement with a reputable storage company...they arrived with a large truck and parked on campus. We brough all of her boxed items to the truck and they inventoried them and charged a flat fee of $225 for 2 1/2 months of storage. She brought home 3 suitcases full of dirty clothes :-)</p>
<p>The storage company brought the boxes back in the fall...included in the flat fee.</p>
<p>This year, my daughter packed everything herself and used the same storage company arrangement. It's a great arrangement.</p>
<p>well i am a uprising senior so i don't know much but i can say i live in new york city and im not too far away from all the colleges. the best place to get it, is chinatown. if they have no idea where that is, tell your son/daughter to ask a new friend to bring them to the chinatown in manhattan. especially if we're talking clothes and such. things there are usually easily barginable as to places around colleges and midtown/upper manhattan. there are malls and such as well. i think if your son/daughter is sharing a room, i wouldn't worry about furniture as much because the other person may have a truck load or not. if they do, im sure your son/daughter would be welcome to it. worst case scenario would be sleeping bag on the floor. (its not that bad). but if your plan is to buy heavy objects in chinatown or bargin places (there are many) it is best to just buy second hand furniture and such. there is also a company that lends out furniture... i dont' remember the name of it but im sure if you googled it, you would find it. when things go on sale in nyc, things GO on sale. </p>
<p>if you're talking cost effective, i highly recommend doing buying your furniture in New Jersey (less tax to no tax and everything is about 40%-60% cheaper) then lugging it back to dorms with the help of some friends or u-haul. <em>shrug</em> its not that big of a deal. just bring essentials then bring a few items each year. remember, you also have to consider lugging everything BACK home after college.</p>
<p>I went to college in NYC, and while I wasn't coming from so far away that I had to fly, I know many other people who did. Nearly every single one of them packed what they could and bought the extra stuff there. Things aren't that much more expensive in NYC if you shop at Kmart, Target and Ikea, all of which are accessible by public transportation.</p>
<p>My advice would be to pack what you can in suitcases - specifically the expensive things you wouldn't want to rebuy (laptop comes to mind) as well as the personal things you wouldn't want to rebuy (clothing, books, etc.), and then buy the other things (kitchen things if it's an apartment style dorm - I know Target has very inexpensive complete cooking sets, alarm clock, broom, etc.). Or course the whole ordeal will be stressful, but one can be extremely frugal in NYC.</p>
<p>My daughter will be flying from Maryland to Cambridge. I told her to take the bare minimum with her and we would drive up the rest for her. We got some great buys from Bed, Bath, and Beyond online. Ordered one morning and the items arrived via UPS the next day. Their prices are pretty reasonable. She received some gift cards from Target as graduation gifts so I told her just to pick up some things from Target up there. </p>
<p>She has some books that she wants in her room so whatever we don't bring when we drive up I will ship via FedEx Ground or US Postal Service Media Mail.</p>
<p>Here are some more tips based upon our own long-distance experience:</p>
<p>-We shipped the heavier stuff (shoes,boots, winter coats, etc.) in boxes that we bought from Staples. Their rates are competitive. During spring break, have your child bring this stuff home.</p>
<p>The hotel near our D's campus accepted the boxes to hold for us until our arrival. Check with your university housing office to see what similar options exist. Enroll in that hotel's membership points program.</p>
<ul>
<li><p>Bought all our linens and quilts online and took advantage of free shipping. Check the web and comparison shop.</p></li>
<li><p>Take advantage of COUPONS from Linens n Things and BBB. Then order and have your stuff waiting at your kids' nearest branch.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>When flying out there, we all took 2 huge duffels and suitcases apiece (under the 50 lb limit.) filled with our D's stuff. My husband and I just used very small carry-ons. Join that airline's Frequent Flier program.</p>
<p>-Find if you can move in to the dorm early. My D could not. So, we checked into our hotel 24 hours ahead of move in day, got up VERY early. Blitzed through the local Wal-Mart and Target to get bigger items like plastic drawers, area rug, cork bulletin/ magnet boards, a coffee maker, toiletries and other things you just plain forgot about.</p>
<p>-Bring with you a small tool kit, duct tape and tape measure. These you will leave with your child for move-out day.</p>
<ul>
<li>Arrange to rent a car with big enough trunkspace. You will need Xtra space to load everything in and out.</li>
</ul>
<p>I just wanted to tell you all that Southwestern airlines quite oftenly allows u to bring 3-bags and 1 carryon on the plane. Im suree that would help a lot for colleges u could fit a whole lot in 3 bags..</p>
<p>yeah a lot of my friends fly southwest airlines when they're moving out or in.</p>
<p>my tips: check if your school is a collegeboxes school (collegeboxes.com) -- the service will pick up at your house and deliver to your new dorm room. it's on the expensive side (especially for storing over the summer) -- but its convenience is well worth it.</p>
<p>Things you don't want to have to deal with there at college but don't want to send from home can be ordered from walmart.com and delivered to the dorm.</p>
<p>My son and I will drive to AZ and I will leave the car for him. I will fly back home. My son will live on campus but he needs a car because he has to carry some heavy stuff for his hobby. I am not sure what percentage of freshmen living on campus own a car. Will it OK for my son to have a car? I mean will having a car as a freshman cause any distraction away from focusing on school work? I will appreciate any opinions from experienced parents.</p>