<p>Alright, I’m in the midwest and I just realized that I will have to travel all the way to Providence with my belongings. How did you Brownies do it? How did you get pillows, toiletries, towels, blankets, sheets, etc there? What about instruments? </p>
<p>P.S. Can you leave valuables in a safe place in Providence over winter break?</p>
<p>If you’re coming there with your parents, skip on buying stuff till you arrive, then go to the mall and get everything you need. Or order things online, place them on hold, and pick them up when you arrive. If you’re coming alone, ship some stuff.</p>
<p>And you can leave your valuables in your room over winter break, lol.</p>
<p>Do we need to rent a car?</p>
<p>The mall’s pretty close by (a 10 minute walk). But if you’re planning on purchasing anything fairly large or heavy, you might want to get a car :)</p>
<p>Should I get the linen package then? How much are sheets at the mall?</p>
<p>Hmmm, I didn’t get the linen package but I remember them being more expensive than stuff at the mall. I was able to get a bedding set (with 2 pairs of sheets, a blanket, an extra pillow, 2 pillowcases, and a laundry hamper) in a special set for $60 at Bed Bath and Beyond. They usually have specials before school starts. And if you have any coupons from them at your house (even if they’re old), hoard them and use them all at once! Usually the cashier is nice enough to let you use multiple coupons, and 4 “20% off” coupons add up quickly :)</p>
<p>Hi, as a parent, I would suggest going to your local Bed, Bath and Beyond store and selecting what you need to be picked up in Providence. Everything that you choose in your local store will be waiting at the Providence store when you get here. You will need a car to transport everything. The great thing about Bed, Bath is that you don’t need to purchase everything you have held (so go ahead and over-shop and prune later) and they will honor all those 20% off coupons. You will need one for each item, so start saving. They also have a list on their computer of the Brown do’s and dont’s (e.g. no halogen lights). I did this with both my kids (opposite coasts) and it worked great. You can get much nicer bedding this way and avoid the linen package. </p>
<p>As to anything that you want shipped…you can ship a box to your hotel to hold for arrival and save having to go visit the Brown Post Office. My son shipped his printer and some odds and ends and it worked great. We also flew Jet Blue to Boston to take advantage of the free luggage allowance. Of course, I have sons and so the luggage was less than for a girl (or so I have been told).</p>
<p>Oh, I see I cross-posted about B, B and B. You can see it is popular!</p>
<p>^The advice on shipping to your hotel is one I hadn’t thought of, but is rather smart. Picking stuff up from the Brown Mailroom isn’t that bad, provided you mailed it at least a month in advance. Any less than that, and you’re taking your chances with how backed up they are, and you can’t guaruntee that your stuff will be ready for you the day you move in. I’ve heard horror stories from some of my friends about getting something like cookies from home sent during September, and it not arriving in their mailbox until November. After the first month or two, the mailroom gets a lot better about being timely in delivering stuff.</p>
<p>If you want to avoid doing a normal car rental, you can sign up for Zipcar and reserve a Zipcar from Brown’s campus well before you get there, with the added benefit of having a Zipcar account to use later in your time at Brown.</p>
<p>You want to avoid stuff like refrigerator rentals and linen packages, because generally you get lower-quality stuff at higher prices. When I was there, for example, the refrigerator they rented was a used piece of crap, and it was just as expensive to rent it for one year as to buy a nice new fridge from the store. I imagine the linen is the same way. It’s much nicer to choose your own pretty, soft sheets :-)</p>
<p>Thank you for the Zipcar reference. That seems cheaper than renting one and is convenient. My family isn’t finicky, so is there a cheaper alternative to Bed, Bath, and Beyond for all the things I need (like a Wal-Mart) nearby?</p>
<p>When you get to Brown, you may want to head through Wriston. I remember (I think AEPi, which is right by the Ratty) was selling used refrigerators and microwaves for about $20 (which is cheap enough that it almost doesn’t matter if you donate them again next year to keep from having to store it).</p>
<p>Zipcar is probably only cheaper if you only plan on renting it for 5 hours (it’s $8/hour, or ~$60/day). Hertz, on the other hand, is something like $30-40/day. There is a wal-mart nearby you could shop at.</p>
<p>We wouldn’t need the car for the entire day. Just a few hours at most.</p>
<p>There are lots of big-box stores, including a Wal-Mart, in nearby Seekonk, MA.</p>
<p>There is also a Wal-Mart near downtown in Providence as well. Finding what you will need for school at major retail outlets will be easy and a lot cheaper than buying directly from Brown. As for safe places to leave your stuff, there are a fair amount of storage facilities in the Providence area you can use if you don’t feel comfortable leaving your stuff in your dorm over the break.</p>
<p>What about summer break? Can we leave all our bedding, pillows, winter clothes, etc somewhere nearby?</p>
<p>One thing you can do is rent a van from U-Haul, Budget Truck Rental, or someone similar. All you then have to do is drive to Providence with your stuff in the van. This is also nice because it means that you have a vehicle to get around Providence while you’re moving in. This is what I did when I transferred to Brown and had to move my stuff from Poughkeepsie to Providence. Admittedly this might be trickier if you have to drive from the Midwest. Still, it’s worth considering, as it would both allow you to take your things with you and temporarily have a vehicle in Providence. As for summer, a lot of students use storage services like Storage Center Providence. Some of these, like Storage Center Providence, will move your stuff to their center for you, which is very useful if you don’t have a car. Hope this helps.</p>