<p>Hello to all you parents of present and future owls. D didn't make it to Owl Weekend from England but has made her decision anyway and she will join all of your kids at Rice! Can she live without an eggcrate? It's a bit much for the international luggage allowance.</p>
<p>She certainly can. And if she decides that she really cannot, she can purchase one in Houston. They are fairly inexpensive.</p>
<p>Hello all Houstonians on this post!! If any of you are planning a spring cleaning and are planning to rid yourselves of some old furniture, before you send it to the Salvation Army, could you let me know?? My s and 2 roommates are going to be living off campus next year (not by choice, but Rice doesn't guarantee housing all 4 years :( ). Anyway, they just rented a duplex in the museum district and will be needing furniture (and a fridge!) in August. Maybe the picnic can be combined with a tag sale :) Any suggestions for places to look for affordable stuff (in addition to the Sams Club,Costco, Ikea and the Sears Outlet store) will be greatly appreciated!</p>
<p>PS- They are regulars at the nearby Target and Big Lots-- but don't know too much about other bargain opportunities.</p>
<p>JMN626 - I think the seniors have a garage sale at the end of the year to sell off their stuff, and he may be able to pick up cheap furniture there. (I could be wrong... but in any case, all the seniors and OC people will be wanting to unload the big stuff, so there must be some exchanges of goods near the end of the year.) Congratulations to all the new Rice rising Freshman! (And IKEA is only a few minutes away, and it is GREAT!)</p>
<p>Hi anxiousmom!
I think they know about the sell-off at the end of the year, but I don't know how much of that stuff they can store over the summer in the basement of the res. college due to (1) space and (2) potential for flooding. So... I just thought I'd ask here :) All ideas are welcome, and I know that they'll figure it all out. Gee, when I was in grad school furniture was old telephone co. cable spools for coffee tables and cement blocks and boards for bookshelves. We didn't have the luxury of IKEA then....</p>
<p>Hi Jym626! I had asparagus crate furniture even OUT of college, and slept on a futon on the floor. Ouch. I'm way too old for that now. I'm glad your son has settled on a place to live next year. (Does he have a 9-month lease?) My DD needs to make a decision soon - but I think she's having too much fun (Rondale.. Owl Weekend.... House of Pies...) and is too busy with schoolwork to get her potential roommates together and commit to a place. I "advised her strongly" (in otherwords NAGGED) to make a decision soon. Still, I'm glad she's moving off-campus next year. I think it is an important step towards adulthood and it will save us some much-needed $$$ also!</p>
<p>anxiousmom-
Yes- they got a 9 mo lease, they LOVE the place, it has an electronic wrought iron gate around it (opens electronically at the driveway), the realtor has been wonderful, and the DOWNSTAIRS 3 br. 2 ba plus den will be available in June-- PM me and I'll give you the info. I am sure they will be able to get a 9 mo lease-- my s's is from Mid Aug top Mid- May. The house looks great (I can see a weblink on line). Let me know if your d is interested!! There is also another house on the property-- a flight attendant lives on one half, and a professor at U of H in the other half. Really sounds great!
(He and his 2 roommates have rented the upstairs of the duplex).</p>
<p>D got an apartment off-campus. She is about to sign the least which will be for a year and start in August. There are a lot of other students in the building. She wanted to try living by herself, so got a small one bedroom. It is about 5 minutes from campus. She has a car at Rice. So-she needs a bed. Has most everything else. I don't think they can store stuff at the colleges if they are moving off campus. She has a futon (metal frame, black cover) which is up for grabs if any of you are interested? The price is LOW.</p>
<p>Sorry- that would be "lease"....</p>
<p>MOWC-
I will PM you to get your d's info, and will relay it to my s. I have no clue what they are looking for, but they sound most excited about the upstairs loft that they will be using as a "media/entertainment center" . I believe that's a euphemism for a giant video game hook-up. They might want a fouton for up there!!</p>
<p>jym626:</p>
<p>About a month ago we donated our living room set so sorry. But for Electrical appliances there is a huge super store called Fry's (very good prices) - but they don't deliver. For outlet furniture, the kids may want to try Foley's warehouse. They have floor samples, scratched and damaged stuff at deep discount and it is not that far from Rice ~ 15 miles.</p>
<p>IKEA is good store for trendy (meaning expensive) furniture, but they may have floor samples etc.</p>
<p>wow! I never realized how many Rice people were on here, LOL! My H and I were discussing D's getting to campus with all of her "stuff".. for those who live a great distance from Rice - do we just spend money there for what she needs? I assume that she won't really know for sure what that is until she gets together with roomate, etc. so driving all the way from PA might not be worth it anyway.. although with clothes, personal items, etc... I just don't know.. what has everyone else done about this? Gosh, I thought once the decision was made it would be easy!</p>
<p>D went to boarding school far away. We never did make the driving trip. We shipped a LOT of stuff- the big stuff like bedding etc. The good thing about Houston is that you don't need that many heavy clothes. I would recommend shipping a few boxes right before school starts and just packing the rest and flying. You can check with the roommates and find out the layout of the room and then go to Target for all the rest. D's boyfriend is from NY and has had to do all the shipping etc., too. The big problem for him was moving out of the room at the end of last year since you accumulate a lot of stuff. We hauled a lot of his stuff to Dallas for the summer.</p>
<p>Congrats to the Rice acceptee's.Its so wonderful when the students find that "fit".
Trying to get DS interested in Rice, it has his intended major,seems like a wonderful place. He tells me its "too small" and its athletic level isnt strong enough for his tastes.....</p>
<p>lsandin: Houston is very price competitive - the retail business here is cut throat. You will find better prices here than back home and save the hassel of packing. We are going east coast and we plan to go couple of days early to buy stuff.</p>
<p>All we need is a Walmart - if Walmart doesn't have it, my son doesn't need it.</p>
<p>simba: I am definitely with you there.. no target, no walmart..mustn't need it, LOL! The purse strings are going to be REAL tight around here for awhile. Youngest D lost her cell phone yesterday..she was told that she would have to wait for two months for a new phone (until contact was up) no way was I paying for a $200 phone when I have college tuition coming up!! Don't think younger D is going to be too happy about her sisters college career, LOL!</p>
<p>Isandin: The colleges have loftable beds, dressers, desks, mattresses, etc. I would wait until you arrive to get anything besides the basics. A lamp, floor lamp, mattress topper, dorm fridge, boombox, etc. are better to get in Houston or after checking with roommate... in Houston cheap, cheap, cheap - and can sometimes be bought from other students. There are many stores - so it is not like going to a small LAC in a rural place where the stores are stripped of college stuff at the beginning of the year!
And Simba, I would disagree that IKEA is expensive - DD got a very comfortable lounge chair for $38.00. Some of their stuff can be pricier, but much of it is cheap!</p>
<p>cathymee - Rice might not be the place for your son. But I question his reasoning...Too small for what?
I haven't found that Rice has fewer opportunities than schools 5 times its size, and I certainly don't know everyone on campus!</p>
<p>Also - Will your son be a varsity athlete, an intermural player, or a spectator?
For the elite athletes, especially in football, Rice leaves something to be desired. However, we have an awesome baseball team, one of the highest participation rates in intramural sports, and the games really are fun to go to!</p>
<p>MOWC and Jym626 - I sent you a PM :)</p>
<p>Simba-
Thanks for the tips! I sent them on to my s. Bummer about the furniture being gone... oh well, timing is everything...</p>
<p>MOWC-- I sent your info to my s. as well. Hope he'll follow up on your d's fouton. </p>
<p>Anxiousmom-
Sent you an email. Hope the link works. If not, let me know. And as I said in the email, we have Jenskate to thank for the link to the real estate site. Thanks, Jen!!</p>
<p>lsandin-
If you do a search on cc, you'll see that the "how do I get my stuff there" has been discussed a lot. Lots of great ideas. We stuffed most of s's stuff into duffels he took on the plane, and did some shopping there in Houston (for printer, dorm fridge, etc). There is a Sams Club fairly close to campus as well. There is a Big Lots near campus too-- sells lots of stuff dirt cheap. School supplies, toiletries, towels, that kind of stuff mostly... When your d. get her O-week (orientation week) information, after she finds out her res. college assignment, she'll get a ton of info about all this. They will take daily meccas to Target during O-week! Not to worry !</p>