<p>DS packed his stuff on Thursday, took his last final at 8am Friday, went back to his room, finished packing and waited for the movers (used the service recommended by UA, cost about $200), got picked up by Tony, went to the airport for his 4:30 flight home with connection. I picked him up at our airport. I did book the mover and the transportation for him, but was I supposed to fly down and spend two days helping him move out? We told him you’re on your own, you’re a grown-up now, you can handle it, call us if you have questions. Just like we treated him all year. If he’s going to choose a school far away, he needs to quickly learn to be independent.</p>
<p>Chardo, my mindset about move out was different than yours. Had my son chosen our state flagship, a 3 hour drive away, no one would think twice about me driving to pick him up and help load up the car. The fact that UA is 12 hours away from home wasn’t going to deter me from helping if I could. Because I traveled with another UA mom, it only cost me about $300 for the weekend, including 3 nights in a shared hotel, gas and meals -.which was less than a plane ticket plus airport shuttle to get him home – and a lot more fun for me, even with the move out legs.</p>
<p>Some of our kids had finals all the way through Friday night. I know the CBHers had a killer week and most worked on their projects up until midnight Friday. Frankly, I don’t see anything wrong with helping our kids when and if we can. They are getting to an age when soon they won’t need much help. And if parents can’t help, there’s no need to feel bad or guilty. Everyone makes their own choice for their own reasons and circumstances.</p>
<p>DS counts on “mom’s group” (shared unit) to arrange the unit and the rest is on him. After reading about all the laundry being done by moms I have to commend DS on using finals study time to do this job (love those iphone notices). He arrived yesterday (stayed for friend’s wedding) with only laundry from last 3 days necessities, much to dad’s surprise who figured both suitcases were stuffed with dirty laundry. </p>
<p>Any problems?? Well, the rain and I didn’t stress a trial run to storage unit (new location this year) so doing so at night, lot of cars and with it pouring rain in area he wasn’t familiar with was hazardous. After reading about the fatalities I have prayers of gratitude for his safety and for comfort to those families who are now in pain. </p>
<ol>
<li>Too.Much.Stuff!!</li>
<li> The amount of stuff to pack expands by the amount of time that you have. We had 2 full days to pack, sort and take to storage and it took every moment of that time. How could that be?</li>
<li> So sad I missed any time to get together w/ fellow CCer’s. Had at least hoped to make one get together. Especially the Chicago contigent. We need to get together locally ladies!</li>
<li> Packing for two distinct trips is asking for trouble. D left for Ecuador on AA Abroad. had to pack for that and for the storage locker AND for clothes to take home for summer.</li>
<li> I LOVE SOUTHWEST AIRLINES! One suitcase weighted 84#'s! Second weighted 56#'s. They only charged me for one over bag at $75. She took the second bag, which was 56#'s and just put it on the belt. Winked at me and smiled. Guess she felt bad for me after I told her my sad tale of woe. All the luggage and no kid coming home.<br></li>
<li> Allow time to unpack and repack the storage unit as you keep adding stuff. D shared storage unit w/ roommate from San Diego. Neither one was taking much home. Storage unit is piled VERY high.</li>
<li> Being able to hug and kiss D before she goes off the contact grid for 11 days was worth every damn penny of airfare and hotel costs!</li>
</ol>
<p>I must say, I am so envious, y’all are such great people, helping each other out. I wish I was so lucky. I never see another parent. I hear from them, though, asking me to bring home or put in storage what they left behind.</p>
<p>I am thankful, though, that H comes with me. He and son pack everything up and go to storage, while I clean the bathroom, kitchen. The laundry is done with the regular home laundry. This year, I did not even see the storage unit. One more year of this. I hate to see what it looks like when we go back, as we were just throwing things in trash bags and tossing them in the car. No carts to be found both days we were moving out.</p>
<p>I only wish I could have son home for the summer and not have to go through this again in a few weeks for his summer lab job. H and I have sworn that we will do major move out during Christmas or Spring Break, leaving only the minimum for the final move out senior year. This is the time of year that I really regret the existence of the super suites. The more space they have, the more junk they accumulate. And that living room collects the most. We could not even walk past it to get to son’s room, it was full of empty boxes “ready” to be packed. Son said it had been that way for a week, and he was fed up. </p>
<p>I am seriously considering a single room for son next year, but I think it’s too late for that now. Don’t get me wrong, I love his suitemates, but the thought of at least three seniors putting all four years of accumulation in the living room for that last week makes me break out in hives.</p>
<p>^^ Montegut, it’s so true that there are a lot of helpful Bama CC’ers. I had lattelady messaging me to alert me to things my D may have forgotten to pack, and Class2012 kindly provided her cell phone number for my daughter to call if she ran into problems or wanted dinner. There are several other kind individuals upon whom I could have called as well. Definitely a great group of people!!</p>
<p>D’s Rooommates’ mom and I both told girls (who are living together in East Edge next year) that they are not allowed to move after that year. lol We are hoping that they stay in the apartment for the rest of their time at UA! I do not want to do this crazy move again. LOL</p>
<p>I agree that there was just too much Crap. Next year should be better since she will be living in the sorority house and won’t have the option of cooking anything, even in a microwave. I’ve decided i’m never helping with another move-out. Allowing her to figure out how to get it all to storage on her own either with a zip car or friend will be the way to go in future years.<br>
I was extremely impressed when, after flying home with three huge suitcases filled with dirty clothes, she spent the entire day doing laundry. Didn’t ask for assitance once. She also went grocery shopping for the week last night and has followed up on her own with doctor’s appointments today.<br>
Imagine that? I dropped off a teenage girl last August and returned with a “take charge” young woman (with a lot of crap.)</p>
<p>Son brought a lot of stuff home when he came home 2 weeks before finals, and had most everything else packed when we returned to move him home for summer. We were so proud. As we began to finish the packing, and take down to load in car, my son began to sneeze and sneeze and sneeze (at least a dozen times), I said “You wouldn’t be sneezing had you dusted at least once this year.” He laughed and said he would rather sneeze than than ever dust! LOL! </p>
<p>The moving carts were scarce, but we did get one for biggest stuff toward end. Took about an hour-and-a-half to move out (last Thursday, May 2). Definitely agree he had TOO MUCH CRAP, all stuff I wanted to send, that he agreed he wouldn’t need!</p>
<p>He had a really nice floor fan that he used all year. When we got home and were unpacking one of boxes of stuff he never opened, the remote control to the fan was in it and he asked “What is this?” When i told him, he said, “Well, that would have come in handy.” So obviously he did have way too much stuff.</p>
<p>Oh well, live and learn!</p>
<p>RTR!
Hope everyone has a wonderful summer enjoying time with their kids home from college! Son moving into The Lofts in the fall, plan to take MUCH. LESS. STUFF!</p>
<p>DS had exams Thursday night & 2 on Friday. Saturday he flew out to Peru with UA. I found uncashed checks and gift cards in his stuff. The bank wouldn’t accept one check because it was issued more than 6 months ago. Vacuum shrink bags are wonderful to store bulky items. I also witnessed DS worry over exams, not because he wouldn’t pass, but because he wants to bring up his current GPA of 3.8. Roll Tide!</p>
<p>TX12, about that bringing stuff home a few weeks earlier. I’m actually thinking that might be a good idea. Go down for a weekend and bring home all of D’s heavy winter stuff she won’t need. Though the way this years weather could make that hard, lol. Have it more like the last 2 weeks are more like she is on vacation with just the min. wardrobe needed. With all this talk about carts being non-existent I’m really thinking that might be the plan next year. DH and I take a quick mini vacation for a long weekend and travel to T-Town and pack up all of the big bulky stuff and bring it back a few weeks early. Sure it is a 9 hour drive but who wouldn’t love an excuse to visit Bama ;)</p>
<p>We brought home five bags of clothing during spring break. Still, my son thought he had everything under control. What he did not expect was all the things he needed to do during the final few weeks of school – from two research projects to helping with the coordination of Honors Week to some fraternity business. Fortunately, my husband and younger son were able to donate lots of stuff. Now that my son is home, he plans to go through all of his stuff and see what else he will give away in terms of clothing. </p>
<p>We bought 2 Sterlite 4 drawer cabinets, one to put in the closet for underwear, tshirts, socks etc. and one for under the bed to store school supplies and living supplies. We are packing them before we go and shipping them down since we are flying down for move-in. We figured that DS can repackage them and store at storage facility on move-out. Just seems too convenient as opposed to driving 17 hours to bring everything down. I know my wife will fly down and pack him up and clean. She won’t pass on the opportunity to see him and help him so he can study that week.</p>
<p>New CollegeMom - those three suitcases only contained summer clothing and summer shoes. Cool weather fall/winter/cool weather spring clothing were all put into storage. Also in storage: all room decor, room storage, bedding, bathroom storage/decor, and other misc. including a large pink coat rack that belongs to someone else.
I will be driving with her to T-Town at the end of July. Anything that doesn’t fit into the sorority house bedroom or that she no longer feels “works” is coming back with me at that time.</p>
<p>^^^ I’m liking that idea more and more. Go a few weeks early and pack up all the decor, winter clothes, etc and get thouse out of the way. Sounds a lot less stressful for parents and kids (cheaper lodging rates, less crowds, etc). If it won’t fit in your suitcases then it ain’t staying those last few weeks. We have tried to tell D that if it won’t fit in the back end of the Suburban with the 3rd row seat in position then it will not fit in the dorm.</p>
<p>“We have tried to tell D that if it won’t fit in the back end of the Suburban with the 3rd row seat in position then it will not fit in the dorm.”</p>
<p>Glad to hear this! We are planning to drive down for move in with the whole family (6 happy travellers), so there wont be much room to spare in the minivan. He’s a boy, so I don’t think he is going to over pack. Amazon is there to help me out when he gets settled and figures out what he actually needs.</p>
<p>Lessons learned from afar during move out weekend:
1 - It is good to have a minimalist son who considers hanging up clothes to be “decorating” the room. Not too much stuff.
2 - It is even better to have said son think that askng for help from mom and dad to be akin to surrender. We offered to come help…his response was; Why???
3 - I am very thankful that my wife did not have to go through the anguish of seeing son’s definition of a “clean and ready for move out” room.
4 - It is probably best that it was rainy and overcast as a sunny day could have caused temporary blinding for many of the non-bedazzled participants.</p>
<p>Have a great summer and we will see you in the fall…
Roll Tide !!!</p>