<p>So as amazing as it is the end of school is coming fast - I was wondering if anyone had any tips about moving out - I know stuff an be stored but is there a limit and how safe and secure is it and how much of a zoo is pick-up day since I'm guessing most people don;t move out till Sat. Wishing there were at least a few days grace between exams and move out day.</p>
<p>There’s not a limit, but it is a zoo at pick up day. And there are rules about what can be stored. No furniture, only 1 lamp and 1 rug or something like that (there should be a house meeting about this soon) and everything needs to be stored in boxes or plastic tubs that are clearly labeled. I REALLY recommend plastic tubs, they’re easier to move later on and you can use them for a lot of things (a plastic tub covered with a blanket or a piece of cloth makes a fetching end table or a good bar during the school year, as well as a sturdy summer storage bin). Your D can get some at Target and bring them back on the bus. I think I had 8-10 of them. </p>
<p>Also, number the tubs, and have your D make a list with the tub’s number and what is inside it (roughly. Books in one tub, winter clothes, printer, etc). That way she’ll know when she’s picked up all of her stuff (it’s really easy to forget how much you have in the trunk room, and I swear there’s probably still one or two boxes I completely forgot about stored down there). Basically what happens is you store things neatly when you move out, and then during move in the store room becomes a complete zoo where people go into free-for-all mode and just shove other people’s boxes out of the way in an effort to get to their own, and then just leave things scattered around. For this reason, it’s best to store your bins as far back in the trunk room and as much against the wall as possible. That way people are less likely to move them to get to boxes stored behind them on move-in day. </p>
<p>Most of all, just be patient. Wear clothes that you don’t mind getting sweaty in. The fan should be the very last thing that you store, so you have something to cool you down as you make trips back up and down. Also trunk rooms are dusty and damp places. If you have allergies you’ll want to either stay out or try to take some meds before you start.</p>
<p>I forget the why of it but we were among the last. Be prepared for the infamous “trunk room.” All these bright young women…and yet, for many, their paradigm seemed to be “walk as far as you can into the trunk room, then drop your stuff.” The result is simultaneously unstable, inefficient, and unnavigable. I spent close to an hour making order out of chaos: heavy/large stuff on the bottom of stacks, light stuff on top, the garbage bags filled with random stuff arranged on top of stacks in a way that they wouldn’t collapse and their contents randomly spill, etc. Hot and sweaty it was. But at the end of it, there was at least a path from one end to the other and everything <em>could</em> be accessed without excavating everything between it and the door first.</p>
<p>Well I’m now both happy and worried that my husband (no offense TheDad) is doing the pick-up - good on the lifting but he and the D not so hot on the organizing!</p>
<p>TD, what a good deed you did–you must have been a Boy Scout (in your younger days)! 
I would have done the same. Thanks, S&P, for the useful tips. I have been informed to come May 8; at this point, I don’t know if she’s keeping anything stored, so I’ll just bring the van! The challenge for us will be to separate out what she still needs in order to work for Commencement and Reunion; she’ll be living in Cutter during that time.</p>
<p>^ Clothes, comfy shoes, pajamas, fan, towel, toiletries, and sheets. </p>
<p>Also she’ll need a good sense of humor about Cutter. It’s my old house, and I love it, but honey, you can’t fix ugly.</p>
<p>Note to parents: if your experience was anything like mine, the first year your daughter will underestimate the time to pack/store by a factor of four; the second year, it will be by a factor of two; the third year, it will be more reasonable, although still longer than either of you would like. I’m about to head to graduation pick-up. I’ve already threatened that if she isn’t living out of a suitcase by the time we arrive, everything not packed will get left behind.</p>
<p>S&P, thanks for the list. My daughter is an experienced backpacker so she knows how to do with little, but this is different, so your list will be helpful. It’s amazing how even “ugly” is beloved when you love your experience there. MWFN, thanks for the chuckle! It ALWAYS takes longer than you anticipate. I’m glad your daughter has learned over the years–practice makes not perfect, but at least better!</p>
<p>^ Yeah, when I was a senior most of my things ended up in the free box pile. Actually every year it ended up a lot in the free box pile. </p>
<p>I think when your parents drive you, it makes you a little softer. I had to fly home, so not only did I have a firm deadline, but I had no one to help me with my stuff. I was a very fast packer and also very good at getting rid of/leaving behind most of my stuff. My roommate from first year needed four cars to move her in and out every year by comparison.</p>
<p>OK now I’m terrified My D is convinced she has no more that she had when she moved in forgetting all the intermittent shopping trips. We took home three small bags but I think we will have a very full van. I’m thinking we will be lucky to get it all in trash bags in a day let alone organized and packed.</p>
<p>
It’ll be a long time before I forget walking into D’s room the first year after she had said she was “almost done.” The room looked like the aftermath of the battle of Marengo.</p>
<p>CB, ja, I vas a Boy Scout venn I vas younger, but in ze Panzer division with Rommel, ve had <em>order</em>. All of which is funny because my home office is a disaster zone with stacks of books and papers and there are boxes of this and that stashed all around the house.</p>
<p>But I did get lots of laughs and winces at the prospect party a couple of week ago when the discussion turned to getting ready to leave for Smith: days passed with nothing happening and then D kicked it into gear…spending <em>hours</em> loading up her iPod, with the suitcases barely touched until well into the evening before the morning she left.</p>
<p>I well remember how my blood pressure rose the first year we had the move-out experience. What a scene we walked into! Boxes all over the room, in various states of completion.</p>
<p>The worst was the floor of D’s walk-in closet. D was a Gold Key tour guide, and apparently had gotten into the habit of depositing the debris from her “quick and dirty room cleanup” prior to tour appointments (during which she had to show her room) into her closet. </p>
<p>I will never forget the image of my dear H sorting through the assorted contents of the closet floor, which included notes from friends, personal hygiene products, etc. :eek:!</p>
<p>Well, I swore “Never again!” and let D know it.</p>
<p>The next year, H and I drove the five hours from our home to Smith the day before, and stayed overnight at the Autumn Inn. We told D she was welcome to walk over and take the car whenever she wanted and handed her a key, and said she could pick us up when she was ready. </p>
<p>We were enjoying a relaxed breakfast the following morning when she showed, all packed up. She had risen early and taken the car while we were sleeping, and handled it on her own, with the help of some friends who aided in the loading of the car.</p>
<p>HIGHLY recommended, and I figured less expensive than a nervous breakdown. ;)</p>
<p>– Too soon old and too late smart.</p>
<p>Jyber, mine was a Gold Key guide, too, and everything ended up under the bed. When I started pulling stuff out from under there her first year, I had these visions of all sorts of “monsters” growing under there. </p>
<p>The worst part of the first two years was that I couldn’t tell which items belonged to my daughter and which to her roommate. The first year, I ended up packing stuff that belonged to the roommate who, fortunately, took it all in stride. The second year, I told roomie and D to PLEASE separate their belongings before we got there.</p>
<p>The key part of Jyber’s post is to stay at the Autumn Inn and have the waffles for breakfast there. Makes it easier to deal with everything. But it’s nice to see that neither one of us was alone in our experiences, eh?</p>
<p>My goodness, we do have an experience to look forward to! I wonder if my daughter as a Gold Key guide shows anyone her closet. I must say I do like the idea of a waffle breakfast or a delightful lunch somewhere, though. We’ll be comforted thinking of you all when we deal with this rite of passage. Thanks for sharing.</p>
<p>CB…no, no, no! It’s not breakfast <em>or</em> lunch, it’s breakfast <em>and</em> lunch. After you’ve finished the packing, a good lunch will seem like a good idea. At least a last stop at Herrell’s if not lunch at Spoleto, the Viva Fresh Pasta Factory, the Eastside Grill, or Sylvesters. (Have dinner at one the night before and the choice is a little easier…if you didn’t go to Osaka or India House.)</p>
<p>I have a feeling the room and the closet will be a contiguous mess with exams and all - even more frightening we have not been invited into her room on our last two visits due to mess and I know what her room looks like at home. I think we are already giving up on the storage and will just provide her with masses of the jumbo clear baggies in hopes that we can at least tell stuff from trash :)</p>
<p>OWM, see, you have stumbled upon the <em>real</em> “Don’t ask, don’t tell” policy, LOL. “I’m not inviting you to my room and don’t even ask.”</p>
<p>True TheDad - On one visit when I drove there alone in a bad weather and bought her lunch I told her that in most cases buying someone a meal at least means getting invited up for coffee :)</p>
<p>Are the dining halls open on Saturday (move out deadline date) or do we also need to take time to get food?</p>