Moving and packing for college 2 students in one car

That is what I was considering… I think we should find roundtrip relatively reasonable. A bit of annoying but not much of a choice. I doubt we will fit into one car without it even with all creativity… But who knows…

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My D23’s school allows each student up to four boxes to be shipped ahead of move-in. Check to see if your daughters’ allow something similar. Since Amazon tends to ship orders in multiple boxes, I am going to box the bedding, towels and other big but light items myself. The only thing I am having directly shipping to her school is a microwave (her roommate already has the refrigerator). After move-in, there is no limitation. D’s parent weekend is six weeks after drop off so I told her we will bring her sweaters and other winter clothes then.

Nope. Nothing that was announced anywhere… DD is in contact with other students (including upper classmates) and nobody mentioned it…

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I am not planning to visit Memphis ever :rofl:, except very last move out… We have relatives in Atlanta but nothing in Memphis that would make us want to go… Airline tickets are very expensive, car travel is too far…DD will fly home - not the other way around.
I am terrible, but we never visited for parent’s weekends for older one too. Just dropping in fall and picking in spring… Too far, and too much of a hassle.

We put a trailer hitch on our truck and even though its not cheap to begin with (around 600$), the amount of times that we have rented just the uhaul trailer for about 25/30$ a day, has come in handy so many times. My D17 since graduating has moved in and out of 3 apartments! plus the move out from college. and Moving my D19 into his place. Now that we just moved, DH was able to take critical items in a trailer (we had movers for everthing else) and once again it came in very handy. Of course this only works if you have a vehicle you plan on keeping for a while. His truck is a 2008, but we will likely hold on to it until it dies, even if he gets another car.

Thanks. We do have a trailer hitch on our minivan (used for a bicycle rack).

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If you go the trailer route, you should padlock the trailer to the hitch and then the doors to the trailers.

We did a cross-country move like that, and the locks gave us comfort that the trailer and its contents wouldn’t be stolen, even though we overnighted at several hotels/motels enroute.

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You can box up stuff and ship it yourself.

That probably will cost a fortune even with Pirate Ship. My youngest will just have to wait for fall and winter to get 4 more 50 lb bags on Southwest. She should survive until October with a limited supply of clothes :slight_smile:

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Exactly…pack light for the first trip. Take the essentials and some other stuff.

You had mentioned the possibility of taking two vehicles. My question…after you drop college kid two off, who would be driving the second vehicle home? Perhaps another option is to take the second vehicle to drop the college freshman off…then have one parent head home…while the second one drives the upperclassman to Georgia.

Summer camp trunks are perfect for this.

Try the Everything SummerCamp website.

It might sound strange, but I find use for these after my kids have outgrown summer camp all the time.

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We packed just about everything we packed when moving the kids by car…in large black trash bags. They were able to be squished in between other things that had to be packed in boxes.

I think the note about taking some things back after the fall and winter breaks is a good idea.

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Ikea doesn’t sell the zipped Frakta, but they do sell other storage bags that are taller and zip. They are easier to pack/move around in a car and still hold a lot. I would suggest you color code the bags for each kid, so you know which to remove at stop # 1.

Consider the Knalla and the Hasthage.

They’re great for clothes and bedding, and don’t weigh 50 pounds when loaded (like the Frakta can).

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First as others have said, bring bare necessities only. The rest you can ship later.

I have a friend who has a side business of renting Thule car top carriers. Perhaps look into if theres something in your area?

Ive heard good things about these as well. https://www.amazon.com/Ziploc-727132-Flexible-Totes-Jumbo/dp/B003UEMD1M/ref=sr_1_5?crid=HVGELMXHKQSJ&keywords=ziploc+clothes+storage+bags&qid=1689345775&sprefix=ziplock+clothes%2Caps%2C116&sr=8-5

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You mentioned requiring your freshman daughter to store everything for 4 years. Has your upperclassman daughter done that, ie, does she only have a few items of clothing to bring?

Really, encourage your daughter going to Rhodes to see what she really needs after she gets there. My daughter brought so much that she didn’t need and never used. A suitcase of shoes and sundresses - once she got to school she preferred school branded t-shirts and then flannel shirts for the winter. She wanted a school themed comforter (bought at Wal-Mart near school).

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Exactly…my farther away kid went in with four other friends and rented a storage unit for the summers. We never schlepped anything home until graduation. Saved us having to worry about transporting…and storing all that stuff all summer. Totally worth the money.

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I WAS the storage unit for one of my kids (at college about an hours drive). Big basement, my only rule was nothing perishable ( I would not store the “not quite clean” mini refrigerators) so eat your snacks on the way over here, and nothing wet (yes, kids would store a laundry basket of washed but not dried towels-- lesson learned).

I’m sure any kid can make friends with a “local” if they try!!!

We are the locals and have a hand full of boxes from a couple of Ds friends.

Another vote for the Samsonite Tote-a-Ton bags. They are basically really big duffles. We have flown with multiple times bringing my daughter to and from school and they have held up great. We like them for flights because they hold alot. For flights we fill them up with lots of soft stuff (bedding, towels, etc.) OR heavy stuff that won’t be damaged in a soft bad (i.e. shoes).

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They are great. Have both already, but they are about a half capacity of old Frakta. We will probably take some existing old Ikea bags home after dropping oldest so youngest could use them for checked in luggage.