Hello! I will be moving into college and I have watched alot of YouTube videos of parents moving in their kids. I am super nervous b/c all the videos I have watched had a parent and child in one car and the other parent trailing them in another car.
My aunts are the only family I have to help me move in and they are both in their 70s. They have rented a SUV and I’m just super nervous about my all my stuff fitting and the 3 hour drive there and back for them. There is also a pretty high chance that they will be helping me move my furniture around and that we will need to stop at the local Walmart for groceries and toiletries. I’m worried it’s going to be too much on them.
We moved my son in from a minivan, and there was a bit of room to spare.
My daughter, on the other hand, may need an 18 wheeler next week.
Think carefully about what will fit, and what you can get at Thanksgiving. and remove the packing from some of the stuff you’ve bought. For example, we took her new Curling Iron out of its box, and cut the needed space in half.
My motto was “if it doesn’t fit in the car, it won’t fit in your dorm room!”
All of my kid’s stuff fit in a Honda CRV style SUV – not a Suburban. Clothes, bedding, towels, some extra plastic bins to store additional stuff, back pack, fans, computer, a small mini fridge, and posters. Some families go way over board initially and wind up bringing lots of stuff back home or, when it is time to move out in the spring, find some of those “must haves” stuffed under the bed unopened.
Depending on your school’s practice, there may be volunteers who help unload your car and carry stuff up to the dorm for you. Don’t be afraid to ask for help, from your roommate’s family or any Resident Advisor or Housing staff, rathe than have your aunts try to help move heavy things.
Pack your bedding in an easily accessible place, and get your bed set up and made up first so that your aunts will have a place to sit. Set up a fan to keep the room cool. Bring bottled water. Many schools offer “shopping runs” for students to pick up other dorm things, so look into the schedule of first year events to see if that is an option.
Good luck, and congratulations on starting this new stage of your life!
The killer for us will be the underbed storage drawers. I found large ones at BB&B-- they’ll take up the whole width of the bed and will be great for everything from shoes and boots to her winter clothes-- winter comes early in New Hamshire. But those 4 bins will eat up a considerable amount of space in the car. Perhaps it would have been wiser to hold off on buying them, but I wanted the long ones.
OP, if it’s not too late, consider renting and not buying a fridge.That will open up space in the car, and save you the trouble of getting it up into your dorm room.
Be sure to label EVERYTHING with your dorm name and room number. Some schools have the football team there to unload the cars, and you’ll want to be sure they know where stuff goes.
Above all, please don’t expect your aunts to move furniture. Find some guys to help you.
If there’s any way they/you can swing the finances, have them consider staying overnight after you move in. They’ll be tired, and that’s less than ideal for a 3 hour drive home.
This might sound a little strange but…whenever possible, don’t pack in boxes - use heavy duty black garbage bags, duffel bags, IKEA bags, etc. You can fit a lot more stuff in the car if you aren’t constrained by the stiff walls and edges of boxes and plastic storage units. In addition, find out if the SUV has a roof rack. If it does, the rental place may also have roof top carriers for rent. If they don’t, you may be able to strap a large suitcase to the rack. We have moved many times with just an SUV, it is definitely possible.
We were also 3 hours. You take what you need from now to Thanksgiving (do include a couple of sweaters or sweatshirts or a jacket, if it can get cold.) At Parents Weekend, will your aunts visit? Or you pick up some things when you’re home on break.
My kids would give us their summer clothes on Thanksgiving break or bring most of them back in December and take back winter things in January. But you’ll be in a warm climate, right?
Those youtube videos are misleading. You don’t need two cars. I personally don’t know anyone who did. You’re not taking everything you own. And many then do a Walmart run, for water bottles or some last minute forgotten thing.
You can order comforters, etc, delivered to a local Bed and Bath place or Walmart near college, so you pick them up there. Or mail some things (get the right address for mailing move-in day things.)
My kids had an old giant duffel bag. But I wouldn’t go with garbage bags, you don’t want to surprise roommates, lol. They never took boxes, just fit their things into a suitcase, the duffel and backpack, etc. Take hangers.
Clothes which are on hangers now? One trick is to leave them on the hangers – we used large leaf bags as “garment bags,” poking a hole in the top to slip the hangers through, then knotting the bottom. More flexible in the car, and then you just hang them up in the closet. Use masking tape near the top to write your name, dorm, room number on them so they don’t get tossed accidentally!
One SUV with three passengers is plenty of space to fit everything you’ll need. No one needs two vehicles unless they’re moving a bed, dresser, etc.
You and your roommate can rearrange the furniture in your room after your aunts leave. If they seem too tired to make the Walmart run (I find the crowds and lines on move-in day to be daunting and I’m 20 years younger than your aunts), then do it on your own later that day or the next day. There is probably a campus shuttle that you can take. Just make sure you have the basics with you for the first day. Dorms don’t have a lot of space so you won’t have room for a lot of groceries anyway.
Can you do some/all of the driving to school so that they only have to make the drive home?
Be sure to thank them for taking you. They may consider it an adventure and actually enjoy it!
I’m actually moving into an apartment style on campus. So I’ll have access to a full kitchen.
My aunts don’t trust other people driving “their car”. But I can definitely go shopping another time if I see them getting tired.
Thank you got the advice!
Here’s the problem with the “only pack up until Thanksgiving” line of thought:
My daughter won’t have a car. She currently drives our 11 year old minivan; she inherited it from me last summer for free. It was sufficient to get her and her sister to high school and to work, but it’s not trustworthy enough for the 5 or 6 hour drive. (Besides “Mom, it’s a minivan!”)
So we’re not sure how she’s getting home and back for Thanksgiving. Maybe LIRR/ Amtrack/Bus. Maybe she’ll find some other kid from Long Island-- there are a few we know of-- who is driving and wants company and gas money for the trip. Neither way is optimal for bringing back a winter coat and boots and her winter wardrobe. Getting a ride is not the same thing as getting trunk space. And I know I wouldn’t want to schlepp my wardrobe through Penn Station.
And Parents Weekend is far from a sure thing. By the time I get off the Island, it would be about 7 p m. (There are limite ways off-- tunnel or bridge-- and the tunnels go through Manhattan. That’s a driver’s nightmare. And none of them are realistic choices between 5 and 7 pm.) Then it’s another 4 or 5 hours drive, with a return trip early Sunday morning.
Sooo. She’s bringing it all up this week. Her winter stuff can be buried behind the fridge under the bed, or on top of the closet. But it’s all going this week, so we know she’ll have it when the temps start to go down.
@bjkmom Suitcase. Most have wheels and a handle. And OP is only going 3 hours away and I think is in Texas. Mine were in Maine, sometimes it snowed before December break. But they didn’t need their heaviest winter wear before January.
You’ll make the best decisions for you and her. The kids figure it out. If she forgets something, you can mail it. Have fun. 
OP, you can always order kitchen supplies on Amazon.
I agree with a poster above who recommended IKEA bags. Those have been lifesavers for us.
@bjkmom, you can always ship cold weather clothes when it starts getting colder.
Amazon prime is a student’s friends. You can order everything and have it delivered the next day. Also agree that the giant Ikea tote bags are way easier to stuff in a car than hard sided bins. (Learned from experience).
We are only allowed 1 car on move in day. We did freshman move in with 4 people in a RAV4. I bought a cheap soft-sided roof carrier for the trip there; it fit all the clothes plus some.
Don’t forget many grocery stores deliver now too. Maybe a $10 fee? As mentioned before, most schools will probably have a shuttle as well.And Amazon Prime Pantry has tons of items.
I 2nd leaving hanging clothes on the hanger and covering in garbage bags. @bjkmom fill those drawers for the trip! Most schools will have giant bins and people there to assist with move in. And pack the bedding last so it’s the first thing you can get to when you arrive!
Hello! Long time lurker, first time poster. My husband and son loaded up our Honda Accord for the 10.5 hour drive to Clemson this past Friday. They had a successful move-in with one car so I wanted to share what worked.
I third the IKEA bag idea; he fit all of his shoes, including hiking boots and soccer cleats, into an IKEA bag and still had room for his tennis racket and rain coat. We also ordered linens from the College Market Clemson uses; I washed them and replaced them in the big box they came in, adding wrapped fragile things (like his favorite mug and a new poster) in the middle of the comforter… I only sent along one set of sheets that came in the set since most of my friends who had college students told me their kids washed their sheets and put them right back on the bed.
He filled up the laundry basket with his desk supplies, Command hooks/strips, vertical fabric shoe hanger and cleaning supplies. He shoved all his pants/shorts/t-shirts in a plastic Target three-drawer storage unit on casters that went under the elevated bed. He packed toiletries and other small items into the small hard suitcase he’ll use when he flies home. I filled his Clemson wastebasket with his favorite snacks and tucked in a wrapped family photo for his desk. To finish, he loaded one of those plastic Target caddies with all of his toiletries and put his chargers/laptop/a few school supplies in his backpack.
He didn’t take a ton of stuff other than clothes; he put all of his shirts on Huggable hangers and I covered them with dry cleaning bags in two groups. (They worked, but garbage bags would be tougher.) We gave him the optional HH clips he can use if he wants to hang his shirts vertically (he has enough room in his closet now, but he said may use the clips later). They also were able to fit the purchased area rug into the car, but learned upon move in that the dorm was carpeted, so my husband brought that (and an over-the-door 3-hook hanger that didn’t fit the door) home to be returned. Everything fit into the car just fine, with both of them able to enjoy the legroom that they were accustomed to having.
Clemson offers customizable labels on the move-in area of the Housing website, so I took advantage of those and taped them to every item that we sent. My husband said labeled items were critical to move-in success because when he pulled up, the Clemson volunteer said, “Pull up a little further, then open all your doors. It will look like your’re about to be robbed!” Check to see if your school website offers those labels, otherwise make your own with name, cell phone number, dorm name and room number.
The unloading volunteer army carried everything to a staging area, where more volunteers awaited to carry things to rooms. There were a TON of volunteers (lots of students and former Clemson parents), all very friendly and helpful…both my son and husband were very complimentary about how easy they made it to move in.
My son ended up moving a lot of his clothes from the Target caddy into the 3-drawer chest that’s in every room of his dorm. So he has more room in the Target unit, which I suspect will be eventually filled with snacks. He didn’t take under- the-bed storage, but he can get some if he finds he needs it. His roommate rented the room fridge so he will pay half to use it. His dorm has a kitchen for resident use, so he can get hot water and even free coffee should he want either of those things. He’ll pick up his winter coat at Thanksgiving or winter break…until then, he has plenty of layers to keep him warm through a Clemson fall.
Before my husband said his goodbyes, I got a FaceTime request and was able to see everything all squared away in my son’s room: clothes hung, posters posted, desk neatly arranged. It gave me a huge feeling of happiness. OP, I wish you and your aunts luck…try to take what you need, but evaluate what isn’t an “absolute must,” and, as others have suggested, maybe refresh clothes seasonally and buy anything additional locally maybe after your aunts head home. Have everything labeled and rely on the move-in volunteers to do the hard stuff (hoping you have move-in volunteers at your apartment-style complex). Best of luck to you!
I think that you are going to be fine. What you can fit into one SUV while leaving three or four seats free for people seems to me to be a pretty good rule regarding what is a good amount of stuff to take with you to university. After you empty out the car into your dorm room, then you can run to a local store to get a few extra things. We had no trouble moving a car full of stuff into a dorm with one student and a few 60-something and 70-something helpers. If you can rope another student or two into helping you move that would be helpful but probably not necessary.
I agree with the comment above about the IKEA bags. We used IKEA Frakta bags and they are a good combination of “hold their shape” and “squish a bit when needed to fit in tightly”. Then after you empty them out they fold flat and are easy to store under the bed or sofa until you need them again.
It’s a furnished bedroom. If your stuff takes up more than a single sedan sized car, you’re bringing too much stuff.
We flew and rented a mid sized car. Stop watching videos. Those are the extreme examples.
I’ve got to admit: my husband has an incredible knack for this sort of stuff.
He just packed the rental minivan. The deal was that either everything fits with room for both girls in the back seat (my son can’t come; he has fire department duties Thursday night) OR we take two cars-- meaning someone drives home alone on Thursday.
He fit everything in, with room for our overnight bags. No one’s leg room is impeded, and I have no trouble seeing out the back window.
That sort of ability is an absolute talent, one I don’t possess. I’m thankful he does.