<p>My son is moving home from college in May. Over the years, he has accumulated A LOT of stuff. He has a car at school but not everything will fit (ie sofa, big screen TV). Does anyone have any suggestions- should I hire a mover or would that be WAY too expensive. Any suggestions would be welcomed!</p>
<p>Uhaul.......</p>
<p>Tell him to stay where he is and get a job.</p>
<p>Triage.</p>
<p>What of the stuff has future utility/value?</p>
<p>Is the sofa a beater? If so, have him offer it to an underclassman. I would imagine a lot of the stuff should go that route and/or Goodwill.</p>
<p>I'll bet he wants the TV though.</p>
<p>I don't know moving costs, but I bet they'll be high. U-Haul trailer might be the way to go.</p>
<p>Does he know where he'll be living/working? If not, might be more cost-effective to rent a self-store for things he'll want in first apt, but can't fit in car. Then move it ONCE to new place, instead of twice (once to your house and once to his new place).</p>
<p>some moving companies will let you do a partial load, as long as you're willing to wait until they have enough customers to fill a load to your region. you pay by the pound I believe.</p>
<p>D is graduating also. Our plan is to rent a small truck, fly there and drive it back one way. It's about 800 miles from our home and not as costly as I would have thought. She'll be strategically going through the contents and then when she moves again (for grad school in September) she'll just take what she can fit in her new, likely-to-be-tiny apartment in her new city.</p>
<p>LOL if it did not fit in the car it was off to the pawn shop. really made me prioritize what I wanted to keep :)</p>
<p>Craigslist</p>
<p>Sell the stuff to underclassmen. If he's going to be living at home, he doesn't need a sofa or any kind of furniture, and he can probably go without the TV.</p>
<p>If your son is graduating from college, his stuff should be his problem. My son chose to sell everything.</p>
<p>I am trying out how to do the juggle of picking up daughter, getting her stuff to my mother's house ( she will have access to her apt that she is renting as of 6/1 but leaving her college on 5/8 )
She will have her stuff plus some furniture for new apt , and also moving other daughter up to Boston in the fall..
Trying to figure out the best way to do it all in the least amount of time and expense. I think I may ship daughter 2's stuff up and store it in the apt.</p>
<p>Depending on value, give it away, sell it, or bring it home in a uhaul as other have suggested. He can hook up his car and drag it along if needed.</p>
<p>My S sold everything to students in the final weeks, which is exactly how he bought the furniture. That reduced his stuff to mere boxes. We told him to pack the boxes efficiently because whatever didn't fit in the van would be left behind. You couldn't fit a dime in the boxes the way he tight-packed them. </p>
<p>H calculated UHauls and decided we'd save by renting the largest possible van that had a fold-down backseat. We drove that to graduation instead of our own car.</p>
<p>Homeward, we sat in the bucket seats with boxes all behind us and between seats. Also we lashed things like a room-sized rug to the top of the van, which had a carrier rack (H requested that). </p>
<p>Of course, by the time we left the campus after graduation, I think the next incoming freshman class was arriving for orientation. </p>
<p>Oh, and my mother announced she was driving an empty car back to her home in New Hampshire, so the last few boxes that didn't fit got thrown into her car. Nobody can figure out how to get those boxes now, oh well.</p>
<p>For those suggesting pulling a trailer, be it a UHaul, other rental, or one borrowed from friends, relatives, neighbors, please be aware of the safety issues involved:</p>
<p>-those who have never previously hitched, loaded, pulled and parked a car or trucker and trailer combo do not necessarily have the skills to do so safely the first time without practice.</p>
<p>-Reading and following the caveats/instructions regards load/weight distributions, load securing, safety chains, etc is imperative. Know state DMV regs regarding pulling a trailer. </p>
<p>-If the car already has a hitch and ball, know its ratings. Hitches are weighted for specific max weights; tow ball diameters are matched to trailer class. IF THE BALL DOESN'T FIT THE trailer tongue, the weights are mismatched.</p>
<p>-If your vehicle doesn't have a hitch, you'll need one sized to the load and vehicle. Yes, this will cost you, as may wiring harnesses for trailer lights.</p>
<p>-Know the pull vehicle's towing capacity, max hitch weight and max recommended tow weights. Realize the smaller the vehicle, the smaller the engine, the greater the strain you are putting on the engine, transmission, cooling and braking systems. Pulling with a 4 cylinder Honda or Toyota is not akin to pulling with a mid sized 6 cylinder car or truck. </p>
<p>-Unless you're hauling with a monster like a Suburban, full sized SUV or pickup, your acceleration, passing, and braking is going to be FAR LESS RESPONSIVE than what you are used to.</p>
<p>-Don't attempt pulling with a mechanically questionable tow vehicle, unless you want to spend extra money on towing (your car), motel bills and expensive repairs by an unknown repair facility.</p>
<p>-It's doable. But please be careful. In twenty plus years of trailer camping, I've seen plenty of first timers who had no business behind the wheel, let alone pulling a trailer.</p>
<p>-Like paying3tuitions said above, rent a box van.</p>
<p>One thing for certain - do not use Madpackers. They set up a shipping station adjacent to my son's campus last spring. They lost one of the two parcels he shipped home and it happened to be a musical instrument too big to bring home on the plane. </p>
<p>It was well-packed in a hardcase and when it finally showed up (6 weeks later) was damaged. </p>
<p>Despite filing multiple claims and calling numerous times, the company never reimbursed us for the rental instrument needed during the interim or for the repairs. I even wrote the president of the corporation that owns Madpackers and never got a reply. </p>
<p>When I read this forum last summer, it was full of similar complaints. Go with a regular company like UPS or a professional mover but avoid Madpackers at all costs.</p>
<p>p3t,</p>
<p>Where/what kind of van did you find to rent? We've tried to find one with no luck, but I bet I'm looking in the wrong place. </p>
<p>Did you do a one way rental?</p>
<p>I've found one way rentals through Budget.</p>
<p>Also, another side note to the thorough post of violadad re towing--
a couple years ago we inquired with UHaul about renting a trailer to hook up to our Ford Explorer. We found out that UHaul WILL NOT rent a trailer for those vehicles. Apparently some corporate ruling about potential for roll-over, or at least that's what the local UHaul people were surmising.</p>
<p>Anyway, before you assume you CAN rent a trailer, be sure and check regarding the company's policies and your particular vehicle.</p>
<p>We have rented wonderful completely empty cargo vans for a very reasonable price from Enterprise car rental. They only have two bucket seats in the front and have a metal screen seperating the driver and passenger seats from the back -good to protect you from flying boxes. Of course, these would only work if your student is driving their own car back or if only one parent is going to move them back, since they only seat two.</p>
<p>The Enterprise van sounds great, but I didn't think they offered one way rentals except WITHIN a couple of states (ie CA, FL, TX?)</p>
<p>Anyway, I'll definitely re-look into that......</p>
<p>@Newmassdad, </p>
<p>We rented the "box van" (thanks, violadad, language is thought..) as a round-trip, not one-way. We drove it empty to the graduation instead of our family car (4 hour drive).</p>
<p>The advantage was we had a larger city of origin and didn't have to compete with the entire college community on the same graduation weekend to find a rental. We lined it up a few weeks ahead, just like now, I recall.</p>
<p>When H returns from work I'll ask him if he recalls the company name.</p>
<p>{Off Topic, but while I'm here, am mentioning that we emailed S-2 to start collecting empty boxes now, this week, rather than wait for the last week of classes.}</p>
<p>Back to topic...RENTING VEHICLES...</p>