We have had the LL Bean XL rolling duffle – perfect as a checked bag. The wheels mean the bag has more weight while empty but worth it for maneuverability in airports etc.
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@srparent15 a lot of things are more expensive on Amazon. You are paying for the convenience of having them delivered to your door rather than buying them at IKEA. I usually compare pricing on Amazon to what I pay locally for the same item. Some things are definitely cheaper, others are not.
I usually buy everything at Amazon because it’s cheaper, but I was surprised at how much more the bags were. The shopping bags however were way cheaper at Ikea and they’re being delivered to my house. The only thing that couldn’t be delivered were the zip bags.
I also wanted a cover for my outdoor furniture but that was out of stock. 
So I found one at amazon instead that was actually bigger and cheaper. Probably crappier with my luck!
I misread your post and thought you bought the Frakta bags off Amazon. Sorry!
Oops, rereading and see that you did say they were more expensive on Amazon. I usually buy them at IKEA but one year, I didnt have time to run to IKEA (it’s 30 mins away). I got them off Amazon. I just looked at how much I paid - $19 for three bags, four years ago. They are now selling for $28 for three bags! I guess when demand is good, sellers know they can charge more, esp since a lot of people don’t have an IKEA anywhere nearby. I have three in my area!
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IKEA is 20 mins from us so I’m going to pick up the $4.98 ones. I should totally buy like 50 and turn around and sell them, lol. But that’s not my thing nor my headache. But the $.98 ones what a steal.
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When moving S18 into school, we drove him 1/2 way across country. Best decision we ever made was to get several of those vacuum seal storage bags. Clothes went in (except what fit in his carryon and duffel that he’d fly back and forth with), bedding went in, mattress topper went in. Suck the air out of those things and they are about an inch thick. Amazing for packing in a car. He saved them and brought things home that way too (borrowed the dorm vacuum).
We’ll do the same for S21.
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I have a couple of the 98 cent ones. I actually must used on this weekend to transport pillows/blankets to my folks’ beach house. Though they can’t be closed, they still work for other things like bulky coats, etc. at least for people traveling by car.
I’ll be hitting IKEA soon for S19 - he is living off campus this year so we need to furnish a bedroom. We will get most of the furniture used, but I’m getting a mattress at IKEA. They come shrinkwrapped and rolled up so they are easy to transport and get inside. This worked perfectly for D17 when she moved off campus. We had a rental car and this was the easiest way to get a mattress into her apartment. We lucked out and found a desk in their AS IS section that was perfectly fine. And one less thing we had to assemble!
Yes when the check comes to you if you are audited you have to have proof that the money was spent on qualified expenses. I always had 529 directly go to the school for tuition room and board fees etc that were billed by college. When she moved to an apartment I had the money sent to my daughter so she could pay the rent.
One other 529 related item that was previously mentioned is that if you have money in a 529 that your Beneficiary will not use because of scholarships (and you have no need for the money to be used for another child’s education expenses) you can have the money paid directly to the beneficiary without the 10% penalty. The taxes on the increased earnings will be the obligation of the child which presumably will be at a much lower tax rate. The one proviso is that you have to distribute the money during the year that the merit money was given. You can’t just hold onto it all to see how it all shakes out and then distribute without paying the penalty.
In my situation my D18 has about 50K left in her 529 by graduating in 3 years. She is going to go to law school starting in August and bless her heart she has a full ride including a living stipend worth about 50K. So I am going to distribute that money to her over the next two semesters. She will just have to pay tax on the increase in value.
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This is all such great info. Thank you for posting!
What kind of vacuum and bags do you recommend…I’ve heard of this but never seen it done so I wouldn’t know where to start.
I bought 6 Fraakta bags from Ikea back in February lol and put them away in a closet….very glad to have them on hand now!!
I’m also packing all of s21’s bedding and towels in a vacuum bag.
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So then do you leave the 6 bags with your student or take most of them home?
I picked mine up today and I couldn’t believe how compact they were when the guy brought them to my car. Wow. I seriously expected them to look like our camp duffels. I am totally leaving them with my kid. I bought 9 of the zipper ones and when the guy handed them to me I wasn’t even sure there were 9 there they took up so little space.
The shopping bags I only bought 6, I wish I had bought more. But @4kids4us with my younger on we will be driving to Ann Arbor so it will be easy to throw his crap in there for the most part and carry it in. These bags are similar to what BBB gives you when you do the pack and hold, just not advertising their name. They’re also going to be great for vacation traveling for the beach (although zip ups may be better so sand and wet things can go in them) to keep stuff. I haven’t bought my son luggage and him coming back and forth will be by train so this might be a good way to do it with the blue bags, even though I know he won’t really like traveling with them himself. But we’ll see. Easy to leave them just in case.
And for me, I have all of my wedding stuff from my first 1995 wedding at my parents house that I never took when we moved out of state that is still sitting on their 3rd floor (no one ever goes up there), so these bags may actually be ideal to go up there and shove the stuff in there and carry it down in finally instead of lugging boxes up and down. I loved my stuff, but after 26 years it would be nice to actually take a look at it and decide what is usable or not. Especially since I’m not even married to that one anymore. lol
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We used the zippered Frakta bags with our daughter b/c we had to fly to her school. Though she and her roommates shared a huge walk in closet, there really wasn’t that much extra room, esp for luggage. She had a rolling carry on bag for trips homebut used the Frakta bags as checked bags if she needed extra “luggage.” For example, she didnt bring much in terms of winter clothing since she went to school in southern CA. When she came home for Christmas, she packed an empty Frakta bag inside her carryon and brought it home. When she returned to school after Christmas break, she checked the Frakta bag with some warmer clothes for the cooler winter evenings. The Frakta bags fold up flat so they are easy to store in a dorm room, taking up less space than a duffle bag.
Our son drives back and forth to his campus so he can use both the zippered or open bags. When he moved out at the end of the year, we just tossed all his dirty bedding and bath towels into one of the open Frakta bags and took it right to laundry room when he got home.
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We left them with him. He uses one to travel home with and the rest he used to pack up his stuff for storage.
@inthegarden I don’t remember the exact brand name for the bags but they all work pretty similarly and because we’re not using them for long term storage, didn’t worry too much about brand. Any vacuum will work as long as you can get down to just the round nozzle on the hose.
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Thanks, so you just use any household vacuum? LOL, somehow I imagined you had to buy a special device to do this. So you just buy the bags…
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Yep. Super easy!
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My D is away on a much-deserved two-week beach trip with a friend’s family (all vaccinated) and this morning she’s plugging away at…college stuff🤣. William & Mary has an online Intro to college course…modules that will take 5-7 hours total, complete with little assignments and quizzes. Half of it needs to be completed before registering for anything. I think it’s interesting that freshmen can only sign up for up to eight hours of classes in July, then fill in the rest after meeting with their faculty advisor during August orientation. During that time they can drop any classes registered for in July if other ones makes more sense or appeal more after talking with the advisor. I think it’s a good plan…that way all freshman have a greater chance of getting at least a couple of the classes they are most excited about when registering in July, but no one can hog all of them early on. My D doesn’t have to be doing this now…there’s still time in early July to do the modules at home before the registration window opens. I guess it’s a good sign she’ll be a conscientious college student if she’s doing this now when she could be out bobbing in the waves. Either that, or she’s already bored of sand and surf (but I doubt it).
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Why not just buy a bagless vacuum? I have a dyson which is great. No bag and I just open the thing and dump it. Obviously college kids don’t need a dyson, but there are other options out there. My daughter’s dorm also had a vacuum on each floor for students to use, so before you buy one, make sure that’s not the case.