My daughter is considering attending Loyola Marymount. We live in NY.
How does everyone ship and pack and shop for this coast to coast move? Help is needed! Thank you.
First, don’t plan on taking everything and the kitchen sink. Less, less, less is better. They have things in California and she can just buy them there.
From home, she just needs clothing and only light clothing (maybe what you consider fall weight). Everything else you can order from BBB or target and have it sent to the school or picked up at a nearly store.
Here is what we did.
Two of us flew Southwest Airlines for college move in. That gave each of us two checked bags, a carryon, and a personal item.
So…four suitcases.
- Clothing
- Remaining clothing and shoes, accessories, etc.
- Linens...a comforter, set of towels and set of sheets
- School supplies.
Carry on bags…we each had the clothing we would need for at least a few days, all medications, and things like makeup.
Personal items…one of us carried a computer bag, and the other an instrument case with instruments.
We ordered bulky items from BBB here for pick up there.
We did a Target run for toiletries, etc.
We went to Office Max and bought a cheap printer and paper.
One piece of very free advice. Rent a large enough vehicle for all your bags. We originally rented a compact which was plenty large enough except that the opening to the trunk was not big enough to fit the check bags though. We upgraded to a larger car.
As noted above…less is more. My son’s advice…put everything you think you need in one room of your house, then take half of that with you. You will still have too much stuff, and plenty that you will never need or use.
We didn’t ship anything.
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Wow, so very helpful! Thank you.
I would bring one sheet set, towel and some summer/fall clothes and a light jacket.
You can pre-order and pick up at a local Bed Bath and Beyond or go to a local Target store for the rest of the stuff.
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My D goes to LMU! We are from Ohio. I second the BBB Pack and Hold. We did that for most of the stuff. Then both parents flew out with her, with stuff in duffels and very little personal stuff for DH and I. We left some of the duffels with D and returned with others in our carry ons. You can also order stuff from any retailer and have it shipped to LMU. Note that the walk from the LMU mailing center to the dorm can be long, and there will be long lines there at move in. So the more you can get from BBB pack and hold, the better. Also, expect all of the stores (including BBB) to be very crowded on move in day; if you can go the day before, or later at night or early in the morning, it will help. The nearby stores (BBB, Target), will also likely sell out of dorm related things so don’t put it off or really count on it.
One mistake we made was shipping some stuff like pillows, figuring it was light. Well, size matters too and it was more expensive to ship them than to just buy there. It will be much more cost efficient to pay for another checked bag. Shipping across the country is very expensive, and goes in this order: USPS, UPS, Fedex in order of rising costs. Once she is out there and you need to mail her smallish stuff, the USPS Flat Rate priority mail boxes are the way to go for cross country shipping.
Definitely agree less is more!
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