Tips for packing the car?

<p>Check online for something called roofbag. It is wonderful-- three duffles that fit into a soft yet very sturdy waterproof carrier. You don't need a roof rack and it secures to the top of any car with nylon straps. It all folds up into a very small box or bag and you can bring it back home with you after drop-off.</p>

<p>If it couldn't fit into a Toyota Corolla (leaving a spot for a passenger) it wasn't going. That applied to both S and D moving over 1600 miles away. S's was filled with camping/mountaineering equipment and D's with shoes. Both had bikes as well. Anything extra was bought when we got there.</p>

<p>I am still trying to process our move-in and see what I would do differently next time -- it was chaotic and tiring but in the end all went well. </p>

<p>I bought too many closet organizer type things -- those will be going back. She just ended up wanting lots and lots of hangers, boxes of shoes and hamper on the floor, and on the two shelves above she stacked hoodies, towels, etc. She also has a chest of drawers from the school and one that we brought, and she divided up the rest of her stuff between those two.
I second the suggestion of packing things in things that will stay -- fill the hamper, the laundry basket, the ottoman, whatever. </p>

<p>Make the bed as soon as you get there, unpack the clothes, and immediately have someone start taking garbage out and taking containers that aren't going to stay back to the car. Make yourself some space in which to work. Those rooms are so small and you're all in there with stuff everywhere!</p>

<p>Heron -- no offense, but why in the world is she bringing all her books? </p>

<p>D has a laptop, cell phone, and Ipod -- she got all her electronics (with chargers and small speaker) into a drawstring athletic bag on her back! No desktop computer boxes, no stereos, no landline phone, not even an alarm clock -- will use her cell. She was quite tickled about that.</p>

<p>Wait, I take that back -- there was a printer in a box but she could have just used a jump drive and gone to printers right in her dorm -- I was trying to talk her into that but I guess she didn't want to feel pressure to go out and print after finishing a paper late at night or whatever.</p>

<p>No offense taken! She's not bringing all of them; that would be a disaster. She's taking mostly art books and she references them often. A few other old favorites. We're packing them in cloth grocery bags. Never pack books in boxes! Way too heavy and hard to carry. The bookshelves are also good for art supplies, of which there are many. The bookcase may turn out to be a mistake, but we'll leave it in the car until we see if there's room for it. If not, no harm.</p>

<p>No fridge needed and she has a laptop so no big computer stuff (small printer). We'll be leaving the big comforter home until after Thanksgiving, and she may not even need it then, depending on how warm the dorms stay in the winter. </p>

<p>A note as to how contrary she's been this summer: I suggested that we put all the clothes on hangers so that we could just pop them in the closet when we get there, and she looked at me like I had two heads. Like, why on earth would anyone do that?! </p>

<p>Thanks for all the ideas. I'm off to get some bins for little stuff that needs to be contained, and for art supplies. Otherwise, plastic bags it is.</p>

<p>Son doesn't ever put away his clothes, at home he has one pile on the floor for clean and another for dirty! My thought is to use two laundry baskets and shove them under the bed. Do you think they'll fit? I have picked up bed risers but I can. I seem to remember the beds having some space underneath already.</p>

<p>Yeah, I feel sure that the floor of the room will soon be covered with clothing, dirty mixed with clean. She knows exactly which is which, fortunately. Last summer at a summer program she actually cleaned her room once or twice, without anyone even telling her to! I was impressed.</p>

<p>Just got back from D's move in yesterday. She took:<br>
--1 large duffle (wheeled) with clothes
--1 weekender size suitcase with stuff
--1 backpack, with laptop in sleeve and most of her college orientation and class schedule papers, banking, passport, and other important papers etc
--3 stacking crates filled with more stuff (a few books, stereo, CDs, toolkit, first aid kit, lock box, etc)
--1 laundry bag filled with shoes
--1 violin case
--I printer in its box
--Bedding: we put comforter and pillow in a trash bag, and managed to use a few of those plastic zip cases that bedding comes in to pack towels, sheets and sheets. (Her mattress topper also was new, in one of those)</p>

<p>We also did a shopping run yesterday afternoon, to get toiletries, fan, lamp, hot pot, water/soda, laundry stuff, hangers and office/school supplies. She did not want to put her clothes on hangers for space reasons which I thought was crazy but she may have been right; they actually took up very little room since she was able to consolidate everything except shoes in the big duffle. Most of her school books she's shopping for in the next few days.</p>

<p>(Also...don't know how typical this is, but her school had a plentiful supply of carts to assist with the move in.)</p>

<p>What I've found works really well for books, if you have more than a few, is getting empty tomato boxes from the produce department at the grocery store. They're thick sturdy cardboard, most of them have lids and handles to make carrying them easier, they stack well in the trunk, and they're just the right size that when you fill them with books, they're not too heavy. If you're not picky about the way things look, they also make good bookshelves. I'm not sure how the tomato boxes would work for other things, but I imagine the handles would be helpful.</p>

<p>We found that boxes work well to put on a hand truck to wheel it in. All duffles were on wheels. Plastic storage bins were filled and sealed with tape for transport. We did have a carrier on top of our car. We bought the TV and roommate bought the fridge. We bought the TV near the college (small and inexpensive).</p>

<p>We knew we were attending family weekend, so some summer clothes went home then, and we brought fall and some winter clothes then. Until Thanksgiving our son only needed sweatshirts and a rain jacket. We brought his fall jacket just in case on family weekend, and he took a light winter jacket back after Thanksgiving. He took his down jacket to school after winter break. </p>

<p>At the end of the year we found a storage rental unit so it would not all come back home.</p>

<p>DO NOT FORGET A HAND TRUCK!</p>

<p>AND PUT YOUR STUDENT'S NAME AND ROOM NUMBER ON THE HANDTRUCK</p>

<p>You will have instant friends; they need to know where to return the hand truck.</p>

<p>Looks like we are replacing the bookcase with the bicycle. I'm making her go through the books again and leave more behind. </p>

<p>Re/ the tomato boxes -- Same idea with cloth grocery bags. Just the right size. YOu can only put so many books in there, thus limiting the weight. Handles for carrying. Easily returned home. I like the idea of making a bookcase out of the tomato boxes, though. </p>

<p>She just saw one room online. No furniture except a bed. Now she wants to bring a bedside table. I'll tell her about the tomato boxes. Maybe she can make a bedside table out of one. lol.</p>

<p>^^ Cardboard boxes make great end tables. Close it, turn it upside down, and if you want to be fancy, throw a piece of cloth over it and - voila, instant end table.</p>

<p>Or use the fridge as a bedside table. Or a plastic drawer unit. Don't take a table that has no other uses.</p>

<p>And the cardboard box "table" can store out-of-season clothing.</p>

<p>We shipped via UPS everything except the clothing, which went in the car.
Purchased the large items, microwave, TV, frig, in the town close to school.
Also preordered at BBB and picked up near the college. This worked out so much better than trying to get everything in the car and then not being able to see out the back window. (We made those mistakes with dd1)</p>

<p>BBB accepted all our coupons, even the expired ones. UPS charges about $20.00 per box. Weight didn't seem to make much of a difference.</p>

<p>I packed all D's things in a Prius and we couldn't have fit in an extra sock. I do pride myself on packing, however. Room mate's father commented that he was astounded at how much stuff we got into the car. Everything needed to be packed and labeled because we were met by the "move in team" who emptied the car in 3 minutes and had everything carted to the room by the time I parked the car - neither D nor I lifted a thing. All clothes went in a footlocker. Pretty much everything else went in zippered bags - bags I had saved from comforter, quilts, etc over the year - cheap versions of space bags. They pack much better than boxes which take up way too much room and you can see what's in them once you get to the room. Little things were stuffed in nooks and crannies and I took empty pre-labeled bags to drop those things into upon arrival. I could not believe how smoothly move in went - I just wish moving out would be as easy.</p>

<p>^^^^summer storage!!!!:D</p>

<p>Moved son in yesterday. Plenty of room under bed for laundry baskets without the need for risers. One roomie helped haul things upstairs. Student housing had plenty of hand trucks for people to borrow but our problem was going upstairs and the car was right outside the stairwell so we didn't use a handtruck.
Noce dorm. It is a suite style with two bedrooms, two guys in each room. Living room, full kitchen, bathroom. It has new carpet and new paint. And there is a small balcony off the living room. I'm going to miss him.</p>

<p>Just a heads-up for everyone who managed to pack the vehicle perfectly for the move-in --- wait until the move-out! They somehow manage to accumulate things so beware the move-out at the end of spring - it might not all fit. </p>

<p>If the student's going to college far away it may be less of a problem if you just store the stuff locally somehow but otherwise it can be a problem and should be considered in the months leading up to the move-out. If there are visit trips by the parents to the college or vice versa, think about bringing as much back home in the spring session as they can manage to do without.</p>

<p>Given that I live less than an hour from D's school, we are planning to bring stuff back slowly before move out. Not necessarily because it will be easier, but because I foresee a ton of OTHER students' stuff my D (without telling me ofcourse) will graciously offer to store over the summer in the garage.</p>