<p>At some colleges, there is extensive move-in help for freshmen -- which means that people other than you and your student will be handling the student's belongings. In this situation, EVERYTHING should be labeled with the student's name, dorm, and room number, so that it can find its way home if the helpers accidentally deliver it to the wrong room. And you should figure out in advance if there is anything you are not willing to turn over to the helpers. My daughter, for example, did not want to give them her laptop or her musical instrument because she didn't want to risk subjecting either of these things to rough handling. </p>
<p>I helped my sophomore daughter move into her dorm this weekend. Last year, when she was a freshman, there was extensive help available. This year, for upperclassmen, the "help" consisted of people who point you toward the available parking spaces and the hand trucks. What a difference a year makes. </p>
<p>One thing that we are always careful to do -- both at move-in time and move-out time -- is to pack a special backpack that contains everything that should not be exposed to prolonged heat in the car (medicines, anything in a spray can, etc.). When we go to a restaurant for lunch along the way, that bag goes into the restaurant with us.</p>
<p>We love the pop-up clothes hampers that Bed Bath Beyond carries. They are a great size for bedding. They also stand up in the closet on a small footprint instead of taking all the floor space. Since the kids needed two, one held the bedding and the other folded flat and was used to scoop up stray items when we arrived.</p>
<p>regarding the problem of getting all that stuff home: When we moved S in freshman year, we also took several new flat shipping boxes. The idea was that he could send boxes of out of season clothes and other stuff home before we arrived to pick him up. It turned out to be unnecessary, as he stored a lot of stuff for the summer, but it is an idea to share here.</p>
<p>Get a door stop, and have it somewhere handy, such as mom’s purse when you arrive at the dorm. We saw many people holding huge boxes in hallways “knocking” on the doors with their feet (and often mumbling things under their breath).</p>
<p>We used paper boxes (the ones that 10 reams of paper come in). The lids fit nicely without having to be taped. They stack well. We had 5, I think, each with a different category of stuff. We took a large and a small suitcase for clothes which S kept for travel purposes. We did use the refrigerator for linens. Put pillows in a white drawstring trash bag. We only used a plastic tub for really odd shaped things and plants (we used shoes around the plants to keep them from sliding around. They aren’t square so there is a lot of wasted space when you try to load them in a car. We also had a lot of odd shaped musical instruments, music stand, garment bag with dress clothes, etc. He took his keyboard which we wrapped in his comforter and duct taped.</p>
<p>Seriously, how do they pack for college-by-plane? [And my son’s got all those shoes, too.] Reading this entire thread just now, I’m thinking too that with no visits from parents, there will be no bringing of additional items. Couple the long distance with being smack-dab in center of a city - I don’t see running to Target/K-Mart.</p>
<p>^^^ship some items, pre-purchase other items at a BBB, rent a car at the other end of the trip, pick up the pre-purchased items, buy what else is needed, collapse in exhaustion.</p>
<p>oh lordy (post #50) I never even thought of the size of boy shoes. I bet 20 pairs of my college daughter’s flip flops would take up less room that two pairs of high school son’s 12 4E’s. When my son leaves for college, I suppose he will need to bring:
running shoes
court shoes that will work for tennis and informal basketball, indoor gym stuff
skater shoes like Vans, whatever, what he wears every day with jeans
decent shoes - maybe cordovan loafers, something that goes okay with khaki or black?
<p>If you’re going to pack things in a refrigerator, either for storage or to bring home, make sure it’s thoroughly cleaned out first. I told S2 that he needed to turn it off several days before he left the dorm and clean it out 2 or 3 times with Clorox wipes and leave the door open. If you put linens in it and close the door for any length of time without doing that, you will have a nasty smell when you open it. If you leave it in storage, it’s probably best to leave things in it (cooking utensils, garbage bags, shoes, toiletries, non-fabric items) that won’t absorb smells (or create bad ones! I may add a box of baking soda, just in case). </p>
<p>We are flying to pick up S2 and driving home in a rental van, so we won’t be able to take a lot of boxes with us. H & I plan to bring 2 big suitcases with 1 small suitcase and duffle inside each one. We’re going to use that to bring objects home in and put all bedding/clothes/shoes in garbage bags. The worst thing to transport will be his plants. He’s accumulated several more since the two we took him with, including a very large aloe plant. We may buy a tub or two on site.</p>
<p>With refrigerators, I recommend sticking a shim in the door so that it can’t seal shut. I spent an entire weekend cleaning out the freezer after our remodel was done because the contractor had not left it ajar. It was an omen; we should have just replaced the fridge right then.</p>
<p>About packing for the plane - leave plenty of time to pack so that you can re-pack several times, each time taking things out that you’ve suddenly decided you can live without.</p>
