Anonymous wrote:Neither my son or daughter took much past the essentials. Know that they will accumulate a lot during the year. It all has to be moved out, so the less the better. We had about 3 Ikea bags of clothes and supplies, one fridge, one bag of bedding. Everything fit in the back of our Toyota RAV.

This what we had and we were flying.
3 Large packing Bags (with clothes, shoes, and bedding) and more stuff in a large suitcase that she used for long-term storage (boots, winter coat, etc). She also had a carryon and backpack for the flight.

We bought pillows, cleaning supplies and toiletries when we got there. And She and her roommate chipped in on a rug and mirror because her school rented out the local Target/walmart. The school provided the fridge and microwave.

She attends a school where very few students are local, so a lot of them had a similar simple setup.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are dorms a lot bigger than they were?

Entirely depends where you end up. But in general, no.

What has changed is that many of the rooms we’ve seen (4 colleges, some for summer “camps”) have what they call “loft” beds. Back in the day, a true loft bed you could walk or at least sit under, but these new ones are merely elevated…..certainly high enough to slide a big tote underneath. And that’s what our recent DC did; had 8 totes (not all full to the brim) that held everything but a few hangup clothes (encased in an upside down trash bag”). Only thing we bought there was a mattress topper and even that could’ve been shipped in.

Less is indeed more.

I think my daughter had around 8 of the Ikea bags, but we took just about everything with us and do no shopping once there. So that means we packed all bedding (inc mattress topper), stuff like shoe rack, desk lamp, cleaning supplies, really everything. We also had 3 drawer dresser for under-bed storage (which was filled with sheets, towels, toiletries.) IMO, she took too many clothes but she says she used everything. Those blue bags make packing SO easy - plus they fold up small so easy to leave a couple behind to use as under-bed off season storage. I expect my ds will take 1 or 2 fewer when he moves - less stuff but his clothes and shoes are much bigger.

Going across country. We ordered bedding and had it shipped there. Two adults, one kid- each checking two bags. 95% her stuff

Youngest kid went to college that was local for us. My minivan and DH's sedan was totally full. We did not have to do multiple runs.

- Mattress foam topper, mattress cover, 2 pillows, pillow cases, comforter, 1 body pillow, sheets, cotton blanket. 1 extra set of sheets.
- 3 bath towels.
- Snack/tea/breakfast bar stuff - including mugs, plates, spoons, salt-pepper, cereal and snacks. Tissue boxes, paper towels.
- Bath items in a tote
- Footwear - 2 sneakers, 1 flip-flop
- 1 steamer/iron combo
- 1 vacuum
- 1 air purifier, 1 window fan, 1 table lamp
- Laptop, charger, phone, airpods, extension cord etc.
- Clothes, hangers
- Cleaning supplies (lots of clorox wipes, lysol, windex), laundry supplies, trash bin.
- Some stationary
- Some meds, first aid kind of stuff

Later he took -
- rugs
- guitar
- plants
- formal clothes for interviews and socials, formal shoes
- winter outerwear
- speakers
- (probably booze)
- chips and cards for poker

Totally depends on the needs and wants of the student. But it seems boys bring less.

Vacuum compression helps so much! The mattress topper was giant but shrunk enormously when we got a cheap vacuum pump system on Amazon, as did the duvet. We now have a flat pile of desiccated linens (towels and robe too) that take up a small amount of room flatted in the trunk.

We had 3 big suitcases of stuff.

Freshman son used 4 of those IKEA/Amazon blue bags, two sets of small plastic drawers, and the foam topper in a separate vacuum-compression bag.

Anonymous wrote:School is a flight away. 2 suitcases and 2 ikea bags. The bedding/pillows were in the ikea bags. Clothes/shoes in the suitcases.

Impressive!

We are fully loading a minivan. 😀

4 ikea bags of clothes; 4 of other items; plus bedding; 3 boxes of storage units that we assembled in the dorm; a mirror; storage ottoman/step stool

I didn’t think it would all fit in her very small dorm room but it did

School is a flight away. 2 suitcases and 2 ikea bags. The bedding/pillows were in the ikea bags. Clothes/shoes in the suitcases.

The stuff is bulky.
We had a regular car, not an SUV.
There wasn’t room for me until we omitted one item.
Stuff like winter parkas can be shipped later, of course.

Anonymous wrote:10

I bought 10 of those blue IKEA bags and my son probably used 8 of them. All of his stuff fit into one of those large rolling bins many colleges have for students to use.

Anonymous wrote:Are dorms a lot bigger than they were?

No but that bedding (foam topper, mattress pad, sheets, pillows) took up around 3 ikea bags for us.