Dorm Room Stuff?

Luv Bunnies

DIS Veteran
Joined
Sep 3, 2006
DS is leaving for college in August. He's going off to Florida (we live in California)! We're going to use the Bed, Bath and Beyond program where you can select all of your items at home and pick them up at a store near your college. This will save us from having to take it all with us or risk having everything picked over when we get to Florida.

So the question is, what do kids do with their stuff when they come home next summer? Things like towels, sheets, mini fridge, laundry hamper, etc. He will be moving to a different dorm building for his sophomore year, so I doubt there would be anywhere on campus to leave it. We don't know anyone in the area who would store it for him (unless he makes some local friends who would keep it for him). Should he ship it home? Then we'd have to ship it all back. Stuff as much as he can in his luggage and junk the rest? I'm sure people have had this dilemma before. How does this work?
 
Cheaper to buy new bedding and dorm supplies annually rather than shipping. Also, by the end of the year, the bedding/laundry supplies are pretty beat up.

This was one reason after year one in a dorm, DS went to 12 month year round student housing
 
Storage unit. Climate controlled of course.

Strongly advise not to attempt to save money by storing with a friend. I have a friend with a DD, also in college in FL by coincidence, who tried to save $$ by leaving her stuff with a friend who was staying for the summer in an apt. She got her stuff back by the skin of her teeth, but it was an incredible hassle and she came very close to resorting to buying all new.
 


Some colleges offer a pick-up/store/re-deliver service. I have no idea about the college your son will be attending, but the school my daughter attends has Boomerang Storage. Your campus may host something similar.

Boomerang will drop off free boxes and supplies during finals week. Your student packs them up and then the company picks up everything and puts it into storage. In most cases, they deliver your belongings back to your new dorm room before you get back.
 
I went to school in upstate NY and lived in IL. My school had 2 options for this situation. The first was if you lived west of a certain point (maybe the Mississippi River?) that they had a storage place for your stuff on campus for the summer. The other was an offsite place that you could call to schedule a pick up of your boxes of stuff and then at the end of the summer, you called to have it delivered to your new dorm room. Since I was not quite far enough for the free option, I used the other one. It really worked well and was not too expensive. He should find out the options next spring or can just ask around.
 


We rented a small storage unit for the summer. In a small town, it was $30/month and they didn't require a minimum number of months.
 
Bedding, towels and other linens will all be junk and will need to be replaced for the next year. Furniture, fridge and other larger stuff can be stored in a rented storage locker somewhere.
 
We are planning on using a service that provides boxes, you box the stuff up, they come and pick it up and store it then deliver it to your new dorm room in the fall. I don't want to have to drive to Boston when its time for her to come home and bring all her junk back to my house- would rather she came home with her suitcase on a plane and left the other stuff there!
 
Also, by the end of the year, the bedding/laundry supplies are pretty beat up.

Bedding, towels and other linens will all be junk and will need to be replaced for the next year. Furniture, fridge and other larger stuff can be stored in a rented storage locker somewhere.

OP, this was not our experience, but your mileage may vary. Not that it matters much, since the amount of space it would take to store linens would be negligible in the whole scheme of things. The fridge, microwave, filtered water pitcher, garbage can, mattress topper, fan, lamp, and other bulky items are what will need the greatest amounts of storage space. My son used the same bedding and towels for all four years and they are still stored away in my linen closet. It wasn't like we bought great quality ones. We just picked up two sets of dorm sheets at Target so that he could make his bed and bring a set home to wash. Even his comforter is still hanging out here. I assume he is continuing to use the towels as well...at least he didn't bring them back to my house in the last two years he has been on his own. The only thing that we found needed to be replaced was the mattress topper. We purchased on the cheaper side initially, but our son soon discovered that a thicker and better quality mattress topper was a must for the beds he was sleeping on. Splurging on a thick memory foam one was a great decision. He used that one for the remainder of his college years and now his sister has it. Of course that thing is a beast to get rolled up and stored, but the trade-off was worth it so our kids could get a decent night's sleep.

As a side note, some colleges (at least the ones we have had experience with) plan a Target run within the first few days that students are back. If you aren't driving your son across country and he is in need of things that aren't sold at Bed, Bath & Beyond, like laundry detergent, shampoo, bar soap, snacks, school supplies, etc., he should plan a list and then check into whether or not his college participates in something similar. I think these are perhaps sponsored by Target (you can search for Target Back to College Event closer to when school starts or ask your college), where a bus is run between campus and the local Target store so that kids can pick up whatever they need or have forgotten to bring.
 
Most people I knew in college stayed on or around campus till they graduated. Our school had summer housing and you could also live in the fraternity houses. We all ended up with internships in the area. The same thing can happen with your son and his possibility of getting a summer job so I wouldn't worry about next summer yet.
 
My DD just rents a storage unit with her roommates. For things like detergent,body wash,shampoo we just make an Amazon order that is waiting for her. She also orders most of her books from there too.
 
Why would bedding and towels be "junk" by the end of the school year? :confused3 I don't buy new ones every nine months at home.

I like the suggestions above for the storage places that pick your stuff up and drop it back off.
Yeah, that wasn't our experience either. My son just graduated and his towels and bedding were still fine 4 years later.
 
My college student is 2 years in and still using the same bedding, towels etc which seem fine and not at all near needing replaced---I have to admit I am about confused about those comments.

Otherwise, yes, if there is a lot of stuff (like a fridge) then a local storage unit (possible split with some friends if the smallest size is too big) is a good way to go. Or, if he moves off campus and will no longer need the fridge, etc becuase he'll have a real kitchen, sell it or give it away.

In my experience, both as am other and as a student once upon a time myself, many kids only come home for one or maybe two summers---so eventually it might become a non issue anyway.
 
For things like detergent,body wash,shampoo we just make an Amazon order that is waiting for her. She also orders most of her books from there too.

This is a great option as well. Plus, with a college email address (.edu), students can get free Amazon Prime for six months and get whatever they need delivered within two days, including textbooks. I think after the six month trial, students receive Prime for a 50% discount. Details here:

Join Prime Student
 
You should check with the Residential Life office. Most likely they can recommend a storage facility and may have vendors they use that have trucks do the campus drop-off/pick-up. DS' school does have some limited on-campus storage available as well, in the basements of some of the dorms.

Also, have your son contact his roommate/s ahead of time and coordinate some of the bigger items that can be shared. With limited space there may not be room for, nor might they need more than one of things like a fridge, microwave, coffeemaker, area rug, fan, tv, printer, etc.
 
The school I went to my freshman and sophomore year contracted with a storage service company that picked up when you moved out of the dorm and delivered when you moved in. For the other 2 summers I rented a storage unit since I was going to school in NYC and there are several companies that I could rent a small storage unit for under $50/month.
 
My daughter's university has partnered with a storage facility. It'll cost us about $50 to store a lot of her stuff over the summer. The place deliveries the boxes the to your dorm room before school starts if the fall.

Check the housing department website to see if that's an option.
 

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