Sending a Child Off to College

All My Sons Moving & Storage helps individuals and families through all of life’s milestones and transitions, including moves like your child’s first move away from home for college. 

It may seem like yesterday they were babbling their first words and stretching their hands out to grasp onto yours, but decades have passed and now your child has a grandiose college acceptance packet to show you. Even though your child is legally an adult, they will still need help navigating the treacherous waters of independent life. With acceptance into college, your child might be gearing up to make their very first move away from home. How should you help steer them, while also giving them enough room to take ownership of their lives for themselves? They’ll leave behind a room full of childhood memories. What should you give away, and what should you decide to treasure indefinitely?

At All My Sons Moving & Storage, we believe that things matter. The boxes in your adult child’s back closet represent a hundred experiences and relationships that made up their formative years. These things mean so much more than their price tag to replace. Whether your child decides to take those items with them, or you both agree to move items into storage, you want to trust that those things are in good hands. The team members at All My Sons promise to treat all your sentimental treasures as if they belonged to a beloved member of their own family.

Since we’ve spent over 30 years helping families, individuals, and companies relocate all over the nation, we’ve learned a thing or two about how to help a student relocate for college. 

Here’s our advice and tips for parents launching their children into their college years.

This is an emotional time for both you and your grown child. Even though your child is ready for more independence, they will still need the emotional and financial support that a parent can provide in these early years. Your job now is to set your child up for success and self-sufficiency. You should let your adult child make the majority of the decisions during the move, but still be available to assist with parental guidance when required.

Here are a few ways you can support your child during their first relocation. 

1. Assist with Decluttering

Your child may be moving into a dorm or a small apartment and will have limited space in this next phase of their education. Now is the perfect time for them to sort through all their belongings from childhood and adolescence to determine what fits in their newfound adulthood and what should be let go. 

Sit with your adult child in their room and help them with the process of decluttering their personal belongings. Discard unwanted items that are not in good condition or would be meaningless to another person, sell or donate unwanted items that are still usable, and determine what should go into storage and what your child should take with them.

2. Help Locate Housing

Allow your adult child to make a list of their wants and needs in their new independent living space. Help them determine their max rent budget. Conventional wisdom suggests that only 30% of gross income should be spent on rent, and many landlords will require your adult child make 2-3 times the rent before their application gets approved. As your adult child is a first-time renter, they may need a parent or another relative to co-sign their lease with them, even if they make enough money to cover the rent.

Help your adult child prepare a list of questions to ask apartment managers and landlords, but allow your adult child to take the lead when visiting apartments in person.

3. Help Find Movers

As this is your adult child’s first move, they may not have much in their household inventory. With less to move and plenty of moving helpers, a DIY move could be the most practical solution to help your adult child get settled in. If your adult child plans a DIY move then you may need to help them find packing supplies, a rental truck, and moving labor. 

You can also save your adult child’s friends some major heavy lifting and help hire professional movers to handle everything from expert packing to careful transport. Get 2-3 moving quotes from professional moving companies near you, watch out for moving scam red flags, and try to book the move at least 8 weeks in advance if moving right before the school year begins. 

4. Give Independent Living Essentials

One way to help set your child up for success is to ensure they have the things they need to live independently. Sit down with your child and make a list of all the things they will require at their new living situation. If your child is moving into an off-campus unfurnished apartment then this list should include critical furniture pieces and any needed appliances. If your child is moving into a dorm, then they will still need items like cleaning supplies, bathroom towels, and sheets.

Some items you might be able to take from your own home inventory, such as duplicate small kitchen appliances or utensils, and some items you can easily find secondhand at thrift stores or Facebook Marketplace. 

5. Decide What Bills Your Adult Child Should Now Handle

Now that your child is 18, they should be taking steps toward financial independence. You should discuss with your adult child which bills they should accept full responsibility for going forward. This might mean your adult child gets their own phone plan, puts their car insurance in their name, or pays for their own streaming services. If you are still helping with certain bills, then have a conversation with your child in which you set up expectations for how long they can expect your assistance and when they need to start preparing to pay for things themselves. 

For instance, you might provide rent assistance to your child until your child gets their first post-graduation job, but they have to pay for their own renter’s insurance starting the day they move out. You decide what makes sense for you and your adult child’s personal financial situation. 

The first step in your child’s move for college should be to determine what to do with all of their belongings. Not everything your child wants to keep will fit into their dorm or small apartment, and not everything your child is ready to part with will be easy for you to let go. Sort through your adult child’s belongings together so each of you has a say in what happens to the items unearthed. 

Sort items into four major categories.

Items Your Adult Child Should Take With Them

These items belong exactly wherever your adult child goes. Since there is limited space in your college-bound child’s dorm or small apartment, these items should either support your child’s daily life or be worth their weight in sentimental value. 

• Independent Living Essentials: The first items your adult child needs space for are the items that will support their independent existence. The coffee maker, kitchen utensils, bedsheets, and shower curtain. Pack these items into boxes LAST to be unloaded FIRST at the new space.

• Favorite Photo Albums: If your child keeps photo albums, scrapbooks, junk journals, notebooks, or loose photographs, they should keep their favorite, most-used and admired items with them.

• Treasured Childhood Memorabilia: Old trophies, certificates, art projects, and other mementos that decorate your child’s walls and shelves should go with them, as space allows.

• Most Prized Books and other Media: Your child should take their absolute favorite items of physical media such as books, disc media, or vinyl records.

Items to Donate, Give Away, or Sell

Items that your child no longer wants to keep that are still in good condition can be enjoyed by another person. Items in excellent condition that are brand-name, collectible, or part of a specialized hobby can be sold for some extra moving cash. 

• Toys: Unwanted toys can be donated to schools, daycares, children’s charities, or local thrift stores. Vintage and collectible toys are candidates for sale. 

• Books: Any books in good condition your adult child has decided not to keep can be donated or sold. Secondhand book stores like Half Price Books will offer cash or store credit for books in sellable condition. Special editions and signed books are more likely to find an interested buyer online or through your local social media group. Do not attempt to sell or donate books that are too damaged to comfortably read. Unreadable books should be responsibly discarded. 

• Media Collections: Any physical media in good condition that your child no longer wants such as CDs, DVDs, games, or vinyl records should be sold or donated. 

• Furniture: Your adult child’s former bed, dresser, or nightstand might no longer serve them in adulthood. Sell or donate the furniture pieces your child no longer wants. 

Items to Responsibly Discard

If neither you nor your child wants to keep an item and that item would be meaningless to another person, then it should be responsibly discarded. Recycle materials when possible and call for same-day junk removal for any bulky unwanted items that require significant labor to move.

• Yearbooks: If your child no longer desires to keep their old yearbooks, then they should be discarded. You can take photos of any special notes. Sometimes the former school or a historical society may have interest in old yearbooks if you feel bad about simply throwing them away.

• Journals or School Projects: Full journals, notebooks, and old school papers and projects can be discarded if your child no longer desires to keep them. They can be digitized if either of you wants to keep the information for historical or archival purposes. If you want them preserved by someone else then sometimes museums and libraries take donations of personal journals.

• Childhood Memorabilia: Old crafts, trophies, certificates, and other mementos from childhood that are personalized with your child’s name are candidates for responsible disposal. 

• Outdated Electronics: Old electronic toys, cameras, game consoles, or devices like phones and tablets should be taken to a special electronics recycling collection center. 

Items to Put in Storage

These items are deemed too precious to part with, but your child still does not have room for them in their dorm or small apartment. Putting the items in storage allows you and your child to hang onto these sentimental and precious items without sacrificing space. 

• Favorite Books and Other Media: Any physical media your child wants to keep that does not fit in their dorm or apartment can be preserved in storage. Vinyl records and books are best preserved in a temperature-controlled environment, and packed with desiccants to keep items dry and clean.

• Favorite Toys: Just because they’re grown doesn’t mean your child has to give away all the toys that kept a special place in their heart. With some toys preserved in storage, your child can hang onto playtime memories for years to come, or even give them to someone else one day.

• Treasured Journals, Yearbooks, Memorabilia, or School Projects: If your child wants to keep these items, but has no room to display them in the dorm or small apartment, then storage is the way to go. Your child can keep these items in storage until they have the closet space to keep them in their own home.

• Heirlooms and Antiques: If an item holds exceptional sentimental value or has been passed down in your family, of course you should find a way to hang onto it. If your child cannot take it with them and it cannot be left in their former bedroom, then you can keep the item in storage.

Do you have a grown child ready to move away for college?  Help them make this first move by getting a moving quote from All My Sons. 

All My Sons Moving & Storage has been in the business of moving for over four generations. From the beginning, our movers have fought to pass along the traditional values of honesty, transparency, and quality customer care. We understand how emotional relocations are, especially when you’re sending a beloved child off to college. Allow us to handle all the moving details, including keeping your child’s most cherished treasures in storage. 

We promise to treat your college-bound child’s things with the same attentive care we would provide for our own children. Ask All My Sons for a moving quote, and give your child the space to embrace independence.