Here are some move-in tips:
First, reach out to your roommate if you have one. It doesn’t make sense to have two microwaves and two mini refrigerators in your dorm room since space is limited.
A must-purchase is two power strips such like https://a.co/d/03zp8Mz6 or https://a.co/d/08atv4WV and extension cords. Most of the older dorms were built before the rise of electronic devices and outlets could not be in the optimal location.
It is my suggestion to buy dorm items online (i.e. Amazon) and/or local in Bloomington. Amazon is great for sending items to college due to the free shipping if you are a Prime member. College students can have a free prime college account (free for six months) and you receive ‘cash back’ to your Amazon account on certain items.
We live in an area where we have same-day delivery from Amazon or you can place an order at 8:00 PM and it is delivered by 4:00 AM the following morning. Unfortunately, Amazon doesn’t offer same day delivery or overnight delivery in the Bloomington area. Please adjust your expectations if you live in an area with same-day delivery and overnight delivery.
According to IU Housing (https://housing.indiana.edu/living-on-campus/move-in/index.html), dorms begin accepting student packages for the fall semester no earlier than Monday, August 10. You must have your official room assignment finalized before shipping, as the exact building address is required for delivery.
On this page, https://housing.indiana.edu/my-housing/your-building/mail-and-packages.html, there is a link to each IU dorm & apartment for the specific format for the shipping address.
I can’t express the importance of following that format. Use your IU registered name. For example, if your legal first name is Elizabeth, but you go by Liz or Beth…use Elizabeth on the shipping label. If you don’t, your package will be returned to the shipper.
It varies among the dorms and from year to year, the individuals in the dorm’s mailroom at my son’s freshmen dorm were sticklers for the exact format. One company left my son’s last name off the shipping label (only his first name)…everything else was correct on the label…it was returned. I placed an order for my son from my account with the shipping address being my son’s dorm address. This company subcontracted their fulfillment to a third-party…they used my name instead of my son’s name for the customer field (we have the same last name)…that package was returned to the shipper.
During my son’s freshmen year, we placed over 50 orders with Amazon and had no issues.
When a package for you is received at your dorm’s mailroom, you receive a notification. Don’t go to your mailroom until you receive your notification. Please be advise that you could receive a notification from Amazon, UPS, USPS, FedEx, etc. that your package was delivered but it might take your mailroom two to four hours before you receive your notification. My son could understand the wait during the first few weeks of school but not later in the semester. Please adjust your expectations and be grateful if you live in a dorm with an efficient and speedy mailroom.
Please be advise that IU dorms only accept deliveries from Amazon, DHL, FedEx, UPS and USPS. They do NOT accept deliveries from Sam’s Club, CVS, Kroger, etc. even if the items are non-food. If you order items from DoorDash, GrubHub, UberEATS, InstantCart, etc., you will need to meet the drivers. There is robot food delivery service from GrubHub.
It is my recommendation to purchase items for a ‘cold kit’ and first aid kit like cough drops, cough syrup, Pepto Besmo tablets, Aleve/Advil/Tylenol, etc. Put them into a clear plastic shoe box container, https://a.co/d/0iSbJP9c.
If you are going to buy items locally, be prepared to shop in the surrounding cities (i.e. Indianapolis, Greenwood, Martinsville, Columbus, Franklin, etc.). The local stores can be out of stock. When our son was a freshman, we went to the Target store in College Mall, it looked like a Venezuelan grocery store (ie empty shelves). The Dollar Tree store that we visited was out of the usual dorm stuff like buckets, brooms, etc.
The Bloomington’s Sam’s Club is usually stocked. There is a Sam’s Club in Columbus if the Bloomington store is out of an item. When our son started to live off campus, we went to Menards. Personally, we like the Menards store…it seems to attract off-campus apartment living students then first-year students.
Students can utilize Guys and Dollies, https://www.guysanddollies.com/schools/indiana/shipToSchool.php, the IU ship-to-school partner. They offer a variety of services like storage, shipping back home, etc.
Are you flying to Indiana? If ‘Yes’, you could check up to 3 or 4 bags (paying a fee for each checked bag) but then you are probably going to have storage issue with the luggage since most dorm rooms are not that big for storage.
One solution is to use those ‘blue IKEA bags’, https://a.co/d/06xI1sVp, for your checked luggage. Once unpacked, you can fold up the bags for easier storage. Also, you can pack your stuff into these ‘blue IKEA bags’ at the end of the school and store in a storage unit for the summer. At the end of the school year, our son rented an indoor storage unit for $35 a month which was close to his off-campus apartment for his sophomore year.
For our son’s first year, we checked three pieces since we could check three pieces for free. The three checked luggage contained our son’s items, and we used our carry-on luggage for our items. Our son kept one checked luggage with him…later in the school year, I purchased him another ‘checked’ luggage on Amazon. We took back the two empty ones…we put our carry-on luggage into these two checked luggage.
Since most parents are coming with their students, please be advise that hotels can be expensive (ie $600 to $900 a night…normal rates $115 to $150 a night) and/or booked full during the move-in period.
It is the same for home football weekends…for the past few years, we have stayed at one Bloomington hotel where the normal rate is ~$ 120 a night but the rate for Friday night was $ 350 then $600 for Saturday night and it was back to $ 120 a night for Sunday night. We stayed at hotels that were 30 to 60 minutes away from the campus for the move in period and home football weekends.
When our son was a freshman, we stayed at a hotel at the Indianapolis Airport. It was packed with IU freshmen students and their parents.
Another tip is to leave your toiletries/HBP products at home. In other words, have a set at home and a set at school. Instead of checking a bag when coming home for a break, you can have just a carry-on luggage. I learn this hack when traveling for work…I had a set for home, a set (TSA approved size & etc) for my carry-on luggage and a set for my checked luggage…so that I can grab and go.
One thing that you might want to consider is to purchase TSA PreCheck…it is like $80 for five years. You can make an appointment online with the provider that is located at the Office Depot in Bloomington IF you don’t want to do at your home. This will help you to get through security quicker at the Indianapolis Airport…it is only at Concourse A Security Checkpoint, but it is short walk to get to Concourse B. Also, it will help you when you travel for your major.
Any questions, just ask.
