Where Does Your Stuff Go for the Summer? A New Orleans Student’s Storage Timeline

Every May, the same question lands in students’ group chats: do we haul everything home, or store it here? For most students living off-campus in Freret, Uptown, Mid-City, or Carrollton, storing locally beats a long-distance moving round trip for a few boxes and a futon. Here’s how to plan a stress-free move and storage stretch, timed to the actual academic calendar rather than guesswork.

Step 1: Decide What Gets Stored vs. What Goes Home

Not everything is worth storing. A rough rule that’s worked for most of the students we’ve moved: if it’s bulky, cheap to replace, and you’ll need it again in August, store it. If it’s valuable, sentimental, or you won’t need it next semester, take it home instead.

Step 2: Book Earlier Than You Think You Need To

Finals week is the worst time to be calling around for storage space. Our summer storage slots fill up fastest in the two weeks before finals, right when everyone else has the same idea at once. Booking three to four weeks ahead, right after room-draw or lease-renewal decisions are final, gets you better scheduling flexibility and avoids the last-minute rush.

“The students who call us in early April get their pick of pickup times. The ones who call during finals week get whatever’s left, and sometimes that’s not a great time for them.” — Desiree Landry, Office Manager

A Realistic Storage Timeline

• Early-to-mid April: decide what’s being stored vs. taken home; book your storage pickup window
• Late April: confirm pickup date and any items needing special handling
• Finals week (early-to-mid May): pickup happens — items go straight into storage, no need to haul boxes yourself
• Summer months: your things sit secured until you’re ready
• Early-to-mid August: schedule your delivery date to land right around your new move-in window
• Move-in week: stored items arrive back at your new address, timed to your dorm or apartment lease start

Step 3: Understand How Pricing Works

Summer storage is billed by the month rather than as one flat move fee, so cost depends mostly on how much you’re storing and how many months you need. For most students, a few pieces of furniture and some boxes comes out cheaper than paying for a long-distance long-distance move home to Houston, Atlanta, Memphis, Nashville, or Dallas and back again in August. If you’re not sure which route is cheaper for your situation, our office will run the numbers both ways before you commit.

Step 4: Pickup and Delivery Logistics

This is where a lot of storage plans fall apart if you’re working with a moving company that doesn’t know the campus calendar. Our crews build summer storage pickups around the same permit-parking and elevator-reservation realities we handle for regular dorm and apartment moving jobs, so you’re not stuck trying to coordinate a freight elevator slot on your own during finals week.

1. We confirm your pickup address, floor, and any building access requirements ahead of time
2. Crew arrives during your chosen window, no need to be fully packed and staged unless you’ve booked packing help too
3. Items are inventoried so nothing gets lost track of over the summer
4. You call or message our office when you know your August move-in date
5. Delivery gets scheduled to land within your new building’s move-in window, same coordination we use for regular dorm moves

What About Roommates Splitting Storage?

If you and a roommate are both storing furniture from the same shotgun house or double, it’s usually cheaper and simpler for your moving and storage plan to book one combined pickup rather than two separate appointments. Tell our office upfront that you’re coordinating with a roommate and we’ll sequence the pickup so both of you are covered in a single visit.

Why Storage Timing Matters More Than Storage Size

Students often worry about how much space they need, but the bigger factor in a smooth summer storage plan is timing, not square footage. A small load booked at the last minute during finals week causes more stress than a full apartment booked a month out. Our moving and storage crew would rather help you plan early than scramble to fit you in during the busiest week of the semester.

“We’ve had students call us the morning of their flight home asking if we can pick up that afternoon. Sometimes we can make it work, but it’s a lot smoother, and usually cheaper, when we’ve had a few weeks’ notice.” — Marcus Guidry, Dispatch Lead

Booking Your Storage Window

The biggest mistake we see isn’t picking the wrong storage plan, it’s waiting too long to book one. Reach out through our quote form as soon as you know your summer plans, and our moving office will walk you through pickup and delivery dates that match your actual calendar. Curious what past students thought of the process? Check the reviews page, or read more about our crew on the about page.