Between finals, saying goodbye to your friends for the summer, and trying not to cry over the fact that the school year is ending, the only time that packing might cross your mind is when you look around your room and think, “How am I ever going to get all of this home?” You’ve managed to accumulate so much stuff from a year’s worth of shopping, textbooks, and hoarded knick-knacks you’ve acquired along the way. And now you have no idea how you’re going to get it all home without renting a U-Haul or two! Hopefully this article can help make move-out easier when the time comes around.
Pack in advanceSeriously. Do you want to spend move-out day cooped up in your room packing? Or do you want to be saying goodbye to your friends and enjoying the campus one last time? Don’t wait until the last day to cram everything you own into the trunk of your car. Start now and pack a little bit each day. By the time move-out day comes, you’ll be ready to go and stress free.
Sell extra textbooks Instead of lugging all of the extra textbooks that you’ll never use again home, sell them at the pop-up vans that show up around finals week! Not only will you be liberating yourself from the extra weight of books, you’ll also be putting a few extra dollars in your pocket to start the summer off right!
Conserve spaceMaking sure that every nook and cranny of your boxes, suitcases, and trunks are full means that you need to lug home less of them. Make sure your clothes are clean so that you can fold them instead of throwing them into your suitcase in a big ball that will take up more room. Take advantage of any empty appliances like microwaves and mini-fridges — they can be used to store your items to transport home! Also make use of your unused trash bags by throwing some extra clothes in them.
Masking tape is your friend You honestly have no idea when tape can come in handy while you’re packing. Tape everything that can possibly be taped closed. Boxes, the doors to your mini-fridge, your microwave, and any plastic drawers or storage bins that you brought with you. Nothing would be worse than having one of these open, spilling your contents all over the road.
Send some of your stuff home earlyIf you’re anything like me, you’ve managed to accumulate so much stuff you have no idea how you’re going to get it all home. You could barely even fit all of the things you came with in the car! How will you get it all back? If you live in the area, ask a friend or relative to drive down the weekend before move-out day to take home a bulk of your stuff. This way you’ll have less stuff and less stress on move-out day. If you don’t live in the area, plan to send the extra stuff home by mail so you don’t have to cram it into the car or try and bring it all on the plane, train, or bus.
Put Stuff in Storage Do you have anything you know you won’t use over the summer that will be a total pain to try and bring home? You can go on websites like dormroommovers.com or campusstorage.com and put your things in storage for the summer! On these sites, you can sign up and they will send you boxes to pack your stuff in. Then, their movers will come pick up your stuff, and keep it in climate-controlled environments over the summer. When you’re ready to move back in, they’ll drop the boxes off at your door! This is perfect if you live far away or don’t feel the need to lug something back home that you know you won’t miss this summer.
Don’t wait until the last minute to start packing to go home. Give move-out day some extra thought because you never know how stressful it could end up being. Planning ahead and keeping in mind this advice will make move-out day easier so you can start off your summer on a positive (and less stressful) note!