It’s just about that time of year again when we need to start packing up and moving out. Personally, I find packing fun. It is a great distraction from studying yet still productive. Unpacking, on the other hand, is worse than going to the dentist. So, one of the most important things to do when packing is making sure that the other end will be easy, as well! Here are 10 easy steps to follow while packing up your dorm room this spring:
1. Start packing early. Don’t wait until the last second to pack! This will be stressful and inefficient because unpacking that messy bag will truly be miserable. Give yourself a block of time everyday up until you leave to pack up a certain area of your room, i.e. your closet, your desk, under your bed, etc. This will make the whole process less painful and less hectic.
2. Sort through what you need and what you don’t need. There’s a good chance that some things in your room can just be tossed. Your broken speakers are not going to be fixed by bringing them home, so toss ’em! The more you can find to throw out, the less you will need to pack.
3. Deciding what to do with leftover food depends on how far away you live from campus. If you are going home to Cali., find a local food drive where you can donate your non-perishables because you will need that room for your shoes! If you’re going home and you just can’t seem to let go of your Skinny Pop, keep all of your food in one plastic container. This way, you can stock your pantry as soon as you get home.
4. Keep your clothes that need to be hung on hangers and those that need to be folded, folded. This way, you can immediately hang up your clothes in your closet and you won’t need to refold anything when you get home. This will cut your unpacking time in half. Turn on the TV and relax because you will be done in no time!
5. I’m a shoe girl; that means shoes on shoes on shoes. Shoes can sometimes be the hardest things to pack because you can’t fold them or roll them in a ball. But, much to many people’s surprise, if you start smooshing them into a suitcase, they actually do pack together nicely. Just use every nook and cranny you can find and they’ll fit; I promise!
6. Clean things before you start to pack them. There is nothing worse than needing to scrub dirty dishes as soon as you get home. Get things clean before you go so you don’t have to worry about grimy build up. Also, DUST—it’s inevitable to find dust on your belongings in college (I know you aren’t spending your Friday nights dusting your room), so clean it off before you start loading the car. You don’t want to start your summer by having to clean of a pile of dust bunnies on your Barbour jacket instead of lying out by the pool.
7. If you have something fragile, make sure to pack it with cushion! Sometimes in the rush of packing, you throw your glassware into a laundry bag with your textbooks and toiletries. This is a packing no-no! Cleaning up shattered glass is super annoying, so be smart when packing your fragile items! Use paper towels to cushion your glassware and put them in a plastic container where they’re less likely to fall out of the car while you’re unloading.
8. Sorting before putting your stuff in the car can make a world of difference! Pretty simple, big, sturdy stuff on the bottom and small, fragile stuff on top- it’s not brain surgery ladies but can make fitting everything into the car way more doable.
9. Make sure to build some time into your schedule to unpack when you get home. Having your stuff sitting in the back of the car for a couple weeks will surely drive your mother crazy, so make sure that you have time to really unpack and sort through your stuff when you arrive home. Remember, you have the rest of May, June, July, and August to do the fun summer stuff!
10. Lastly, make sure that in the midst of packing and finals, you spend time with your friends! Summer is rapidly approaching and these friends are like your second family at school. It’s going to be a long couple of months without them! Make sure that you cherish the last moments with them before you all head off to different cities.
Packing up your life at college can be stressful, so plan how you are going to do it ahead of time and USE LOGIC. Somehow you will fit all 900 pairs of shoes in the car! Good luck on finals and good luck with packing, ladies. Have a fabulous summer!