Pack your bags, you’re leaving!
Millions of Americans are packing their bags for school. That may make college moving sound easy, but in reality, you need to follow several tips for moving for college. Thankfully, you can take advantage of moving hacks.
What things should you bring to school? How can you make room in your boxes? What should you do to keep your items organized?
Answer these questions and you can turn moving tips into packed bags in no time. Here are four essential tips for moving to school.
1. Make Lists for Moving for College
You may need a lot of things for the school year. Before you pack your school supplies away, take a look at what you have. You may be able to use your binders and folders from the previous year, and you may have extra pieces of paper and other materials you can use.
If you don’t have the school supplies you need, wait until you get to school to buy them. This will help you save money and time when you are moving. Your college town will have a shop where you can buy supplies, and many shops run back-to-school sales.
Determine how much of each item you need and make a shopping list for yourself. Many people without shopping lists buy items they do not need.
You should also make a list of the items you need to bring to school. Besides school supplies, you may need to bring clothes, food, and furniture. Check the items off your list as you pack them away.
Get lists from your teachers so you know what books you have to buy. You can buy your books online, but have them shipped to your dorm room or ask to pick them up at school.
2. Pack for the Season
You may be tempted to bring all of your clothes with you. But you may not have room in your dorm room or apartment to store your clothes. It takes a lot of time and money to pack your clothes into boxes and bring them to your home.
You should instead pack clothes you will wear for the late summer and early fall. You can get winter apparel when you go home during your fall or Thanksgiving break.
Popular fall clothes include long-sleeved shirts, full pants, denim clothes, and knitwear. You can pack thicker clothes if you are going to a school in a cold climate. But hold off on packing gloves, hats, and large coats until November and December roll around.
When you are going home, pack summer clothes in a suitcase. You can then fill your suitcase with winter clothes.
3. Conserve Room
You can conserve room in your boxes in a few ways. You can use the ranger roll technique to pack your clothes, especially if you are using tall boxes. To give yourself more room, you can wrap rubber bands around your clothes to remove the air trapped in them.
If you are putting pieces of furniture in your boxes, you should dismantle them. You should remove the legs and arms from chairs and the wheels from rolling desks. Always remove lightbulbs from your lamps, which will save space and prevent the bulbs from breaking.
Do not put refrigerators, mattresses, and bulky furniture in boxes. Have these items delivered to your home and dropped off on the curb.
Use the empty space in cups and bowls to store small objects. You can put socks, pens, and other small things in a stack of cups.
Take a look at the closets and storage space in your dorm room. If you don’t have enough space to store everything, you should leave items at home.
If you must bring things to school, you can order a storage container. You can also store things underneath your bed.
Talk to your roommate about what you are bringing. If they are bringing something like a fridge that you will both use, you don’t have to bring your own fridge.
4. Organize Your Things
You can start packing whenever it is convenient for you. Most people like to pack a week before the start of the school year. If you’re going to college for your first year, you may want to pack even sooner, as you may have more supplies to bring.
Designate boxes and containers to store specific items. One box can store your clothes while another box can store your school supplies. Write on the outside of the container so you know what is inside each one.
Keep similar items together. If you spread similar items out across boxes, leave notes for yourself so you know where your things are.
You can use various hacks to pack your clothes like creating outfits for yourself. You can pick a shirt, pants, and socks and roll them up together. This can help you save time on picking clothes at the start of each day.
Take Advantage of Moving Hacks
Moving hacks can make the difference between a calm and hectic packing process. You should make a list of everything you need so you know what to pack. Prioritize items you cannot get at school and clothes you will wear that season.
To make room in your boxes, you can roll your clothes up and break bulky items down. You should otherwise ship bulky items outside of your boxes.
Keep your clothes and school supplies together and use packing hacks.