The College Kid's Guide to Moving

Whether you're moving off to college for the first time, changing dorms or schools mid-college, or graduating, part of the university experience is moving junk around. For many young people, college often provides the first experience with moving into a new place, and it can be daunting, especially if you have to move everything yourself. Here's some tips to help you out:

Organize Everything
Let's face it: if you're like most college students, your junk is strewn all over the place. You probably don't even remember everything you own, or where everything is. That said, the more organized you are, the easier it will be to pack everything up. Try to gather all loose items and put them together.

Weed Out Unnecessary Items
Any time you have to move your belongings from one home to another is a good time to look through your possessions and decide what you can get rid of. Start with your closet: if you haven't worn something in the past year, consider removing it from your wardrobe. Do the same with other unnecessary items: books, DVDs, toys, etc. If you haven't used it anytime lately, chances are you won't use it soon. The more you can get rid of, the less you have to move. Don't just throw items away: give them to a charity or to friends, or consider holding a garage sale to earn some extra money.

Rope Some Friends Into Helping
If you can, get someone to help you move; it'll make moving the heavier items easier and having a companion can take some of the tedium out of moving all your stuff. A second pair of eyes will make it easier to find the myriad of little misplaced items.

Pack Big To Small
Pack your biggest items first so you have room for them, then pack your smaller items around them. Imagine packing as a sort of puzzle: everything will fit, you just have to find the right order. This is especially true if you have a lot of shoes. You can use things like pillows to pad breakable items; for example, when I transport the flat screen monitor for my computer, I place it between two bed pillows.

Consider Making an Index
If you have the time and the organizational bent to do it, you can save yourself a lot of unpacking time by writing up an index; label your boxes by numbers, then you can make a list of all the contents of each box. That way, when you move into your new place and can't find your cell phone charger, you can just look at your index, find the appropriate box, and the item you need.

Don't Be Afraid To Leave Something Behind
If it looks like you won't have room for everything, don't be afraid to leave some things behind. Consider things that can be bought cheaply at your new place: coat hangers, for example, are dirt-cheap, so do you really need to try to transport an entire closet full of empty coathangers? Large furniture items like chairs and couches and shelving can often be bought cheaply at second-hand stores, in some cases cheaper than what it would cost to transport the ones you already have. Just weight the costs and make decisions accordingly.