Packing for College: How to Decide What to Take and What to Leave Behind

Moving is hard work.  And the worst part of it is packing.  Packing for college is even harder especially if you are not accustomed to sharing a room.  You will be packing things out of a 12x12 room you once had to your self to move to a 12x12 room you are now sharing with another person.  You simply cannot take everything.  But how do you choose what to take and what to leave behind? 

Clothes

Clothes take up the most space when you are moving.  If you simply cannot live without all of your clothes, invest in four or five SpaceBags and a small vacuum with a hose (this is for later because most dorm vacuums won’t have an attachment hose; it’ll also be handy to have around if you spill popcorn or to pick up the little dots that fall out of your hole punch).  Another way to pack clothes is to take everything you will need now, warm weather clothes, sweatshirts for the evening, a couple of “dress-up” outfits for interviews, sorority and fraternity pledging, or any other occasion that might come up.  Then, providing you aren’t moving over seas (this includes to or from Hawaii), check into the Greyhound bus system.  They will allow your parents to ship the rest of your winter clothes via the bus, which will, in some cases be faster than the postal service and cheaper as well.  Using Greyhound to ship a 20 pound parcel from Los Angeles to New York City will cost approximately $30 (prices vary by shipping distance and weight) and you won’t have to deal with campus mail services.

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