If there is one thing college involves a lot of, it’s moving. Moving into the dorms. Going home for break. Moving out at the end of the year. Then it’s a series of apartments or your sorority or fraternity house (which can involve moving room to room each semester) or a house you live in off-campus. I lived in 4 different places over the course of my 4 years and remember having a completely packed car every single time. Sometimes it was multiple cars.
Every time I moved, I feel like I acquired a new box of things that just came along with me. Maybe it was trinkets from something that was once important to me or concert tickets or notes from friends. A lot of times it was something like a 1/2 used candle that had just made it’s way onto my nightstand and got placed into that box when I had to pack up my room. I didn’t always take the time to go through these and get rid of the things that were no longer important. I usually just placed them in the “to move” pile and brought them with me to the next place. Can anyone relate?!
Just like everything else we talk about here — simplifying your space doesn’t have to be one huge project. It can be done in little projects broken up over time. Start small.
Too Much Stuff
By the time I bought my first house (and had combined all I owned with another human’s possessions) I had so many of these boxes. Once my sister came to visit and brought every single item that my mom had packed up from my childhood home. Now I wouldn’t say that I was someone who tended to collect things — but seeing all these boxes together was overwhelming! Some of them were items that just all ended up in a miscellaneous box at the end of packing for a move, but a lot of them were just items I hadn’t taken the time to go through and purge.
I could have made this overwhelming process of sorting through everything so much more manageable if I had just started decluttering on a regular basis when I was in college. By taking the time to go through each of my possessions when I had less of them, this could have become a habit, instead of one big overwhelming process.
Even more, I could have enjoyed the benefits that come with an uncluttered, simplified space while I was in college.
Make It Manageable
Just like everything else we talk about here — simplifying your space doesn’t have to be one huge project. It can be done in little projects broken up over time. Start small. Clean out your nightstand and keep only what you need on it — a clock, a book you are reading, maybe a plant and a light. Move on to clear out a drawer in your desk or a shelf in your bathroom.
Start with things that are very unsentimental first so you can work your way up to those notes from high school you’ve been holding on to. And utilize the fact that you have more friends you can borrow things from now than you ever will again! If you only use something occasionally and your roommate also has one, feel free to ask if you can borrow that item once in a while and ditch the extra one! Once you get rid of the things you don’t need anymore, you will have much more space for the things you are planning to keep!
I promise, you will love the feeling of your newly decluttered space so much, you’ll be excited to move on to your next space! If you’ve simplified your space and are looking for some other areas to simplify, check out some ways to say no to excess and some ideas of how to simplify your life right now!