Think Small

The summer months are not amenable to tackling large jobs like basements; however, they can be used to work on smaller, organizing tasks that can be accomplished quickly and will enhance the order in our lives.

Closets are a great place to start!   When organizing a small space, I recommend completely emptying the space. This enables you to clearly see everything and makes sorting, purging and cleaning easier while also facilitating the organization of remaining items.

When organizing a closet that holds toiletries or medicines, use open containers to store items that are similar.  This makes them easier to find and prevents items from getting lost or spilling out onto shelves.  Labeling also helps family members locate items at a glance!

Consider Your Pantry

The pantry is another straightforward space to organize! You can also rotate foods that should be used in a timely manner and eliminate items that have expired.  Because the pantry has many items of varying sizes, you can use storage containers, mason jars and perhaps a Lazy Susan to effectively organize it.  Remember to group similar items together and label shelves so that others can arrange your groceries according to your system.

There are many small spaces that can be organized in less than an hour; select one or two per month and you will have accomplished much while still enjoying your summer activities.

Darla Pompilio

Your Tasks – Our Time, Inc

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Well, to be honest, it depends…if he packs up all of his belongings in containers AND you have space available in your garage, basement or attic then the answer is relatively easy and you simply need to store it until it’s time to head back to school; however, if you don’t have the storage room or if he randomly tosses it all in his car in garbage bags or worse yet, no containers at all, then rest assured all that stuff will end up somewhere in your home scattered or piled about.

Pre-plan

The best way to avoid the onslaught of stuff coming into the home is to approach the problem before it happens and have a discussion with your college student before they pack up to come home. If you have re-purposed their room then make sure they know ahead of time to avoid the shock and disappointment, and then work with them to devise a plan for their belongings when they come home. When it comes to packing up any space a little pre-planning goes a long way. First decide what space your student will occupy when he returns home. Next discuss how to store any items that won’t fit in the provided space—see below for storage options. You may even want to limit your student to a certain number of suitcases or boxes that will be allowed in the space for the summer. This will help them learn to plan better in the future and help you control the clutter coming into the home. Finally, talk to them about how they plan to pack—see below for packing tips. Limiting them to 2 suitcases and 3 boxes is not the same as 8 garbage bags full of stuff, so be clear about your expectations to avoid any misunderstandings and hard feelings.

How to Pack for a Move

The most efficient way to pack for a move is to sort all items into categories. For example they would gather all their pens, pencils and markers together in one category and all their notebooks, pads and Post It Notes in a separate category. The same process would apply to all the rest of their belongings. The process allows them to quickly see if they have an over abundance in any category so they can easily decide what to keep, toss or donate. Once they have everything sorted, categorized and purged they can begin the process of packing.

I recommend packing the smaller items in banker’s boxes. They are large enough to fit a fair amount of items and small enough so they aren’t too heavy when fully packed. In addition they are reasonably priced, have handles and are easy to label. You can even go green by purchasing used banker’s boxes at Box It. If water or moisture damage is a concern then use plastic totes. I suggest using clear, medium sized totes so the items inside are easily identifiable and the container is not too large to carry when fully packed. Larger, oddly shaped items like bean bag chairs can be stored in large contractor garbage bags to protect items from dirt and water damage.

If your student is living across country and has more than a car load of items to tote home, then it might more prudent to look into renting an offsite storage unit for the summer. This way he can simply pack a couple of bags and drive or fly home for the summer. There are some great options available, such as CollegeBoxes or DoortoDoor that cater to college students and even deliver the boxes to their dorm and pick them up after they are packed.

If a storage unit is not in the budget and junior has too many items to lug home you can consider donating or using Freecycle to downsize any unnecessary or unwanted items before loading up the car for home. The best way to load a car for the greatest use of space is to load the larger inflexible items first, followed by smaller inflexible items, then items that can be squeezed in the odd sized empty spaces. Clothing can be packed into any suitcases you have or if the suitcases take up too much room you can layer the suitcases one inside the other and use garbage bags to pack your clothes. This way you can squeeze the clothes into all the unused spaces left in your car.

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