Getting Ready for College Series Day One: The Decluttering

Use moving into the dorm as a great time to organize at home

By Professional Organizer, Kim Salisbury

OK, OK, nobody panic. I am NOT saying throw their whole childhood away!! 🤣 What I AM saying, is use this time to edit their bedrooms.

There is no better time to edit than before a move. This goes for moving to the dorms too. Here are three tips to get you started:

1. Go through their closet

Pull out anything and everything that doesn’t fit or that they won’t wear again. This includes shoes. Same thing with the dresser.

2. Go through their desk

Toss the junk; the broken pencils, the trash that accumulated in the drawers over all these years. Bonus: you will most likely find school supplies they can take with them, I did! You might as well pack the desk lamp instead of buying a new one.

3. Go through the bookshelves, nightstands, corners

Is there anything they can donate? Maybe children’s books, old electronics not being used anymore, knick knacks they’ve grown out of. Again, I am not saying toss it all, just be mindful of the clutter.

I promise you, if you declutter first, it will make packing SO much easier. 👍

Part 2 of this series: Are Your Ducks in a Row

Here’s a link to an earlier piece of this series: 10 Essential Products for a Dorm Room

And here’s a very helpful Checklist to Help You Digitally Declutter

For more reading here’s Tips for Better Basement Organization
And 10 Shortcuts to Home Organizing