Heading home after a challenging college semester is sometimes made more stressful when looking at your dorm room and wondering how you'll get everything back to your parents' house. To avoid that stress, you might want to use a rental storage unit for summer break. This can be a great idea, but you need to consider these tips to make sure that when you go back to school, your things are still safe and in good shape.
Don't Shut Your Mini-Fridge
If you're like a lot of college students, your mini-refrigerator is one of the most important appliances you own. It's also bulky and heavy, which makes it a perfect candidate for summer storage. However, if you plan to put your mini-fridge into the rental unit, don't shut it. It might make sense that you'd close the door tightly, but even if you've cleaned it out beforehand, there could be some lingering moisture. If so, when you head back in the fall, you'll be greeted with a strong, musty odor that will be repulsive and hard to get rid of. Leave it open a bit to allow for circulation of air.
Consider Climate Control
Your dorm room might be outfitted with a number of electronic devices ranging from a flat-screen television to a desktop computer. Storing these things for the summer makes sense, but you've got to ensure they're protected. Hot temperatures can build in enclosed spaces like storage units; the heat can damage some of the components inside your things. To be safe, think about using a unit that offers climate control. It may cost a little more, but it can ensure that you can still use your stuff when you return in autumn.
Create a "Use First" Box
While you're packing up your room and deciding what will go into the rental unit, create a "use first" box. The box should include everything you'd need on the first night of school in the fall. This box might include:
This box will come in handy if you're rushing back to campus after the summer and don't have time to unload everything right away. You can simply drop in, get the box and head to your new room.
If you remember the information here, your dorm room belongings should remain in fine condition while you're away on summer break. Ask your rental company if they have more advice for you.
Share7 December 2016
Traveling all over the world for work often puts me in the lurch; what do I do with all of my belongings? Having a home or an apartment to come home to is great, but if I'm hardly at home, an apartment or mortgage is really not worth it. Thankfully, if I want to move my stuff with me, there are moving companies that will help me pack everything up and put what I don't want and need into storage. I can even ship boxes of my things all the way around the globe, which is a plus when work relocates me for more than a year.