College is an exciting time for families across the country. Students, of course, are excited to get out on their own. For most college students, it’s their first time living outside of the house for a long period. For parents, college is often the fruition of years of hard work.
There are thousands of colleges and universities in the United States, and many students move hundreds and even thousands of miles away from home to attend their dream school or enroll in a coveted program. Uhaul trucks are filled with whatever furniture they have, maybe a mattress, some clothes, and other personal items.
A lot of schools mandate that first-year students live in dorms. Others let students decide whether they’d like to live on campus or off. Either way, students are probably going to be moving into smaller rooms or sharing with someone else. That means less space for furniture and personal items. For parents, there is the age-old question of what to do with their kids’ bedrooms and things when they’re finally out of the house.
The bottom line is that students are going to need storage when they move away from school. Let’s take a look at how much storage college students typically need and different ways they can manage their life and their things when they finally get away from home.
Digital Storage Needs
Of course, students these days aren’t only concerned about where to put their bike or winter clothes during the summer. Students have way more digital storage needs now than in years past.
Almost everything students use via their phones and computers is stored in the cloud somewhere. Over the past ten years, technology companies, whether it’s Microsoft, Apple, or Google, have worked hard to build data centers around the world so students, businesses, and other people can access photos or files whenever they need them with only an internet connection.
For the most part, students won’t need a whole lot of physical digital storage like thumb drives or hard drives, but it’s still a good idea to have around 1 terabyte of storage on hand when you need something stored locally. Thankfully, it seems like digital storage is getting cheaper by the year, and you can find some really good deals on personal storage devices online or at your local electronics store.
Storage Options for Living Spaces
When you move out of the house for the first time, it becomes evident quickly just how much we rely on our parents for a lot of things. In your new place, you’re going to have to find a place for everything, and you’re going to need a lot of new stuff!
You’ll need an iron, small kitchen items, a microwave, bags, toiletries, toilet paper, a bike pump, you name it. Living through college is always a fine balance of having what you need but not too much.
You can maximize space and stay organized with bins and tubs that will fit in your room without becoming cumbersome. Here are a few ideas:
Roller Bins
Find some bins with wheels on them or that slide easily out from under your bed. The space beneath your bed is an excellent spot to keep seasonal items or stuff you don’t use all that often. In fact, a lot of college students find ways to raise their beds (like on cinder blocks or other hard items) so they can fit larger bins underneath them.
Make sure to label the bins and buy see-through bins so you know what’s in there.
Hanging Storage
Whether it’s your bike, your coat, or your backpack, make use of vertical space so everything doesn’t end up on the floor and makes it hard to walk around your room. You can find a lot of hooks, hanging shelves, and other storage options online.
Door Racks
You can find hanging racks for shoes, brushes, and other items that you can put on doors to take advantage of space in the bathroom or an entryway. Buy one with several pockets that you can use to stay organized.
These are just some of the possible storage solutions. These days, there are bins and tubs made for everything. At the very least, you’ll probably want one tub for seasonal clothing, one for food (if you don’t have a kitchen), one for shoes, and one for toiletries. It’s a good place to get started at least.
Storage Units for Summer
A lot of students sign semester leases in college towns, meaning they have to find somewhere to put their stuff for the summer. A lot of times, knowing you will only be living in a room or home four months at a time stops you from collecting too much stuff. It’s probably a good thing because you don’t want to be hauling around a ton of items after you graduate if you have to move across the country for a job.
Still, there are going to be some things that you will want to hold onto. Finding a small storage unit will save you a lot of headaches and let you hold onto your stuff. You won’t have to ask anyone if you can cram your things into their basement, and you won’t need to sell anything for pennies on the dollar.
A lot of local storage facilities offer summer promotions for students in this exact situation. There are a lot of different unit sizes to fit however much space you need, and modern storage facilities have good on-site security and access control to keep your things safe.
You should check online or call around to see if your local storage unit companies have any student discounts. You’ll likely be surprised at how affordable this option is, especially when you consider how much trouble it will save you when summer comes around.
Storage Unit Options for Parents
It’s a question most parents go through once their children leave for school. What to do with all their stuff? Kids will be pretty upset if you throw away their yearbooks and their old toys that they’d planned on keeping. These keepsakes mean a lot to them, and they’ll want them in their new place wherever they settle down.
On the other hand, you don’t want the room just sitting empty. It can be a nice home office or an art room, or you can finally turn it into a guest room for people who come to visit. So what can you do with their things and free up that space?
If you’ve got room in the attic or basement, that’s great. However, a lot of homeowners already have things in those spaces and the garage. Sticking your kid’s things there is only going to make more clutter.
In these cases, you should follow our earlier advice for college students in the summer and think about renting a storage unit for their things. They are an affordable, safe option that will get their stuff out of the house so you can take on the projects you’ve been planning.
It’s also short-term, and upon graduation, you can tell them they’ve got a few months or whatever to find out where they want their things to go. This way you don’t end up with old soccer jerseys and a costume from their junior play sitting in a closet for ten years.
Finding the right storage solutions is easier than ever, and college students and their parents have great options to get them through these exciting four years.
If you’re looking for a storage facility to store your precious belongings, Snell Mini Storage has got you covered. Securely store your belongings! Here at Snell Mini Storage, we offer a wide range of unit selections to accommodate your every need. To learn more about our self-storage facility, please check out our website at http://snellministorage.com/.