Where do you put dc’s uni stuff

Between year 2 and 3, DD’s house was from July to July so they hired a white van man to move between houses in July. Only clothes etc came home over summer.

Into a storage unit in the university town. Just one suitcase of stuff needed over the summer came home.

🧐🤔

We have a corner of the lounge which is big and empty. My son’s stuff goes there in bags. He is on the military not uni but if he is between bases that’s where it goes. He also kept a suitcase at my mums house.

With my younger son who has just finished GCSE’s we are doing 1 manageable clearing task per week.

So for example - this week we are doing jeans and trousers so I have given him a black bag to put in any jeans/ trousers/ joggers that don’t fit or he doesn’t like and I will take them to the clothing bank.

Another week we will do jumpers and hoodies. I find it frustrating as it’s such slow progress but I keep my feelings to myself and in small manageable chunks his room is being declutterred. 6 bin bags of clothes have so far left his room. It’s a hassle for me as I then have to take things to the tip or the clothing bank or back to his school (uniform). But it does get the job done.

Could you ask your daughter to do the same and say you can then go shopping end of August to stock up with anything she is short of eg a new pair of jeans and some socks. Only if the room has been sorted otherwise there will be no space for new things

Haha, good question op! My son’s uni stuff is currently piled high on the floor in the middle of his bedroom since I picked him up last week. God knows how he acquired so much. It’s going to boxed up and put in the garage, alongside his sister’s miscellaneous crap, sorry stuff, which has been sitting in boxes, untouched, for several years!

DD only had two duvet cover sets to rotate, Her clothes and long mirror and a clothes rail . All went in her bedroom. A few big ikea bags of stuff went in the garage. Do you have an attic or shed?

Ours is all in plastic boxes in the garage, including “uni stuff” from one who left uni ten years ago and doesn’t even live here!

My son doesn't really have much stuff that he doesn't have at home anyway. Bedding has gone back on his bed here, clothes in the wardrobe, computer on his desk.

He's been in halls so only had a small room and a shelf in a kitchen so not really been able to accumulate anything that doesn't fit in his small room and shelf. His room at home is empty so he has just filled it back up again and added his kitchen stuff to our kitchen.

I her room and in the garage/ shed.

Now that my parents are moving house I realise how much of my uni crap is still in their house 20+ years later (admittedly in my room and a spare bedroom and the loft). I am mortified.

Suggested game plan-

• Create one memory box and let the other tat
• Sort any meaningful academic stuff, sell those textbooks etc
• sort any personal proper correspondence (loan letters, financial stuff)
• anything household (bedding, spatulas, lamps, rugs) gets folded into the normal house rotation or is given/sold to the olio gods (and you can assume will come back around when you move out)
• same for tv etc - if it’s an upgrade on your current one keep it, if not give it another family who can use and enjoy it for now
• winter clothes - get those vacuum bags

Unless it’s v high quality stuff (in which case should be folded into normal household rotation) AND DD will move out be using it in a 1-2y, absolutely DO NOT put it in storage, the loft, garage etc. It is not worth the headspace, time or cost.

BiL and his wife had stuff in storage. At various points MiL had to trawl through looking for a specific document. When they finally moved their stuff into their home (some years and several thousands later) their furniture didn’t fit and the ikea pans which had cost them £39 had certainly long been upgraded….

For mine it seems to be mainly clothes and jackets. Vinted was discovered and used (a lot!) and those places where you can buy random clothes by the kilo (🤷‍♀️).

And new bedding (all of it, duvet, pillows, etc) and nowhere to put it here (we are already overrun with spare duvets).

Ha I am in the same boat. Currently hidden behind the sofa, hidden behind the kitchen/diner table, in the hallway, in my bedroom and the (tiny) laundry room. How so much has been accumulated in less than one year with such a tiny uni room I don’t know!

Oh god we have loads of DS uni stuff in boxes and bags. No idea how he has so much stuff because he’s a minimalist but it has mushroomed somewhat from when he first went in Sept with barely anything to bags and boxes of stuff. Mainly kitchen clutter as he likes to cook and heavy books and stuff. Some needs to go in the loft but it’s heavy and then we just have to carry it down again. Most is in his room thankfully

Storage unit.

we’re slowly clearing my DD’s

We have bags everywhere at the moment. We didn’t seem to buy that much extra stuff before DC went to university so you would think it should fit in the space it was in before, but it doesn’t and we obviously bought more than we thought we did!

Sorry - but we've been here and she's going to have to suck it up, either in cardboard boxes which she can't see into, or plastic which she can, sort out her drawers etc - it cannot take over the whole house. No-one likes a clutter in their room which does affect our moods - so (apologies to everyone) if its a genuine MH issue then ditch stuff/store it elsewhere, or if its like most people then suck it up. With our Kids we knew where they were going/staying the next year and had to pay for it so the not needed stuff could go straight to the new house when the moved out of halls etc.

so @coffeegirl73 how is she clearing her head if her room is in such a state as to have 3 dead plants?
i can understand not wanting a confrontation but it sounds like she needs help.
part of the "precise operation" meant zero tolerance, i would not be pandering to mess in other rooms beyond the first 24 hours.
can she be trusted to not have packed a damp facecloth or allowed the cleaning solvents to tip?

For MY mental health, DD’s stuff has migrated from the hall to her room and that’s where it stays! I’ve washed every piece of clothing and she’s either re boxed it, wearing it, sent it to charity or binned it!

I can’t look in her room right now. The miscellaneous stuff is overwhelming! Her stuff stay in her room, end of.

Solidarity OP.

Oh the poor little princess!
Seriously she needs to grow up and figure out to manage her own crap without it impinging on everyone else in the house.

I have 2 at uni. They have a small bit of kitchen stuff and then the clothes they usually have that goes back in their drawers! They didn't have separate bedding, they took their bedding. We are quite skint though so this is normal for us.

Again, tough.

She doesn't get to inconvenience and endanger the whole household because she's got too much stuff. From what you say, she's got a whole household's worth of stuff spread out all over yours.

How's her sister's mental health having her stuff taking up her space?

She has 3 choices.

It goes in her room.

It goes into storage that she pays for.

It goes in the trash or gets donated.

My eldest asked me if I could store some boxes while she moved. If I didn't, she would have put them in storage. I do have a lot of empty attic space, so she put them up there. Her stuff isn't all over. And she helped me with some yard cleanup.

You're letting your daughter rule the roost.

Just read your update that her room is full. Is she starting to hoard?

I tried to move back home once and my mom told me I was always welcome, but she had no room for all my stuff. I put some in storage.
No one person gets to inconvenience an entire household.

Well, the mental health of those who also have to live there need to be considered as well.

I have had several children at university-they brought very little home in the holidays/summer as it all went straight into the next year house.