Where do you put dc’s uni stuff

[coffeegirl73]

Am trying to be “zen” about dd’s stuff from uni which is currently all round the house as I attempt to find somewhere to put it. She doesn’t want it all piled up in her room so now there’s some in the sitting room , some in the bathroom downstairs, som on the stairs and a huge pile on the landing upstairs. I need to have a talk with myself about not letting it bother me. It does though - bother me! Am going to get some boxes tmw so it mite look more tidy - currently there are a lot of bags spilling over with her stuff . How does everyone else find space to store all the stuff x

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!

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).

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….

I her room and in the garage/ shed.

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.

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!

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?

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!

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

🧐🤔

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

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.

Under the stars, in the attic, back porch and at his dads- that's where we're storing it!

We have 2 DSs who graduated in the last 2 years and both lived at home for a year or so.

I found these beds were the perfect solution. Their entire university lives fit underneath, in storage boxes.

Yes, this. Plus boxed up kitchen stuff and put that in the loft.

Nothing was in any other room but his.

DS's stuff is all piled up in his room!

Lost the quote!!

Mean to say that kitchen cleaning stuff was used up by us, as was any food. Duvet and pillows vacuum shrunk and under the bed.

In the loft!

My Dd has taken all her clothes up to her room and some of her books and her tech stuff, as it's all in use.
All the bedding and towels inc the duvet were washed dried and went into a big duffle bag and went into the attic, I can just throw that into the car in September as it's ready to go. There's a box of kitchen stuff in the corner in the front room, and a box of bits and pieces there too. Her TV went onto the wall in her room. Listing it doesn't seem like much, but when I pack up my car it seems like a lot more.

Her stuff has to be tidied away somewhere for YOUR mental health!

Though having said that, ‘mental health’ is used as a convenient excuse for so many things now. A couple of decades ago I dare say my dds would have used it as an excuse for why their bedrooms were like pigsties, stuff all over the floordrobe, plus adorned with old apple cores, cold half cups of tea, and bowls with old Ready Brek dried on like cement.

When my parents decided to clear out their “big shed” (a massive steel structure bigger than many 1 bedroom houses) They were going through boxes and found a box still unpacked from when they moved in 1980. They have moved house 6 times since then. Mum still went through it and decided there was stuff in there she wanted to keep. 🤦🏻‍♀️

OP, be the parent, tell her she has a week or it’s all going to the tip, make a plan with her to go through it and Marie Kondo the shit out of it.

Mine has more than "a small box of kitchen utensils" it is worth remmebering that people live differently. All 4 of mine has requested kitchen stuff for christmas and birthdays during uni years. Items went in the shed or their rooms. I only allowed uni duvet (we always bought extra I prefer to have one at home for them) to be stored under our bed.

Ds and dd3 both managed to store their stuff over somer holiday at uni with friends who had longer tenancies storing items for multiple friends. Ds friends who did this had their lease until early september and basically all friends had an area with their boxes and stuff. They all agreed to pay their end of tenancy clean for them it came to £50 for 2-3months storage. The landlord was ok with this (they asked)

Dd3 currently has her uni stuff in a friends place she is going back to uni next week to move it to her new place she takes posession off mid July. Friend hasnt charged her for this at all.

Dd2 we used a storage unit over her 2nd summer. (1st was in covid lockdown and basicslly all go hurled into the car and sorted in our then garage) we need to find most of her stuff again for September as she is returning to read for a masters.

Dd1 took home in sensible plastic containers.

All my son's things were in storage previous years, but now he's finished and I currently have it in the "dining room" aka dumping room. At least it's out of the way. But I think boys accumulate less stuff than girls do, plus I encouraged him to donate any non essentials

And the rest of the family's mental health as they trip over this stuff?

What happens when they come home for the weekend? Sleeping bags?