Bye Bye Cambridge Hall – Tips On Moving Out

Though I still have one more exam to go on Wednesday (at 8am), I decided to check out of my dorm room today. Why?

The door is filthy. My roommate has broke my vacuum cleaner, so we pretty much haven’t vacuumed the place since last semester. On top of that, she has a carpet installed in the room. Dust bunnies and carpets get along just a bit too well for my liking.
The room is a mess. Roomie’s clothes are strewn all over the floor and she has food, or what is left of the food, lying around in random places. Her desk is a mess, her bed is a mess, and her hair is a mess. On the other hand, my side of the room actually looks organized, which is saying something since I’m usually the messy one.
The last one to check out has to make sure the room is clean. Since my last exam is on the last possible day for exams, I probably should’ve been the one checking out last and making sure the room is in top condition. That means vacuuming, dusting, mopping, and fabreezing the place a couple times before I can get my butt out of that sorry room.

Hence there was no way I was going to stick around. And even if I did, my dad wouldn’t be able to pick me up on Wednesday with his SUV, and there was no way all my belongings would fit in my tiny Corolla. Surprisingly enough, my boyfriend managed to fit it in his beaten down and worn out 96 Camry AND he managed to drive us all back in one piece. As a matter of fact, he was the one who insisted that I check out today. I felt bad, but at the same time, it did feel kind of good to know that I was able to give my “wonderful” roomie one last slap in the face by making her deal with the rest. I know it sounds mean, but she deserves it.

She does NOT keep the room clean or organized.
She broke my vacuum cleaner.
She leaves expired food in my fridge. The food then somehow leaks and my fridge starts growing mold babies.
Of course, she doesn’t do rats about it and I had to borrow Lysol wipes from friends to clean the fridge up.
Her friends are loud and annoying and they insist on staying till 2 in the morning while I’m trying to sleep.
She hogs up all usable space and gets the better side of the room and closet. I’ll give in on the first part just because she’s out of state, but still.
She slams the door all the time.

Even though I was able to checkout today and complete my move out process in one step, it was still VERY hectic. So for anyone who’s going off to college to next year and living on campus, here are a few tips when it comes to moving out. Since I attend my state university, some of my tips primarily apply to those who go to an in-state school.

Start taking your things back bit by bit. I wished I had started taking my things back starting the week after I went back for my spring semester. Take back some things you don’t need (things you rarely used the last semester) each week (or as often as possible). It will make your move out day a LOT easier.
Organize your belongings. This makes the packing process a lot easier. That way when you unpack, you will know where everything is.
Have duffel bags and suitcases ready. Actually, just have anything that will make carrying things easier for you. This could mean keeping the boxes and bags some of your things came in. I wasn’t prepared on this one and had put some of my things in a makeshift sack made from my blanket. I guess you can always use this as a last resort.
Take advantage of your school’s move out supplies. My school provided free boxes, but being lazy and overconfident, I only took 2. It was totally not enough, which explains the makeshift blanket sack.
Clean your room regularly. This is just to make your checkout process easier so you don’t need to clean up like crazy. It makes living in the room a lot more tolerable and enjoyable too. Don’t use carpets because those things make the room harder to clean.
Don’t rely on your roommate. Unless you’re friends with your roomie, I wouldn’t rely on them to help your clean or keep on top of things. Maybe it was just my bad luck, but my roomie was nowhere to be seen during the exam days. Hence we were unable to communicate on how we should plan the move out process.