By Valerie Willis
Finals are over and you’re itching to throw deuces to campus and head coastal with nothing but a toothbrush and cooler of bevs. Great plan, except that your school would charge you an insane fine for leaving all of your crap behind in your dorm room. So, what to do with the random fillings you’ve managed to stuff into that 8’x12’ cube.
1. Sell It
If you have the energy, you can sell your stuff by listing it on Craigslist or auction it on eBay. Don’t want to look at your computer screen until next fall? Put your junk in a garage sale. You can either host your own, or combine your goods with friends for a more bountiful spread. Often communities will host city-wide yard sales that you can get involved with, plus you’re more likely to attract bargain hunters with an event that is publicized throughout town.
2. Store It
Companies like collegeboxes.com make summer storage simple. They pick up everything you want to store, take care of it over the summer, and then deliver everything to your new place in the fall. They even give you boxes and packing tape—all you have to do is stuff your stuff inside.
3. Give It
Freecycle.org is a nonprofit craigslist-ish listing where you can join your community’s group and list stuff you want to give away. Everything on the site has to be free and who knows, you may trade your old junk for someone else’s awesome freebies. If you don’t want to deal with the interwebs, you can just drop your goods at a Goodwill or Salvation Army, or call them and arrange a pickup. The up side to giving your stuff away rather than selling it is you’ll get some cash back from Uncle Sam come tax time. Your deductions can be anywhere from a buck to $12 for a hat to $1,000 for furniture.
4. Dump It
There are waste removal companies in every city that will remove your garbage for a fee. Lucky for you, campuses have dumpsters near any large building that you can use to dump your unwanteds for free. Just make sure it isn’t illegal to dump there, or go during the middle of the night when you can toss your trash unseen.