Category Archives: College Students

Saving Space in the Dorm Room

In the midst of summer, planning for the next school year may be the last thought on students’ minds. Parents with children preparing to go away to college may want to begin planning and packing now, as to not feel rushed at the last minute. With little space for storage in dorm rooms and shared apartments, it is important that incoming students pack the essentials first; however, this doesn’t mean that they must leave sentimental items behind. One great way to save memories without taking up additional space is by making a no-sew t-shirt blanket.

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Boomerang Kids: They’re Coming Home – Again!

boomerangYou packed them off to college. You shed a little tear of pride at their graduation. You gladly moved them back home so they could look for their first full time job. They found one!  You moved their bed and a few boxes into their first shared apartment (secretly glad it wasn’t you who had to live there.) The roommate was a flake, the job didn’t work out. They’re coming home. Again. Continue reading

Repurposing Your Child’s Room When They Move Out

hobby-roomAn empty nest can be a happy nest. In a previous post, we talked about using tough love to get your children who have left the nest to stop using your house as a storage unit.  Now that you have tackled that issue, you are faced with the delightful dilemma of what to do with all that extra space. When you finally have the green light to repurpose your grown child’s bedroom, the possibilities are almost endless. Craft room, office space, meditation retreat, home theater – name your bliss.

There are some very sound reasons to do this that you might not have considered. A 12’ x 12’ room actually represents a sizeable percentage of your overall floor space. Most of us don’t live in big, old rambling houses with lots of room to spare. It just doesn’t make economic sense to turn 10% of your living area into a cobweb-filled, little-used space, especially if you are going to use it for a hobby that you were spending money to do outside the home.

Now, having said all this, you certainly don’t want to make your child feel they are not welcome in your home. But there is a way to do this without leaving their room just as it is, as some sort of shrine to their childhood. Keep a few carefully chosen pieces that represent the place they have in your home and your heart, and display them in your new reading room or game room.  This will go a long way toward making them feel like they have come home when they come to visit.

Those of us who live out West don’t usually have the luxury of using basements and attics to store all our unused stuff. If you repurpose your child’s room, but need to keep their bedroom furniture just in case they have to move back at some point, or you decide you need a guest room more than a yoga room, you’re going to need a storage unit. If you live in the Phoenix area, there are several Dollar Self Storage facilities available that are clean, safe, and secure!

Adult Children Who Use Their Parents’ House as a Storage Unit

toysI made a shocking discovery recently: when your kids grow up and move out, they don’t take their stuff with them. Oh sure, they take the Xbox and all your good wine glasses, but the lifetime supply of Legos and their soccer trophies? Not so much.

To be fair, it is tough when you are first starting out in life. When you are living in a one bedroom apartment, you simply don’t have the room to take possession of all your childhood memories. Not to mention the fact that it is difficult for young people to know what keepsakes they will find most meaningful years from now. But I did see one really valuable piece of advice on this website about simplifying: the fewer things you keep, the more special they are. When your grandmother gives you a small keepsake box filled with precious memories she wants to share with you, it is a very moving moment. If, on the other hand, she has to have a forklift drop a packing crate on your front lawn filled with her precious memories … hmm, not the same thing at all.

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Back to School in Another Town

College studentGive your college student the benefit of extra storage all year long.

Back to school. The same simple phrase that strikes terror into the heart of school-age children everywhere brings secret delight to parents. Back to order. Back to routine. Back to a cup of tea in a quiet house.

If your child is a college student, back to school means back to campus – perhaps in another town, even another state. College students have a special relationship with storage units. Many college students who go to school far from their homes have to figure out what to do with their belongings over the summer break each year. Self-storage is a smart and handy solution that makes these times a little more hassle-free for both students and parents.

If you take advantage of self-storage in this way for your college student, you might want to consider keeping that storage unit all year long for them. There are several benefits to this idea: Continue reading