A minimalist guide to moving into university

What with the recent release of A level results, I thought it would be timely to write a short guide for those about to leave home and move into university.

For someone interested in minimalism, starting university presents a great opportunity and several challenges. You are effectively wiping the slate clean and starting afresh but without having to go through the process of decluttering. If you still have a room in the family house you can simply leave a lot of things at home. But moving out for the first time also reveals how many possessions you have. From my own experience and from helping new students move in I have a few simple tips that should make the physical moving one of the least stressful parts of beginning uni.

Know your limits.

I mean this in several senses. The room you are moving into, especially in first year halls of residence, is likely to be rather small. Try and get an idea of how much space you’ll have so you can be realistic with the amount of stuff you can bring. Working on the assumption that you’ll have half the space means you’re unlikely to over-estimate.

Secondly, you have the physical transportation to worry about. If you’re flying then weight limits are the obvious problem. If you go over the standard weight limit (20kg-23kg), you’ve probably got too much stuff. Bulky heavy items like bedding and pots and pans can easily be bought in your new home. Trains and cars obviously have no similar limits, but remember that you’re going to have to pack all of the stuff up and then move all of it in. It’s far better to spend your first day getting to know your neighbours than making half a dozen trips between your room and your car.

Don’t forget shared possessions.

You might pack up all the possessions in your room and think that you’re not taking too much stuff, but bear in mind all the things around the house that you make use of: scissors, towels, etc. There are dozens of little things that you probably use more often than you realise. You’ll either have to stop using them (in many cases easier than you’d imagine) or buy your own later, which will add to your clutter and expenses.

If in doubt, leave it.

Many how-to guides on minimalist blogs recommend that you put some items into a box out of the way and if you don’t use the items within a set time period then you should get rid of them. You can use your room at home as one big box. If you have even a little doubt about whether you want to bring something, simply leave it. If it turns out that you need it, ask family to post it over or pick it up when you’re next home. If you get along just fine without it and forget about its existence until you return home then you know that it’s one less possession that you need in your life.

Remember that you’ll change.

This one sounds pretty trite, but is generally true. There’s no point bringing your entire wardrobe, especially items that you rarely wear. You’ll be living in a new place surrounded by new people who have new ways of behaving, dressing and living. It is inevitable that your tastes and interests will change and mature at a surprising rate. You’ll find that things you used to consider dear to you no longer hold the same importance.

Go with an open mind.

This sort of sums up the above, but applies to more than material possessions. Some people try to completely reinvent themselves at university. This rarely works, as there are some fundamental character traits that are difficult to change. That doesn’t mean that you can’t work on parts of yourself that you want to improve, of course. Start with an open mind and allow things to progress unencumbered with existing ideas and preconceptions. The same applies to possessions. Bring what you need to get by in relative comfort, but don’t try and transpose your past surroundings to a new location.

I firmly believe that students are the best placed of anyone to start living a minimalist lifestyle. They tend to move in and out of accommodation regularly, so they are acutely aware of what possessions they have. Most students tend to have relatively few possessions with them at university, though far more than they need. Money is generally pretty tight, giving all the more reason to practice a minimalist approach to finances. Lastly, and most importantly, they are surrounded by so many opportunities that material possessions are unimportant. They are surrounded by hundreds of people from all over the world, all studying different things and with different interests and passions. Many universities have hundreds of societies offering an easy way to try out new experiences. It is probably the period of life when material possessions are at their least important. Why let yourself get held down by consuming and owning when doing and experiencing is so easy?