Before the whirlwind end-of-year move-out begins, draft a plan. The process can be less intimidating when you know what you're throwing out, what you're saving and what to do with everything in between.
Storage
If you're living in the dorms next fall, you can store items able to be packed in boxes there during the summer, said Donyelle Hayhoe, assistant housing operations manager for Akers and Hubbard halls. Everything stored must be put in boxes, shippable with your home address on them in case you don't return to school, she said. They generally don't store lumber, refrigerators, large furniture or carpet.
Most residence hall cafeterias provide empty boxes you can use for storage. There isn't a limit to the number of boxes, Hayhoe said, but different halls have a different amount of storage space. To retrieve items from storage, go to the hall's manager's office, and someone will escort you to the storage room.
Giveaways
Instead of throwing away unwanted clothes, leftover Ramen noodles and old compact discs, you can donate them to one of the several thrift stores located in the Lansing area.
At St. Vincent de Paul Store, 1020 S. Washington Ave. in Lansing, donations can be picked up, free of charge. But they often get busy at the end of the school year, clerk Tina Fuentes said, so it's best to arrange a pick-up appointment two weeks prior to the date.
"We take pretty much anything from in your home," she said. "Clothes, furniture, music, games, toys — we've got it all. There's a lot of things we don't take — water beds, pianos."
Other thrift stores in the Lansing area include Volunteers of America, 5411 S. Cedar St., and The Salvation Army, 5206 W. Saginaw Hwy.
Recyclables
White and colored paper, newspapers, computer paper, magazines, Post-it notes, coursepacks, envelopes, legal pads, paper folders, carbonless (NCR) forms, junk mail and bounded books all can be recycled in the mixed paper containers located in residence halls.
Case, Wilson and Wonders halls are accepting carpet for a pilot program the Office of Recycling and Waste Management is conducting to turn it into fuel, said Roger Cargill, the office's operations manager. Only residents of these halls, however, can donate their carpet.
Carpet in all other residence halls cannot be recycled, nor can boxboard, vinyl folders, polystyrene and food containers.
All hall residents can take lumber to Akers, Holden, Wilson, Mason/Abbot, Wonders and Brody halls, and West Circle, to be reused Cargill said.
"That material goes out to several nonprofits," he said. "It's the biggest volume that we collect."
