Students everywhere know the drill.
They return home from a long day of classes and head straight for bed, throwing their backpacks wherever they land.
Or, if they're more of the busy type, they hurry back home to change clothes and get ready, leaving everything else in a pile of clothes and printed assignments.
Many students only have one small room to call their own, and if they're on campus, it's even smaller. The lack of space makes it nearly impossible not to make a mess.
A large part of this problem is students bringing excessive belongings when they move in, according to Virginia Koch, director of residence life.
Koch said the best advice she can give to incoming students is to talk with their roommates ahead of time to prevent bringing duplicates.
To avoid this issue, Koch said students can check the housing website to see what they need to bring by using their packing list, and, from there, they can divide the list among each other.
Koch said old keepsakes, such as high school T-shirts, will also become clutter.
"(Students) are going to end up putting them in the bottom of (their) drawers," Koch said.
Koch also said it is best for students to take what they don't need back home during breaks to eliminate clutter.
Audri Larson, former Auburn resident assistant, said many of her residents were creative with the use of their space.
"I saw many residents with bookshelves behind their beds or bookshelves on their desks and that was a great use of space that de-cluttered the room a bit," Larson said.
Madison Lupica, sophomore in music, said she recently re-organized her kitchen and living room at Logan Square by eliminating unnecessary items that collected over time.
"Take five, 10 minutes out of your day to pick some clothes up off the floor, put your shoes away," Lupica said. "It's literally that easy just one little part every day."
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