Guide To Storage

While summer is only a few days away, there’s just one more obstacle to surmount before you jet off to your wildest adventures—packing. And, as any upperclassman will tell you, getting your stuff into storage is an intricate art. Luckily, whether you’re one of those who hasn't thought about the need to pack and stow all your worldly possessions by Sunday at noon, or you’re still sitting in Lamont powerless to obey, we’ve got your back.

Check out our Dos and Don’ts for how to store your stuff. Then stop procrastinating and start packing.

1. DO live within 150 miles of Harvard. No, you don’t qualify for storage, but with any luck, your doting parents will be willing to drive up for a day, fill their car with your prized physics tomes and generically edgy throw pillows from Urban Outfitters, and drive you off into the sunset.

2. DO have local blockmates. Not lucky enough for DO #1, go for the next best thing. Have an unwieldy duffel full of ice skates, bike helmets, and humidifiers? Not quite sure how to fit Herman the Houseplant into the Leverett basement? With some negotiation you can probably get the kid who’s been bragging about being a local all semester to leave this stuff in his basement for the summer. DON’T forget to thank his mom profusely.

3. DO sell things or give them away. If you didn’t wear those pants all year, you probably won’t wear them next year either; that’s how weight gain works. The same goes for books. Stop living in a fantasy, realize that the Sparknotes version is all you’ll ever read of Anna Karenina, and move on.

4. DO use your talents to your advantage. If you’re a muscular athlete and you have some extra time, offer to move stuff for other people in your House—for a price. If you’re one of the 15 hottest freshmen, get other people to move your stuff—for free. We at FlyBy have a stunningly gorgeous blockmate who has never moved her own stuff to storage. We are deeply jealous, while she is deeply satisfied.

5. DON’T put off buying tape and boxes. Staples, CVS, and HSA only stock so much, and once they’re out you’ll be stuck using bits of newspaper and scotch tape. Pathetic.

6. DON’T confuse simplicity with efficiency. This means that it’s better to use several medium-sized boxes than a few huge ones—you have to be able to move them, after all. It also means you shouldn’t put all of your books into one refrigerator-sized box.  You will not be able to carry it. Your friends who help you lug it down the stairs will hate you. Everyone else trying to get into the storage room will plot your demise. Don’t do it.

7. DO make a plan. Now is the time for teamwork, especially if you’re moving from the Yard to the River or—gasp!—the Quad. Keep track of the storage schedule (all of the hours are during the day, so you’ll have to reform your vampiric ways). Figure out who in your rooming group is available to move things when, so no one is left with one hour and seven heavy boxes between the end of exams and flight home.

8. DO send one of your blockmates to stake out the dolly rental early, because they go fast, and once you’ve got one, guard it with your life, because people will steal them. Seriously.

9. DON’T steal a dolly. It’s just cruel.

Photo by Janie M. Tankard/The Harvard Crimson