Laundry piling up? Clean or get rid of it

Spring break is long over and students have arrived back to piles of laundry, winter clothes that need storing and leftovers that have accumulated in the refrigerator.

Students are faced with the dilemma of either partaking in an overall cleaning binge or being left to look at fall's mess.

Facing a few options to alleviate the clutter, some students donate to the local Goodwill or sell to Plato's Closet.

Maria Rios, senior double-major in international studies and modern language, just finished her spring cleaning. Rios donated a desk, chairs and clothes to Goodwill.

"I have sold stuff to Plato's Closet before, but I feel like the money they give me is not worth it, so I would rather donate," Rios said.

Gaby Torres, senior psychology major and studio art minor, had just finished a big spring clean. She cleaned everything out of her refrigerator and freezer and threw away all of her old paint supplies that she knew she wouldn't use anymore. Torres also donates to Goodwill.

"I do a lot of wardrobe changes, so I dropped off a lot of my old clothes at the Goodwill," Torres said.    

Dani Rosario, a Goodwill employee, said students donate frequently.

"They mostly drop off clothes, shoes and stuff in the knickknack section," Rosario said.

Christina Diaz, a Plato's Closet employee, said she deals mostly with students as well.

"Spring tends to be our busiest time because it's Florida. People are now turning in all of their winter clothes, and students are getting a lot more of our summer and spring items," Diaz said.

Not everyone is participating in the spring cleaning activities. Jason Pipe, junior business administration major, lives with two other guys and said he's not cleaning a thing.

"You're asking if we are cleaning? Three guys in the house ... probably not," Pipe said.

The questions of where to start and how to organize may leave students saying it would be easier to leave their rooms in shambles, rather than to procure a headache trying to begin.

Bonnie Miller, certified professional organizer of Utterly Organized Inc. in Orlando, offered some tips on how to clean up and organize a dorm room or small apartment.

Miller said it's important to utilize your space. She suggested tools such as, over the door towel rods, multi-shoe racks or hanging bags and rolling carts with drawers, some of which can be stacked.

Books, papers and schoolwork can overtake a student's room.

"Paper, this can be the bane of your existence because they multiply like rabbits," Miller said. "Keep only what you really need."

Miller suggests scanning the paper into your computer then creating files and tossing the paper.

"If everything is on your computer remember to organize the files with titles you will recognize easily," Miller said. "Calling it your ‘9 a.m. class' may be fine now but in a couple semesters you may not remember what class it was."

Miller recommends organizing your files by categories, suggesting a system called "File Solutions."

The system is color coded and in categories.

Clothing space is very important to the college student who already has nowhere to fit his or her clothes and is squeezing winter clothes in with new summer attire.

Miller suggests shipping your out of season clothes home. If that is not feasible, she suggests purchasing space bags.

"You load [space bags] with your clothes, sheets and use a vacuum hose to suck out all the air. They go so flat they can fit under a bed or on a shelf," Miller said.

If space bags or shipping does not work, there is still one more option. You can create extra space in the closet by double hanging, Miller said.   

"Go to the hardware store after measuring the length of your closet.  Get some heavy, thick PVC pipe and some chain with a hook to put the pipe on," Miller said. "You can attach the chain to the existing rod and then the pipe at the proper level for your clothes to hang above the floor.  The people at the hardware store can help you if you are not sure what you need or how to do it."

Last but not least, Miller reminds that "bigger is not better."

"When buying a container to put stuff in buy the size you need for the stuff," Miller said. "Buying with ‘bigger is better' is not the way to go. You will just end up with a large ‘junk' box because you will dump all kinds of stuff into it."