Samantha Momeyer | Lifestyle Content Director 

For college underclassmen, knowing what to bring home for breaks and holidays can be difficult. There’s a fine line between being prepared and over-packing. It’s also important to remember that most people leave some essentials and clothing at home, so it’s okay to not bring everything home. Living out of a bag for a few days won’t be optimal, but no need to stress. If in need of more details in tips, visit how-to-pack-for-college-break.html. 

BRING:

1. Basic and plain clothing – Having clothes that can be worn with multiple different things is important so that you can travel lightly. Items like a black zip-up or one’s most reliable/flattering pair of jeans are perfect examples of items that can be worn multiple times, and with different options. 

2. One or two pairs of shoes – There is simply no need for more than two pairs of shoes on your week or weekend visit back home. Everyone knows that you will not actually end up using more than two pairs unless there is a special case scenario. You should just travel with your favorite pair of sneakers and maybe a casual/dressy shoe for any other activity. 

3. Not used/needed things from the room – Although it is not a fun task going through everything in your room, it will be worth it by the end of the year. If you can gradually take things home as you notice it is being not used, it will allow for your space to become decluttered and make room for things you may want to bring back from home. 

4. Laundry – Any excuse not to have to do laundry in the gross and always busy laundry rooms on-campus. Also, there is a good chance if you bring your laundry home, maybe your mom will do it for you. 

5. Laptop – While you may refuse to do any type of homework over your break, it never hurts to bring your laptop or whatever you use to do schoolwork. Sometimes going home there is not much to do and you will get a burst of motivation. It’s better to bring at least something as an option to access schoolwork than nothing at all. Especially because laptops are easy to travel with and it would not be the worst thing to at least look at emails while you’re home. 

DO NOT BRING:

1. Toiletries – One of the biggest mistakes you can make is bringing toiletries back and forth from college and your home. If you are able to keep toiletries at home and at college, that way it is one less thing to travel with and forget at either college or home. 

2. ALL of your schoolwork – It’s called a break for a reason. Take a step back and avoid schoolwork if possible. If needed, maybe even try to get ahead on some work so that you can feel better about just relaxing. We live in an era of hustle culture, but these breaks are important. It’s actually healthy to not think about college for a few days, earn some extra cash, catch up with hometown friends, see family, and relax. 

3. Trash – Bringing laundry home is one thing, but trash is just silly. It’s highly recommended to take out your trash and do some cleaning in your room before heading home on break. No one likes to come back to a messy or smelly place and it will be a good start to returning back to the reality of college life.