With the fall semester starting in a couple of weeks, it’s time for those living off campus to pack again.

The process includes going through belongings, sorting out what to take to school or just cleaning in general. Or if you live off campus, you have your belongings with you, or they’re at your parents.

What have you kept over the years? Toys and keepsakes from childhood? How about from middle school or high school? Some people tend to take college as a new way to invent themselves, but some memories you just don’t want to let go.

Small collections of items from different times in your life either kept out so you can see them, or all boxed away for later are great ways of remembering the past. Scrapbooks, high school memoirs and photo albums are all great ways to remember the memories from before.

For those who need more than items or photos for memories, writing what you would like to remember helps, where memoirs and scrapbooks work. Another way includes dated letters that touches on many different aspects of your life, such as your dreams, your plans, friends, favorite movies or music; these memories are irreplaceable at times.

Letters, easy to lose and find again, can be put into anything that you might not open again for a long time. When writing, think about what a future self might be interested in reading. Would it be about what you’re up to then? Or what music and lyrics matter to you the most at the time? Right now, it’s hard to think about what would be important in the future, but try. Most likely, your future self might laugh at what you put down.

What are your burning desires for the future? Do you want more piercings or tattoos? How about a better diet? Dreaming about going somewhere you’ve never gone to before, to study or just for pleasure?

Write these down in a letter to yourself. It doesn’t take much to forget what you thought about yesterday or the day before. Take some time out of your day once a year or so and write down things about yourself you would like to remember. It’s rewarding when you find these little letters or even journals from the past. If in college you like to read about what you did in high school, grown-up you would love to read what you were like in college

Think about it the next time you have to sort through your belongings. Consider just sticking a simple letter somewhere for later.