Lifestyle

Spring cleaning and decluttering sustainably — dorm style

New clothes, room decor, even toiletries — accumulating excess things in college is easier than you think. The realization sets in, come the second semester, that your closet is full of clothes you no longer love. When this happens, it’s time for spring cleaning — an activity that at home is an easy reset, but in college can feel overwhelming.

Lila Baltaxe | Senior Graphic Artist

The easiest way to declutter when tackling a dorm closet is to put your items into categories. Whether you start with pants, long-sleeved shirts, tees or socks — focusing on one area at once makes tasks feel more manageable. 

Ask yourself questions as you go through each item. What do you wear most frequently? What items get the least amount of wear? What things can you live without? 

As you realize what items no longer get the use they once did, you can create piles of clothes to keep and clothes to get rid of.

Once your closet is feeling lighter, what do you do with the leftover clothes? 

College makes it more difficult to get rid of piles of clothing. Many people aren’t close to donation centers or family members willing to provide homes for hand-me-downs. That doesn’t mean that your options aren’t as endless.

Boston University’s West Campus is home to Goodwill, located at 965 Commonwealth Ave., which is more than happy to take your donations, putting them to good use as a sustainable way to give back to the community.

For the second year in a row, the Warren Towers Resident Sustainability Leader-organized Clothing Swap collected used clothing from BU students to give students a way to declutter this spring.

You can bring in your used clothes from March 31 to April 2 from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. and browse donations. The Clothing Swap is a great place to hunt for warm-weather clothing or maybe find your new favorite piece. The leftover clothing is recycled or donated after the event, making it a great way to prevent perfectly good clothing from ending up in landfills.

As students, we learn about the environment and the impact we have on it. By incorporating sustainability into our lives as young adults, we’ll be able to make a greater change as our generation gets older.

With the convenience and affordability of fast-fashion, sometimes it is difficult to be mindful of how we as young consumers have an impact on the environment with our purchases. Utilizing resources that are more sustainable like clothing swaps, thrift stores, boutiques and being conscious of where our clothes are coming from are good ways to sustainably upgrade your wardrobe.

Saving money is something many college students struggle with, especially when living in a city like Boston. Making sustainable changes, however, doesn’t have to be a struggle, nor does it have to break the bank.

When your dorm closet starts feeling a little full this spring, doing some spring cleaning is worth it. Donating items you no longer need and picking up new ones from a thrift store or the Warren Towers Clothing Swap is a perfect way to declutter sustainably this spring.





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