If you're moving out of university soon, you might be wondering how best to tackle the mountains of stuff you've managed to accumulate. Textbooks, kitchen utensils, fancy dress outfits... You might feel like you're leaving with double what you brought — or maybe even triple!

Whether you're travelling home in your parents' car, hiring a removalist or relocating to new accommodation close by, these tips will help you to get organised. Being prepared will make your move as easy and stress-free as possible, and you won't be left wishing you'd done things better.

Start sorting well in advance

It's going to be almost impossible to move successfully if your room is a mess, so start sorting items well in advance. You don't need to spend a fortune on expensive storage boxes. Most supermarkets have plenty of leftover cardboard boxes, which they'll happily give away for free if you ask. Soft items like clothes and bedsheets can be stored inside strong bin bags — just make sure you don't throw them away by accident. You should pack as much as you can, only leaving out items you use daily. Doing things in stages is much better than having a mad rush on moving day.

Decide who keeps shared items

If you're living with flatmates or in a shared house, then you'll likely have bought certain household items together. Now is the time to start figuring out who gets to keep the toaster, drying rack, etc. If you all paid together for items, suggest that the person keeping them pays a small amount to the other household members. If there are items nobody wants, make sure you've agreed on who will take care of their disposal. Certain items, like electricals, will need to be taken to a recycling centre. If anything's left behind, you could face a fine from your landlord, so it's really important not to forget this.

Throw away old study materials

Do you really need 50 pages of notes for a course you're not continuing? Or to hold onto every single worksheet you've ever filled in? Go through your study materials and honestly assess how much you need to keep. Anything that's useless will only add clutter, and paper gets heavy fast. Recycle any notes you don't need, and look into selling unwanted textbooks. Some universities offer schemes that let you sell to new students, as long as your books are in fairly decent condition.