Not only is this a stressful and busy time of year for students but they also need to consider moving out (or in)! Thinking back to my first year, moving out of residence was much more time consuming than moving in… Especially because there were no Orientation Volunteers to help! I didn’t realize how much stuff I had accumulated over the year until it was time to pack up! Remembering that experience, I’m really dreading moving out of my house in a week.

Thank goodness Move Out Madness (MOM) is here to help! MOM is run by Off Campus Living and is a program that “ creates environmental & social sustainability. Move Out Madness is designed to help University of Guelph students redirect unwanted food, clothing, household, & bulky items from their place of residence to community agencies or landfill & recycling facilities.”

Whether your student is moving out of residence or moving out of a house, they will likely have some things that are no longer needed. MOM helps ensure that those unwanted items are given a home where they are wanted, or if they’re not in good enough shape, they will be taken to landfill or recycling facilities.

Click here for more information.

There are several components to MOM.

For off campus students specifically, there are two components: the bulky item pick-up and the food drive. The Bulky Item Pick-up picks up unwanted furniture in any condition (you have to classify the condition it’s in... restore worthy, student friendly or bad condition). While mattresses are picked up, because of issues surrounding used mattresses, they will be considered in bad condition. The best part about the Bulky Item Pick-Up is that it’s FREE! The City of Guelph has a pick-up as well but it costs $15 to $20 per item... Way out of many students' budgets! To sign up for this, click here. Registration opens on Monday, April 9.

For the food drive, MOM will pick up non-perishable food from your student’s doorstep and they will donate it to the CSA Food Bank. This is specifically for students who are signed up for the bulky-item pick up.

For students living in residence, there are two components: clear the shelves and everybody clean up! Clear the Shelves involves several drop-off points where students can donate unwanted items such as unexpired canned or boxed food, pasta & rice, unopened juice powder, cereal, unopened Peanut Butter/ Jam, toiletries, clothing, bed sheets/linens, fans, microwaves, appliances, towels, shoes, books, sports equipment and unbroken computers. Large bins will be placed in Prairie, East, and Lennox-Addington hall entrances during the final exam period.

Everybody Clean Up is a campaign to raise awareness about redirecting garbage and unwanted items into proper recycling facilities, neighbours in need, and also for students in the following year to use.

There are also two programs that benefit both on and off campus students.

Stuff Swap takes place in the UC Courtyard. Students can drop off unwanted items and take some wanted ones! Students can drop off/pick up items during the exam period. At the end, items that have not been taken will be donated. For more information, click here.

The second program is E-Waste Collection. Students can drop off unwanted items such as “computers, printers, fax machines, keyboards, cables, and most other computer peripherals, as well as electronic items such as vacuums, phones, radios, monitors and televisions (CRTs)” at three different spots on campus. Click here for more information.

As your student starts thinking about packing up and moving out, encourage them to check out Move Out Madness! It’s an incredible program that really takes the stress out of moving.