Having sorted through a mere 1/3 of my closet at home, I am surprised to see that I have already filled up an entire suitcase. To be honest, I thought the second year of packing for college would be easy! Clearly, I was wrong.

It may be just me, but I’m sure I need to bring every single article of clothing I own to college, right down to the random t-shirt I won in a contest dated 2008. I had a rude awakening when I arrived at college last August. Those college ‘closets’ do not afford you the luxury of bringing all that you want – even if that’s half as much as I bring. A tip from someone who has experienced it before and is currently, sadly, struggling through it again: reevaluate every item of clothing you have in your bag. You’re probably thinking “I have just enough without having too much” but you’re wrong. Chances are you’ll end up wearing a variation of the same outfit – if not the same outfit almost every single day.

Those 15 pairs of shoes that just came to your mind? It’s safe to say you won’t need them all. While you’re taking some out of your bag, grab that shirt you haven’t worn since the 7^th grade but are sure you might need at some point. I made the mistake of over packing and had to mail home 4 boxes for this past summer (PSA: don’t do this, your parents will be very angry with the high cost of it). Limit yourself to this season’s clothes, and maybe, some of next. Be realistic that you’re not going to dress up every day for class and sometimes you’ll just wear pajamas, a sweatshirt, and slippers.

After forcing yourself to remove the many unnecessary items, you can fill the empty space with things you will actually need. Fill it with some decorations for your walls, some Tide pens, and snacks for your dorm room. Trust me, you’re going to be a lot happier to have that bag of pretzels than that random Hawaiian top you swore you would need for a Luau.

Take it from someone who made every packing mistake in the book – pare it down and then, pare it down again.