Here's What I've Learned After Moving 5 Times During College

By the time I was 18, I had moved once. I was in one house until I was nine, and then I was in the second house until I graduated high school. Clearly, that left me with little to no experience with what moving is like. Since I graduated high school, I have moved four times and am in the process of my fifth.

I moved from my parents' house to my dorm, then my dorm to my first apartment, then my parents' old house to my parents' new house, then my first apartment to my second apartment, and now my second apartment to my third apartment. At one point in my life, I had three or four different places that my stuff could have been in.

The nightmare of having no idea where anything was at was very, very real.

I have no idea how to help someone when they have four different places like that, but I can help if you feel like you have two or three.

My biggest piece of advice? Don't worry about which one is "home" if you aren't sure. My freshman year, I called my parents' house home. My sophomore year, I alternated between calling my parents' house and my apartment home. My junior year, I finally started calling my apartment home. Really, though, I don't feel like I have a set place. All of that is completely fine.

It's also totally ok (with parental approval) to use your parents' place as storage for things you can't bring with you (for whatever reason) but still want to keep. As long as you know what's there and actually want to keep it and intend on bringing it with you at some point, it's totally fine. (Again, with parental approval.)

My more functional piece of advice: do your research. Yes, it's intentionally vague because you really need to do a lot of research about a lot of topics. What different apartments are there, and what do reviews say? What amenities are you guaranteed? What utilities are included free? What utilities do you have to find on your own? How about parking? What do you need to pack/buy for that new place?

Believe me, you won't remember everything or get it right for the first place. Or on the second try. Or even the third try.

Like I said, I'm moving into my third apartment, and while I hope I've finally done it all right, I'm sure I'll find out I've overlooked something.

Don't worry about it.

You're in college, so people should be expecting some mistakes. You should expect yourself to make mistakes. That's what college is all about: making mistakes and learning from them.

So while moving during college isn't the most glamorous thing ever (like what movies have portrayed), it's a very necessary part in the "growing up" process we're all going through.