Quick answer: Leave the bedding, the clothes you won't need and most of the room. Take medication, valuables, your laptop and anything that would be ruined by three weeks in an unheated room. The one task people skip and regret is emptying and defrosting the mini fridge, which needs doing about 24 hours before you go, not on your way out the door.
Most students overthink winter break. It is three weeks, your room stays yours, and you come back to the same bed. The mistake is not packing too little, it is skipping the four or five things your housing office actually requires and coming back in January to a smell, a fine, or a burst pipe.
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The fridge, which is the real task
This is the one that generates the January horror stories. The University of Minnesota's break guidance is specific about the timing: clean and defrost the fridge at least 24 hours in advance, remove everything, unplug it, prop the door open and put towels underneath to catch the meltwater. Wipe it out the next morning and leave the door open while you're gone so it doesn't grow anything.
One important exception. Georgetown tells residents to unplug personal mini fridges only, and to leave university-provided full-size refrigerators in apartments and townhouses running. If your room came with the appliance, do not unplug it without checking.
What your school probably requires
The specifics vary, but these turn up on nearly every official break checklist:
- Take out all trash and recycling. Anything left will be there in January.
- Close and lock every window. Georgetown frames this as preventing water damage from frozen pipes, which is exactly why it matters more than it sounds.
- Do not turn the heat off. Georgetown asks residents to set heating to medium, around 60°F. An unheated room in January is how pipes burst.
- Unplug lamps, clocks, air fresheners and anything else drawing power.
- Remove plants and fish. Nobody is coming to water them.
- Lock the door, and keep your keys for January.
Minnesota also asks students to open blinds and curtains fully. Other schools ask for the opposite. That is a good illustration of why the checklist that matters is your own hall's, not a generic one.
What to actually take home
- Medication, and anything with a refill you'll need over break
- Laptop, chargers, and the cables you always forget
- Passport, IDs and any documents you'd hate to replace
- Valuables and jewellery. Buildings are empty and lightly staffed for three weeks.
- Anything temperature-sensitive, including some cosmetics and liquids that can freeze
- Work uniform or interview clothes if you're working or interviewing over break
What to leave
- Bedding, towels, and the bulk of your clothes
- Décor, storage bins, desk setup
- Anything you'd be carrying twice for no reason
Resist the urge to bring your whole wardrobe home to swap seasons. Bring the specific cold-weather things you actually need, which is a much smaller pile.
Check whether your hall closes. Many do, and card access can stop working. Georgetown's guide states there is no re-entry until a set date in January, and that belongings left in a room being vacated get boxed at a charge per box. If you're graduating, transferring, or moving rooms in the spring, your break is a move-out and this checklist is not enough.
If you're flying
- Ship anything heavy rather than paying to check it twice
- Liquids over 100ml in checked bags only, which people forget on the return leg with a full toiletry kit
- Leave room in the bag for what you'll bring back in January
Worth having before you go
Absorbent towels or a shallow tray
Defrosting a freezer compartment produces more water than people expect. Put something under it the night before.
Shop on AmazonSmall lockbox
For anything you're leaving behind that you'd rather not think about for three weeks.
Shop on AmazonMoisture absorber
A sealed room for three weeks can get damp. Cheap insurance in a humid climate.
Shop on AmazonThe five-minute version
- Defrost and empty the fridge the day before
- Bin everything perishable
- Windows locked, heat left on low, devices unplugged
- Meds, laptop, documents and valuables in your bag
- Check your hall's own closing notice for the bits that are specific to you
Track what goes home and what stays in DormHQ.
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