How UM seniors are approaching college farewells and move out.

As the 2022 spring semester comes to a close at the University of Mississippi, senior students look towards life after graduation and what loose ends need to be tied up in the town that they have called home for the past four years. There are so many moving parts to leaving college, chief among these parts being move out.

Hailey Heller, a graduating senior at the University of Mississippi, said “I’m putting it off as much as I can and waiting until the end of summer.”

Logistics plague many students unsure of what to do with used and unwanted furniture, clothes and home decor. Some look towards markets such as Facebook Marketplace, others look towards second-hand stores, but many are confused on where to begin as they start this new chapter in their lives.

Catherine Jeffers, another University of Mississippi senior who is graduating this spring, said “it hasn’t hit me yet… I think probably because I still have essays and finals, so it’s not done yet.”

However graduation is fast approaching, and so are the end of several leases, and the beginnings of new jobs and opportunities. Exiting seniors are moving far and wide, wondering what to do with the remnants of their undergraduate life.

Jeffers, who is originally from Orlando, Fla., said “I’ve already sold most of it [her furniture]… because I’m trying to get a job in New York, and I don’t really have any desire to lug things from Oxford, to Orlando to New York.”

Jeffers said “I’m still trying to figure it out myself.”

Most of Jeffers’ furniture was sold to a younger friend, so she did not have to market her used furniture. “Personally, I would choose word-of-mouth first, asking people ‘do you need something?’.. I think it’s easier to get the word around faster,” said Jeffers.

However, Jeffers still has items to dispose of and she plans to sell the remainder on Facebook Marketplace. 

Facebook Marketplace is a forum where people can sell used and unwanted items. Facebook groups, such as “Oxford’s Largest Marketplace (Buy/Sale/Skills 4 hire)”, have over 32,000 members.

Jeffers said that Facebook Marketplace is beneficial because “you’re going to make a profit off of what you’ve bought and only used for like, six months. I think my bed was $250… I’ve only had it for six months, so it would be great to not make that money go to waste.”

Jeffers said that this forum is specifically beneficial for graduates because “I think we’re in a mindset, as college students, to make money wherever we can. So if we can make at least some money back from what we bought, a year ago, that’s a win-win.”

Heller also said that she will be selling the majority of her furniture on Facebook Marketplace, but “specifically stuff that’s hard to haul around like my bed, mattress, couch, kitchen table and chairs.”

Jeffers also said that she believes that there are some items she will not be able to sell, specifically her bed-frame. “My bed-frame is kind of a pain because it’s a four-poster bed-frame so it doesn’t come apart,” said Jeffers.

However Jeffers has decided that if she cannot sell any of her items, she will donate them to the surrounding second-hand stores in Oxford. “If I can’t make any money off of it, I don’t want to throw it away… when someone in need could use it,” said Jeffers.

Similarly, Lee Martin, owner of a property management company in Oxford, Miss., deals with left and forgotten items from past tenants. “Whatever they leave at the end of the lease… that is considered to be abandonment, and I can have it hauled off, thrown away or whatever needs to be done with it,” said Martin.

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According to Martin, most of these items are to be thrown away, but occasionally past tenants leave functional furniture. “Out of 20 move-outs, or so, a year I probably get one or two that will leave some furniture…If it’s usable, I’ll donate it to charity and they’ll come pick it up,” said Martin.

The Salvation Army, which is located on West Oxford Loop, is a resale store that accepts donations. Regional Director, Cindy Smith, said “we’re always pulling in stuff. It may be a bag of clothes, but it also may be a trailer load of all kinds of stuff.”

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The small building houses donation of all kinds, with long aisles of clothing wrapping around the entire store. Furniture lines the walls and various knick knacks fill the empty spaces. However, it is during college move-out that the store truly fills.

“We’ve had times where we’ve pulled up and the whole front porch was just completely- I mean and this is overnight- it’s just completely full, or all down the side of the building,” said Smith.

In order to keep up with the vast amount of donations, the Salvation Army sets up multiple donation sites. Smith said “what we usually do is, we take our truck and park it wherever we’re allowed to park it… and we have a tent up and whoever wants to donate to us, donates to us.”

Although donations remain high, Smith did say that the increased use of Facebook Marketplace has some impact on the kind of donations the Salvation Army receives, primarily with big-ticket items such as furniture.

However, this shift, among graduating students, towards Facebook Marketplace has had a minimal impact on the Salvation Army. Smith said “in a days time, we may sell 400 pieces of clothing, and that’s just clothing. It’s constant.”

Not only do the proceeds from donated items go toward various programs, but it also goes directly into the community and the surrounding municipalities.

“A lot of times we’ll have somebody that has maybe been in a domestic situation, and they need help restarting. So we let them have some furniture when we have it in, clothes and things like that,” said Smith.

The Goodwill, located on Jackson Avenue, is another donation site college seniors can take their unwanted items too. Haliegh Hillman, Goodwill worker, has been with the company for nearly a year.

“It usually starts around end of June and ends around early September,” said Hillman.

Hillman said “it’s a little crazy because we get all of the donations of all the stuff that people who are moving out, they bring all the stuff they don’t want to take with them, and a lot of the people coming out of the dorms.”

“We don’t pick up stuff, we mainly just have people bring stuff,” said Hillman. She also said that this is because there is such a high volume of product that they cannot spare workers.

Hillman said “we have so much to handle here… sometimes you’re just sitting up there, processing stuff, and then you just see a trailer or a whole U-haul full of stuff… you see that and you’re just like ‘oh goodness.’”

According to Hillman, the volume of donations the Goodwill receives has not been impacted by the use of Facebook Marketplace. Hillman said “last year we got so much stuff up front that it was full at the door… and on top of that we got so much stuff outside, as people were donating, that we literally could not bring it in the store so we had to work outside.”

Goodwill’s profits, from the sale of donated items, not only employs workers, but also goes towards charities. Hillman said “we do change round-up at the registers… that goes to the Excel School in Memphis… which is for adults who can’t go back to high school, they can go there and get their diploma.”

Holding Hands is also one of Oxford’s resale shops and is located on North Lamar Boulevard. It is also one of the few stores that accept calls to pick up donations.

“It’s crazy- we already have calls for 15 condos… we’re just lucky and thankful that people think us like that,” said Holding Hands manager, Jenny Crowson.

Holding Hands is a local charity that was founded in Oxford in 2013. Holding Hands’ proceeds go toward “employ[ing] mentally challenged kids- that’s what we do here,” said Crowson.

Although Facebook Marketplace is gaining prominence, the store is filled to the brim, with products in every nook in cranny, especially during the summer months, when leases are ending. Crowson said “we stay absolutely busy.”

According to Crowson, to keep up with the donations they have planned to rent a storage pod to fill with donations, and continue to hire extra workers.

Moving product quickly is important for this stores because they need to make room for more donations. Crowson said they move the product “by the grace of God… we hire a few more people and then we all call in our kids, family and friends and say ‘come help.’”

Although the workload increases during this period of time, Crowson beamed when talking about the support of the community.

“We’re beyond grateful,” said Crowson.