Hey, everyone! I spent a lot of time in the past couple months organizing myself. I decided to make a masterpost so I could share what I did! I hope this helps you at least a little bit.
Organize extra papers into folders, binders, or clipboards.
Use magazine racks, boxes, wall racks, and shelves to organize your extra stuff.
Make sure your workspace is clear of clutter. Clear desk, clear mind.
Use drawers or desktop drawers, and organize them with drawer organizers.
Keep your wires separate so you donât have to untangle tons of chargers.
Store books and textbooks on shelves or racks. The Umbra Conceal shelves are great if you donât have a giant bookshelf.
Donât leave snacks and water bottles lying around your desk. It creates unnecessary clutter.
Store stationery in cups, jars, or pencil bags. Mason jars are super affordable and cute!
Keep a tray of lined paper.
Hang up motivating pictures to make your space pretty.
Pin things on a bulletin board!
Hang a calendar on your wall and use it to keep track of events. There are tons of cute printables, so you donât have to buy one!
Keep something fun to do on your desk that isnât electronic.
Candles and succulents make everything look pretty.
Leave yourself sticky notes with reminders.
Make sure you have enough light! This is better for pictures and for your eyes.
If your desk tends to get messy, pick a weekday to organize it!
If you have enough space, consider getting a whiteboard. Theyâre great for practice problems!
Organize your work by subject. There are multiple ways to do this: you can use a folder and a notebook, binders, or accordion folders. Label each folder/notebook/binder according to its subject so you use the right one. Color coding works well with this! (ex. Science is green, math is blue)
I use a big binder with a divider for each subject! Each semester I clean the binder out and store old work in an expandable folder. This helps me keep my backpack light.
Keep current assignments in a homework folder!
Create a schedule for your work when itâs on a syllabus. Â Check out mindofamedstudentâs great tutorial!
Use a to do list, bullet journal, or a planner to keep track of your to dos. You can buy a planner, use printables, or use an app like Glass Planner. I use a bullet journal!
Write down your tasks and assignments as you get them and keep track of due dates
Try to take neat notes so you can save time because you wonât need to rewrite them. (If rewriting notes helps you learn then do what works for you. But if it doesnât help you then then save time by taking neat class notes or by typing your notes like in OneNote.)
Store your stationery in a pencil case or pencil bag. The Lihit Lab case is nice and a great alternative to the Kipling 100 one!
Carry stuff that doesnât fit in your backpack in a cloth tote bag.
Keep random things like earbuds and mints in a medium cosmetic bag so they donât wind up at the bottom of your backpack.
Store money in a small wallet so you donât lose it.
Periodically (once a month or so) go through your bag and throw out trash. Make sure everything else in your bag has a place and that you put it in its place.
On your computer, make an administrator account for free time and a guest account with restrictions for studying and work.
Organize your files into folders and subfolders. Clean these out occasionally
Clean out your backpack every three weeks or so. This helps prevent tons of papers piling up. Â Itâs good to clean as you go, but deep clean outs are really useful if youâre like me.
Go through your inbox every so often and clear out what you donât need. Sort the rest.
If you take digital notes, keep an extra notebook with you just in case.
Store clutter in cute, opaque boxes. (You can buy these or decorate plain boxes.)
Organize your books (alphabetically is best) so you can find them easily.
Find or make a place for every item. But throw out what you donât need.
Pick a day of the week to declutter your house. Take that day to do laundry as well. Â
Get a watch and set it five minutes ahead to stay on time.
Make routines and stick to them. Itâs the best way to build habits.
Schedule chores. This makes adulting a lot less overwhelming.
Plastic folders and manila folders are fairly inexpensive (especially during back to school sales) and great for storing papers.
To save money on boxes, buy blank shoe boxes and decorate them yourself. Target also has boxes in its office supply area, and I think most of them are under $10.
Glass jars are great for storing most small things. You can get a pack of Mason jars for under $10.
Baskets are also great for storing pretty much anything.
Target has really cheap candles that make your study space super cute.
Target and Amazon have yearlong planners for under $20, which are great for keeping track of tasks. You can also buy a composition book for a bullet journal or use printables.Â
There are tons of DIYs on the Internet for organizers, labels, and containers. (I donât know enough about DIYs to go into detail, but theyâre pretty easy to find.) These are super useful when you want pretty supplies for less money!
