Hey guys, this post is all about organizing your life a bit before the new semester starts. I know many of you have already started classes, but you can still implement these tips regardless (if you want to of course). I want to emphasize that this post is not meant to shame anyone for having a messy desk, backpack, or anything else. Everyone is different and what works for me will obviously not work for everyone. However, if you struggle with keeping track of your school supplies, past assignments/handouts, and/or feel as if you canât find what you need when you need it, then this is the post for you.
Your desk doesnât have to be immaculate, but it does need to be at least somewhat organized so that you can have all of your supplies handy, as well as a clear space to work. Before school starts, asses the state of your desk. Clear away any junk thatâs managed to work its way in, and then organize whatâs left. If your desk tends to get dusty, you can also use this as an opportunity to clean it with a wipe or a wet rag.
You should have a designated spot for all of your pens/pencils, post-it notes, loose papers, etc, but it doesnât have to be fancy. It could be something as simple as deciding to keep all of your sticky notes in a pile on the right side of your desk, and all of your papers in the top drawer.
School supplies that you normally carry in your backpack Iâd recommend getting duplicates of for your desk. That way you donât have to keep pulling them out of your backpack and forgetting to put them back. As an example, I have a stash of pens in a little bucket on my desk, as well as a huge pencil case in my backpack. I also have two mini-staplers, one for my backpack and one to sit on my desk.Â
If you have a laptop that you use for homework (or a tablet) you should also make sure that thereâs a charging outlet within easy reach of your desk. If not, invest in an extension cord so that you can charge your device while doing your homework.
I canât tell you how easy it is to just cram random junk into your backpack and forget that it exists. Then when you're trying to pull out something you actually need, you canât find it for all the crap. Before the semester begins, do a âdeep cleanâ of your backpack. Start by dumping everything out and make two piles: what needs to be in your backpack, and what doesnât. Your stack of what needs to be in your backpack might look something like this:
snacks (avoid leaving these in your bag for long periods of time though)
water-bottle/portable coffee mug
deodorant, chapstick, tampons, etc.
pepper spray (safety is no joke)
This is by no means an exhaustive list. Anything thatâs not in your âbackpack pileâ needs to be put away. My backpack sometimes gets random bits of dirt on the inside, so once itâs empty I like to go outside and try to shake all the dirt out. The next step is to re-fill your backpack, but donât make the mistake of just stuffing it willy-nilly. Give each item a designated pocket/section and commit to always putting it back in that section after youâve finished using it. Doing this means that even if you have a large backpack (like I do) youâll still be able to find what you need relatively quickly.Â
As a last tip, I would recommend going through your backpack at the end of each school day, and taking out anything that doesnât belong in there permanently (think gym clothes, that snack you bought, etc.) If you have anything that you donât want to forget to bring the next day, you can also take this opportunity to put it into your backpack so that you donât forget it.
Invest in an accordion folder before classes start (you can get them for around $7 on Amazon). Designate a specific pocket for each one of your classes, and label them accordingly. Any handouts and graded assignments that you receive in class should go in the designated pocket for that class. Itâs especially important to keep graded homework in a safe place, not only for study purposes but also because if thereâs ever an issue with your grades itâs easy to resolve if you have the assignment in question.
I have one folder that I keep in my backpack, which I use as a catchall for anything my professors hand out in class. Periodically, Iâll transfer all the documents in that folder to my accordion one, and sort them into their respective sections. I receive so many handouts from professors over the course of the semester that to carry them all around in my backpack would be annoying and take up too much space.
One last thing, I never manage to fill up an entire notebook in one semester. So that I donât waste paper, at the end of the semester Iâll tear out all the pages that actually have notes on them, and staple those notes together. I do this for each classâ set of notes, and then store the stapled pages in my accordion folder along with the rest of the papers for that particular class. This allows me to reuse the notebook the following semester, and still have my notes handy if I ever want to review the material in the future.Â
Itâs extremely important that you have an organized system in place for keeping track of any papers that you type on your computer. Make a folder on your computer for each semester/quarter/academic year, and label it accordingly. Within that larger folder should be separate folders for each class you have. Whenever you create an assignment, save it into the appropriate folder for that class. If you want you can also make a separate folder for more general school documents like forms, general info, etc. If you use google docs to type your papers you can actually make these folders within google drive itself, instead of on your computer.
The next thing you should do is open up whatever web browser you normally use to access school-related sites (student portal, online dictionary, google docs, etc.) Bookmark all of those sites and put them into one bookmarks folder labeled with the name of your school. This saves so much time when you need to access the sites throughout the year.
As far as your phone goes, group together all of the apps that you regularly use for studying into a âschoolâ folder. That way you can find them quickly.
Keep all of your textbooks for the semester/year in one place. This could potentially be your backpack if you have the same classes every day and need to always bring your textbooks to class. If you have different classes on different days then only bring the textbooks you actually need for that day to school in your backpack. You can keep the rest somewhere else (preferably in a place thatâs close to your desk and/or where you keep your backpack). If youâre afraid of forgetting to put your textbooks in your bag before leaving for school, make a habit of doing it the night before and you can also set a reminder for yourself on your phone.
You might find that for some classes you never end up using the textbook in class. If this is the case, then you could consider leaving your textbooks for that class at home (unless you plan on studying at school of course).
If you read this far, youâll notice I didnât talk about planners at all, and thatâs because I have so much to say on the subject of planners that I decided to make a whole separate post dedicated to them. With any luck, itâll be out by the end of the month (donât hold your breath). Thank you for reading, and good luck on all of your studies. If you have any further questions feel free to send me an ask or leave a comment.
