hi emma! first of all, I just want to say that I've been following you for about a year now, and you've increased my motivation to do well in school so incredibly much <3 what have you found to be the most helpful school supply to stay organized and motivated?
Hey! Thank you so much - it really makes me happy to hear people have stuck with me for a while!! My top few items would be:
arc discbound notebook from staples - definitely my favourite stationery ever! I can still remember finding it for the first time and obsessing over it. I can distinctly remember waiting for my dad to come home so I could tell him about this awesome notebook :’-) Essentially when I got into year 11, everyone started getting serious - taking in binders, notebooks, laptops, textbooks, etc for the classes. This is slightly off topic but in year 7 I was really small and got bullied for the huge backpack that I had. It really stuck with me since so I’ve always tried to keep my backpacks on the smaller side. I didn’t really want to buy a new backpack to fit all of these things, nor did I want to carry lots of things. In year 11, I could never find notebooks that I really liked so went through like 4 styles. Then in year 12, I started using the Arc. It was so wonderful. The system of being able to take notes in and out was great - unlike everyone else who was carrying binders FULL of all their notes (I thought it was a little ridic, like just take that month or that topic). I could also use it for storing papers with the plastic sleeves. All the accessories are really handy (e.g. the task pads, page flags). I got the hole punch too so I could add in a custom timetable, planner and notes section at the front. It made my whole process of organising what I’m taking to school much easier. I could take the one notebook, divided between all my classes that was so much thinner and lighter than everyone else. But 4 years later, it is still my favourite notebook.
good, comfortable, (ballpoint), colourful pens - I mentioned in here that I was Staedtler Fineliners and it was taking hours to write notes. Eventually, I got sick of the time consumption just for the pens and replaced them. Using ballpoint pens made it much faster. Having a colour code was great too. I find them extremely helpful for memorisation. Whilst I didn’t highlight my colour-coded notes, ballpoints wouldn’t have been smudged if they were. I really think a nice pack of 8-12 colours (e.g. Zebra Sarasa, Uniball JetStream, Pentel Energel, Pilot Juice, Staedtler 432, Papermate InkJoy/Profile) are really great for any student.
any form of planning that suited me - I’ve never completely settled on the perfect planner for me, for all time. I think finding something that works for you is really important for motivation. My recommendations are:
a physical planner - there are lots of options! For instance, the Simplified Planner, Day Designer, Mossery Co, Erin Condren, Plum Paper, An Organised Life, etc.
a digital planner - I have a few options on my shop that can be used via a laptop or tablet :-)
printables - I (and others) offer lots of free daily, weekly or monthly printables to suit any planning style. You can see all of my freebies at emmastudies.com/printables!
digital apps - there are also a lot of apps which you can use to plan! I personally like the calendar which comes with any Apple product, but there are lots of other apps.
bullet journaling - you can use any notebook for this and it can definitely work well if you enjoy that type of planning. Here is a guide!
