45 Tips for Staying Organized in College

sara-laughed:

I love being in college. And, though my room may not always show it, I also love being organized and productive. One of my most popular posts on this blog is my Ultimate Guide to College Organization, and since it’s been read and shared so many times, I thought I’d make an updated, expanded guide. Here are my top 45 tips for staying organized in college!

It may seem like a lot, but you definitely don’t need to implement all these tips. Just read them over and see which ones fit you and your lifestyle. Above all, remember that caring for yourself is the most important. Having an organized life on the outside means nothing if you are not happy with yourself and your life.

1. Be motivated. I can’t stress enough how important it is that you are motivated to tackle the mess in your life. Otherwise, when the going gets tough, you will get sloppy. My advice is to make a list – yes, with real pen and paper – of why you want a clean, organized, and manageable life. Tack it up somewhere where you will see it when you start to feel unmotivated.

2. Keep a planner, or a planner app. During the school year, I use my planner religiously to track my classes, assignments, and social plans. You can see how I use my old Erin Condren planner here, or check out my review of the Emily Ley Planner App here.

3. Use only one planner. Just as important as using a planner is only keeping one. If you have both a paper planner and an app, or multiple planners, the odds are that something will eventually slip between the cracks when you forget to write down your plans in both. Also, having more than one will take up a lot of your time.

4. Keep it with you. During the school year, I always have my planner on-hand. That way, if I get a new assignment, make plans with friends, or have to schedule a doctor’s appointment, I can write it down immediately before I forget.

5. Stick to your plans. Have a rule: if you write it down, get it done. That way, your planner is more than a helpful reminder of what you could have accomplished today: it’s an actual guide to what you will be doing.

6. Plan at the beginning of every week or month. At the beginning of every new week, sit down and write in your activities, classes, and any reminders (call Mom!) for the coming days. I don’t have the time to do this all at once at the beginning of my semester, so doing it on a weekly basis works for me.

7. Use the days-before-it’s-due system. I learned this trick over at Organize My College Life. In your planner, use red pen to mark the day an assignment is due. Write it out in blue pen in the two days ahead; black for three to five days ahead; and green for six to nine days ahead. That way, you will always see assignments coming up on the horizon, and won’t ever be surprised by an essay that’s due tomorrow.

8. Schedule chores. Doing laundry, taking out the trash, you name it. Planning to do this every Sunday will keep your laundry from piling up on the floor, or your bin from overflowing.

9. Save all your syllabi. This is so important. If your professor gives you a guide to what your entire semester is going to look like, don’t lose it.

10. Annotate your syllabi. Mark your syllabus with everything you need to remember. I have a guide to this in my Ultimate Guide to College Organization, so to learn how, click here!

11. Make an assignment list. When I was taking five classes, keeping an assignment list saved my tail quite a few times. Gather all your syllabi together and make one long sheet of every day that an assignment is due. You can see how I do it here, or learn Organized Charm’s great method over at her blog.

12. Keep to-do lists. I keep a to do list every day. Do it in your planner, on your phone, or over email – the point is, it will help you stay on-track.

13. Wake up at the same time every day. Whether you’re a morning glory or a late riser, pick a time to wake up every day and stick to it. Often I find that when I oversleep, I feel that my morning has been “wasted” and I don’t do much work. Waking up at the same time every day will help you avoid this and get into a set schedule.

14. Make your bed when you get up. Making your bed will keep your room clean, and will keep you from crawling back in if you’re sleepy.

15. Have a consistent schedule. Try to keep a daily or weekly schedule that you’ll stick to. I find that I’m a lot less productive when my schedule is all over the place.

16. Figure out your most productive time. Figure out what time of the day you are the most productive. For some people, it’s in the early morning before breakfast; for others, mid-afternoon, or late at night. Find when you get the most work done and try to optimize that time for productivity and work.

17. Stock your backpack. I have a friend who spends 15 minutes a day filling their backpack with what they need to work that day. I find that a great time-saver is to have my backpack always stocked with pens, my planner, and a water bottle. In the mornings, you can slip in your laptop and a notebook and you’re ready to go!

18. Plan your outfit ahead of time. I used to spend forever in the mornings picking my outfit. Now I go to bed with a vague idea of what I’ll wear the next day. It helps me save time in the mornings to know what I want.

19. Clean-desk policy. I admit that I consistently fail at this, but I know that my boyfriend finds it very useful. At the end of every night, try to have a clear desk, with just your computer, lamp, or books on it, and no clutter. It will keep your room tidy and make it easier to find what you need in the morning.

20. Clean-floor policy. Ditto with the floor. Again, this is a weak spot for me, but I try not to have any clutter on my floor during the week so that it is easier to get and find what I need.

21. Spend 5 minutes a day cleaning. Seriously, you will be amazed at what you can do in five minutes a day. When I’m having a hard time staying motivated to keep organized, these few minutes at a time save me from total chaos.

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(Source: saralaughed.com)

monsieurenjlolras:

13chancess:

push yourself to get up before the rest of the world - start with 7am, then 6am, then 5:30am. go to the nearest hill with a big coat and a scarf and watch the sun rise.

push yourself to fall asleep earlier - start with 11pm, then 10pm, then 9pm. wake up in the morning feeling re-energized and comfortable.

get into the habit of cooking yourself a beautiful breakfast. fry tomatoes and mushrooms in real butter and garlic, fry an egg, slice up a fresh avocado and squirt way too much lemon on it. sit and eat it and do nothing else.

stretch. start by reaching for the sky as hard as you can, then trying to touch your toes. roll your head. stretch your fingers. stretch everything.

buy a 1L water bottle. start with pushing yourself to drink the whole thing in a day, then try drinking it twice.

buy a beautiful diary and a beautiful black pen. write down everything you do, including dinner dates, appointments, assignments, coffees, what you need to do that day. no detail is too small.

strip your bed of your sheets and empty your underwear draw into the washing machine. put a massive scoop of scented fabric softener in there and wash. make your bed in full.

organise your room. fold all your clothes (and bag what you don’t want), clean your mirror, your laptop, vacuum the floor. light a beautiful candle.

have a luxurious shower with your favourite music playing. wash your hair, scrub your body, brush your teeth. lather your whole body in moisturiser, get familiar with the part between your toes, your inner thighs, the back of your neck.

push yourself to go for a walk. take your headphones, go to the beach and walk. smile at strangers walking the other way and be surprised how many smile back. bring your dog and observe the dog’s behaviour. realise you can learn from your dog.

message old friends with personal jokes. reminisce. suggest a catch up soon, even if you don’t follow through. push yourself to follow through.

think long and hard about what interests you. crime? sex? boarding school? long-forgotten romance etiquette? find a book about it and read it. there is a book about literally everything.

become the person you would ideally fall in love with. let cars merge into your lane when driving. pay double for parking tickets and leave a second one in the machine. stick your tongue out at babies. compliment people on their cute clothes. challenge yourself to not ridicule anyone for a whole day. then two. then a week. walk with a straight posture. look people in the eye. ask people about their story. talk to acquaintances so they become friends.

lie in the sunshine. daydream about the life you would lead if failure wasn’t a thing. open your eyes. take small steps to make it happen for you.

This is all really good advice for dealing with long term depression and anxiety. It’s not gonna magically cure you, but I’ve pushed myself to incorporate a few of these things into my day to day routine and it helps

study moods

studybutch:

inspired by this post

because sometimes the idea of studying is too daunting to face, and mixing up your environment to make it more fun can make all the difference

too punk to quit: shorts and a band t-shirt, homework spread out over the floor, a can of soda or a shitty energy drink, and a playlist of your favorite throwback songs on full volume

sleepover: a nest of blankets and pillows, your comfiest pajamas, popcorn  and gummy worms, everything you need within arms reach, not leaving this spot for hours (or days) until you’re done with all of your work

no distractions: sitting at a desk with nothing but a glass of water and a computer, hair pulled back, typing up notes from the school day

my life is a mess: hot tea, a comfy sweater, all of your papers sprawled out on the floor around you, finally going through and throwing out all of the stuff you don’t need anymore and hoping that you’ll be a bit less overwhelmed once you’re done (spoiler alert: you’re gonna feel so much better)

rise and shine: early morning, at a table or in the kitchen, drinking orange juice and getting a head start on some assignments

am i a scholar yet: at your favorite library, revising or taking notes on readings, classical music playing with headphones on and a bag of almonds to snack on

growing up is overrated: doing homework at a friend’s house, cartoons on the tv or your favorite playlist on shuffle, sharing gossip and solutions to math problems

7 Study Moods

howtomusicmajor:

So you wanna study, but somehow the mood just isn’t right. Maybe try these? Pick your favorite, or do one each day of the week!

• The Classy: Green tea, classical string quartets, reading articles in a park.
• Great for when you need to read 120 pages of something. It’s way nicer to read when you’re in a nice place!
  
• The Hipster: Coffee, jazz, writing summaries of the material in a coffee shop.
• You’ll look very cosmopolitan, with all your notes in front of you. Make sure your summaries are coherent though, and you’re not too busy looking great to study well.
  
• The Grad Student: Wine/sparkling cider, Adele, writing papers, curled up in blankets in bed.
• Papers are easiest for me to write when I’m comfortable. If I feel a little fancy at the same time, so much the better.
  
• The Focuser: Cold water, nature sounds, taking practice tests in a sunlight place.
• The best way to study for a test is to take a test. The best way to kill test-anxiety is to take a practice test and feel calm while you do it. This is a great way to feel calm and prepared when you do a practice test, and that leads to a better actual test.
  
• The Party-er: Energy drink, dubstep, drilling flashcards on the floor.
• Flashcards for me are a speed thing. If I’m drilling them, my goal is to know those definitions as fast as possible. Caffeine and fast music raise my heart rate, and sitting on the floor gives me room to spread out the cards however I need to.
  
• The Morning Person: Orange juice, early American hymns, transcribing notes at your desk.
• Not necessarily done during the morning! Orange juice helps keep you alert without making you open to distraction, and old American hymns just make me feel happy, so putting them together helps make transcribing a better time.
  
• The Finals Prepper: Black tea, folk music, interleaving any/all of the above, at the library.
• This can be done whenever, and is especially useful for just keeping yourself up to speed.
  

Don’t worry about doing any of these exactly, these are just moods! Mix and match parts of them, make your own, whatever. I’d recommend choosing one or two moods that work really well for you and then doing them consistently, just to really get in the habit.

Good luck!

Seven more study moods

(s)EVEN MORE STUDY MOODS