Christmas break is by far the best break of the school year (besides Spring break, obviously), you get to be home, surrounded by your family, your pets, and you BFF’s from high school. But, after a few weeks of sitting around and eating all the Christmas food and candy and the newness of your gifts wear off, what is there to do other than miss your college town? HerCampus is here to answer that question.
1. Clean Out Your Closet
I don’t use this term loosely. Cleaning your closet is one of the best things you can do when it comes to cleaning. Toss anything that has holes, is practically falling apart, no longer fits you, or you haven’t worn in the last 12 months. This goes for shoes and accessories as well! If any of these items are in good condition, consider donating them to those less fortunate.
2. Cleaning Out Old School Papers
If you’re like me, you love to hoard your old papers from the last few years of college because you think you’ll either need them again or you just want to brag about the time you got an A on your History 2102 final paper. As great as it is to keep all your hard work, you must also remember that you are no longer in that class and the only thing that matters now is that you are slaying your classes just like you did your freshman year. If you’re tutoring people in a particular subject, use those papers as a reference for those students on how to write certain papers, fill out study guides, etc.
3. Cleaning Your Laptop
Cleaning the internal and external parts of your laptop is super important for the longevity of your beloved computer. First go in and delete any and all unnecessary papers, photos, or downloads. Take the rest of the papers on your hard drive and organize them into folders starting from high school (depending on how long you’ve had your laptop) and work your way to present work. If you want to go the extra mile, organize them according to year in school and then in its own class folder within the first folder. Once you’re done with the internal cleaning, make sure to take care of the external parts as well. Take off the cracked, sticker laden computer case your laptop has been hiding under and wipe everything down with a cleaning solution that is safe to use on your laptop.
4. Clean Out Your Backpack
At the beginning of the year, our backpacks are packed perfectly with new notebooks, pencils, and our beloved planners. But once the first test of the semester hits, out backpacks turn into a black hole. No longer are our pencils packed into our pencil pouch, heck, we’re lucky if we can track down even one pencil, let alone the whole pack. The clean neat organization we once carefully curated has diminished and we just became okay with it. Show your backpack and supplies a little TLC and organize everything again. Fill out that planner, throw away those random papers in the bottom of your bag, and stock up on writing utensils for the Spring semester.
5. Clean Out Your Desk
Your desk is where all the work gets done, but sometimes life takes over. Your chair is covered in laundry from the dryer that you haven’t touched since last Friday, the papers you found crumpled up in the bottom of your bag lay haphazardly on the surface, makeup is spilled all over everything, and about 12 half empty water bottles have taken over the small space you once called your work station. Get rid of the clutter by first emptying out the drawers of your desk and any old dried out highlighters, pens, and pencils with no led and no eraser. Then work on cleaning off the surface and then organizing what is left. Be sure to stock up on things you need before the semester begins!
Happy Cleaning!