The first week back at college is often a very exciting and sometimes overwhelming time. Getting to see your friends after Summer break, finding out who is in your classes, and getting to wear all of your new cute Fall outfits to class are all things I know I love, as I’m sure you do. If you’re anything like me, you also are SO ready to use your brand new pens, pencils, notebooks, and cute marble planner. You are going into this year ready to start fresh and actually stay organized — although we all know that is never what actually happens. I know I always find myself saying “I need to get my life together” at least twice a week all semester long, so I decided to come up with a few general ways to actually stay organized — not just for the first week of classes, but throughout the rest of the semester as well.
- Keep a planner, but actually use it!
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Rather than just carrying your planner around in your backpack to every class without ever taking it out, try to get to class a couple of minutes early so you have time to sit down and write down every little thing you have to do for each and every class. Even if you write down a deadline at the beginning of the semester when you first go over your syllabi, assignments and readings can sneak up on you, so be sure to stay on top of everything by writing important due dates down repeatedly each week.
- Your phone calendar can be your friend, too.
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I tend to put big important dates, such as midterms or final exams, in my phone calendar in case I need to access them quickly. You can also set a reminder for an event in your e-calendar, so if you know you have a presentation sometime in November for one of your classes, it might be a good idea to set a reminder at least one week before it’s due so you don’t completely forget about it until the night before.
- COLOR CODE!
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This fun type of organization can apply to many aspects of your life. I recommend using certain color highlighters for different things — for example, yellow is for when I am studying for a quiz, pink is for when I am highlighting material for a midterm, blue is for homework, etc. Whatever works best for you! This can also be helpful in your phone calendar or your planner. If you are using a phone calendar, you can change the color for different events; so say you want your class reminders to be blue, but your extracurriculars to be purple — it might help you visualize your schedule better. In your planner, you can use different colored pens for different classes — you get the idea!
- Manage your time between class & extra-curriculars.
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Say you have a club meeting Monday night, an intramural game the next, a gym class Wednesday morning, a meeting with your professor Thursday afternoon, and a movie with your friends Friday night — that’s a lot to keep track of!! The best way for me to stay on top of all of these little things is to write them down on a sticky note and keep it on my desk at the beginning of each week. Write down any days or times you have to be somewhere, besides class, so you don’t forget about it, and this way you have enough time to prepare for whatever is you have planned if need be. You can also tape that sticky note to the inside of your laptop if you’re on-the-go a lot, too! If you have a white board in your room, this would definitely work as well.
- Clean out your backpack regularly.
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This one might seem kind of small, but a big part of staying organized comes with making sure you keep up with cleaning out your backpack. If you let old papers and notes get crumpled up at the bottom of your bag, you might miss something important because you forgot about that one little sheet of paper. Make sure you have folders for every class so you don’t have loose papers flying around! Also, it’s kind of gross to keep an old granola bar wrapper in your bag from weeks ago. Throw that out, girl! Another tip: pack your backpack the night before class so you are not scrambling in the morning to get to class on time. Plus: you will get an extra 5 minutes to sleep in the morning!
- Along with your backpack, clean your room!
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You may not think this has any impact on staying organized for class, but trust me, it does! If you are organized in more aspects of your life outside of class, it will be easier to stay organized in general. I know I tend to get super stressed out when my room is a mess, and when I procrastinate cleaning it, it only makes me feel worse. If you feel disorganized, it’s probably because you are (sorry!). I would say take the time out of one afternoon each week to actually fold and put away your laundry, organize your desk, make your bed, and organize any clutter that starts to pile up. Trust me when I say that cleaning your room is a MAJOR stress reliever.
- Last, but not least, self-care, self-care, & more self-care!
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This one also might seem irrelevant, but this is perhaps the most crucial way to ensure you stay organized. If you are stressed or upset and your mind is all over the place, there is absolutely no way you can stay on top of what you need to do each week. Being a college student is freaking hard, I KNOW, so it is inevitable that you will feel stressed or overwhelmed at some point throughout the semester. When this does happen, just take a deep breath, listen to some relaxing music, light a candle, do a face mask, take a bubble bath, go for a walk — whatever works for you and will get you to de-stress. Make sure you consciously take time out of each week for little things like this — they are just as important as your assignments and exams, and you have a better chance of succeeding if you feel confident enough to do so.
Although each of these tips may seem obvious, it’s super important to keep them in mind throughout the semester, and beyond. Feel free to use whatever other organizational methods you feel work best for you, these are just some general guidelines that will perhaps inspire you to come up with your own ways of staying organized not only for class, but in your personal life, too. Best of luck in classes this semester, and don’t forget to actually use your planners!