It wasn’t THAT long ago that I was in college. I remember it pretty well and I even miss it on occasion. I also remember how stressful it was when it was time to start a new semester. It can be a little overwhelming. You have so many things to buy, classes to prepare for, get your living situation figured out and many of you are moving right before classes start. It’s a lot. Lucky for you, I am a master organizer. Staying organized was the only way I made it through school, and many days it is the only way I make it through work/parenting.
Here are some back to school organization tips:
Buy your school supplies ahead of time. Don’t wait until classes start to go buy pencils/paper/backpack/books. You need to get these things NOW if you haven’t already. School supplies sell out quickly. You don’t want to be put in that situation. It is always better to be prepared.
Print out your syllabi. It’s nice to go ahead and have each syllabus for each class because a lot of times they will state the books you will need and any specific supplies you will need for the class. It may go ahead and tell you your upcoming assignments and reading so that you can get a jump start on that if you wish. Who am I kidding, right?
Label your notebooks ahead of time. If you have one large binder for all of your classes and separate them with dividers, great! Go ahead and do that. If you have a separate notebook for each class, have them labeled.
Clean out your laptop. Delete or remove anything on your desktop that you don’t need. Create new files for each class to help keep your assignments together.
Schedule your study time. If you want to allow 2 hours of study time every afternoon and then one night a week, go ahead and plan that out. It’s never too early to figure out your schedule.
Go shopping. You don’t want to get to school and not have anything to wear. Or at least feel like you don’t. Now is the time to go shopping for a couple of new things, because all of the stores are having sales!
Pack all of your summer/fall clothes and leave your winter coats behind. You will be going home for Thanksgiving and Christmas breaks, so leave your winter stuff behind. You can change out your wardrobe later on and taking your season appropriate attire will save you lots of space in that dorm room.
How do you stay organized? Do you have any tips to add?
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