Back to School: Desk Organization/ 2015 Semester Goals

  This was my first week of school so I've been very busy getting everything ready, that includes organizing my work spaces. A few days ago I took on the task of organizing my desk. It was quite the mess.

1) Once bookshelf now catchall of random things.

2) Cluttered work area

3)Mail piled up needing filed

4) Another catch all

    As you can see I let it get really out of hand. So lets look at how I fixed it!

 1) An actual bookshelf dusted and reset

2) A work area that can actually be used

3) Only important mail and books

4) Notebooks and desk calender

  Well isn't that much better. Having a clean workspace makes the start of a new semester much easier. 

Something I've never done, but wanted to do this year is write down my goals for the semester. So because the semester just started I thought I'd add my goals to this post. Hopefully having it here will make me work harder for it. 

My Fall semester 2015 Goals:

-Make the Deans list

-Keep organized

-Don't procrastinate 

-Work hard on my art

So there you have it my goals not a lot but hopefully achievable.

Back to School: Chooing an Agenda and Color Coding Life

 
      I've mentioned before that agendas are definitely a must have when it comes to college. I have searched forever for that perfect agenda. The ones at Target and Walmart just weren't what I was looking for, but they were what I could afford. The life planners that you can get online were always so expensive, but looked like they would work. So after years of agendas that just didn't work for me I went on the hunt for one that was exactly what I need and could afford. Over the summer I found in my search a type of notebook/agenda system called Arc by Staples. When I found this system there was already a lot of others using it for the printable that can be found online. Well a few years ago I went to make my own agenda with no luck as to how to bind it or the time to work on it. Needless to say when I found the Arc system my mind went straight back to making my own. This time however, I had the time. So I created a personalized agenda from front cover, and back to everything in between. The best part is if something doesn't work I can change it. I can customize it to my liking, add pages, takes pages out, and move pages around. For me I wanted to make sure each section was exactly what I needed so in the end I have five sections:
                         -Planning
                         -Budgeting
                         -Journal
                         -Book
                         Contacts
      Each section has pages that I worked and reworked until it was what I needed. For the sake of this post, I'll only talk about my planning section.

In my planning section I have a monthly page where I can write important dates, with room at the bottom of the page for my monthly to dos and inportant notes for the month.

Next is the weekly view page which has a small section for each day as well as a section for the weekly to do list. I also added a section for notes for the next week and a box for task tracking.

Then I have a page for each day. Now on this page I have my schedule for the day, a spot for notes/
to dos for the days. This is my favorite page I made, I always wanted a spot to write down everything for a day and the weekly view section never has the room.

My big Agenda tip is to find what works for you, and if you can't...make it! There are tons of free agenda printables out there as well  as some really nice ones for sale. If you go this route I would weigh your options of binders and the Arc system. I personally love the Arc system but the hole punch for it is expensive. So if you don't want to drop the money on that a small binder would work just as well.

Now that you've seen how I've set up my agenda, I'd like to tell you my other big agenda tip. Color coding! Yes I love color and as you'll find out I love to color code. When I color code my agenda I think of everything I'd need to write in my monthly calender then pick a color to go along with it.

 This is my color code key for my agenda. Making this isn't necessary but if my boyfriend looks at the calender he'll know what the colors mean. Also when you start a new color key (which is what I just did) you might need a small reminder.

Hope you enjoyed, and have fun picking out, or making your agendas!  

Back to School: Textbooks and School Supplies

  
     Textbooks are quite expensive, but needed essentials to the semester. These are your main source of information for most classes. Although you do get the occasional professor who says you'll need it, but never uses it. So you have to buy this thing in most cases. The first thing I do when back to school starts is log on to my campus book store to see what textbooks I'll need. And its no surprise that all the books are very expensive. Now my first year I didn't know much and bought all my books from the bookstore. Well I soon realized that I didn't HAVE  to buy from my campus bookstore. There are TONS of online textbook shops that sell the books for half the price. Which is what I do. After looking to see the books I'll need , I copy the ISBN numbers to a sticky not on my desktop. Then I go to my fav. textbook site. Slugbooks.com

This site is great you put in what book you need and it compares the prices from a few different sites. This way you're finding the cheapest price you can get. I use the site every semester and have literally have gotten half-priced books! The money you save can be used to buy all the other much needed supplies you'd need.

Now as much as you need textbooks you also need pens, paper, and pencils. Of course everyone has their own preference of brands on stationary so I won't talk about that but I'd like to list some of the essentials that I've found useful to have over the semesters.

1) First is an agenda. You'd be surprised how fast you can forget about an assignment when it's just written in your notes. I love keeping an agenda and having all my assignments in one place. I have tried not using one and the semester went south real fast. So this is highly recommended.

2) Writing utensils, of course you'll need these, even if you use a laptop for notes. I always have at least one professor say no laptops. So it's handy to have pens and pencils. Mainly pencils, I always buy a large pack of mechanical pencils so I have them for both semesters of the year. There's always those scan-trons for mid-term and finals. And getting mechanical pencils with .9mm lead works. I however don't stop at pencils. I always keep pens and markers of every color on me at all times. Whether it's for color coding my agenda or studying my notes I love seeing all that color.

3) Notebooks and binders. You need paper if your hand writing your notes. How you do that whether notebooks or loose leaf is all a matter of preference. It's just something you need.

4) Highlighters, sticky notes, and flags. The reasons are endless, but a main one is to study. I mean that's why your at school right?

5) Jump drives. Or thumb-drives, no matter what you call it it's always good to keep your papers saved to a jump drive. Saving your work in multiple places saves you the trouble if you forget to print at home.

This is just some of the supplies that you can get your hands on, but it's also the supplies I use every semester. I've tried multiple supplies and ways to organize those supplies and I've finally found the ones that work for me. If you have any other supplies that I didn't mention that is a staple in your back pack let me know in the comment section below.
     

Back to School: New Semester, New Start

It's that time of the year again. In just a week or two students everywhere will be heading back to school and I am no exception. Back to school is one of my favorite times of the year. I think I may have a problem when it comes to school supplies. But if your anything like me when the back to school section appears in the stores your starting your supply list. Because I love this time of year and have quite a few years of experience with it, I thought I'd share my tips and tricks with you.

Today I'll be going into what I do to get ready for the new semester. By now all your classes should be set, and you're looking forward to a new exciting, and BETTER semester. I know I am!

The first thing I do when it hits August is scroll through Pintrest for interesting D.I.Y.'s,and other school related posts to keep me inspired. You know because when you get to the end of summer you're so totally bored with it, right?

The next few things I do as the first day approaches, is to print my schedule, and order my textbooks. Shopping for the rest of the supplies I need is shortly after. Check back for another post all about textbooks and supplies.

Now that you have your schedule set, your supplies ready and textbooks ordered, it's time for organizing. I love to organize all my things before school starts so that I start the semester with a clean area. I not only clean and organize my desk but also all my book shelves and my closet. After I've gotten my work area and room squared away I like to tackle getting my agenda ready for the semester by adding in any dates I already know like holiday's and start and end times.

This is a basic overview of what I do to get ready for the semester. Check back all this month for in depth posts on everything you'd need for back to school.


       Hope you enjoyed if you have any other ways to get ready for school I'd love to hear. Just leave a comment below!