Desk Drawer Organizing

I like stationery, I like it so much that I tend to have more pens, highlighters, tape, and every other thing that you can think of. However this problem leads to me having a very packed desk drawer. I shared what my desk looks like here. 

So today I thought that I would share with you the organization of this drawer as it has changed (several times, because I just can't seem to get it to work). Do you have that problem where it just doesn't work for you, it annoys you so much that you tend to not open the drawer, let alone have no idea why you are keeping thousands of pens when you never use them.

I started by pulling out everything. Then I lined the drawer with some polka dotted wrapping paper and stuck it down with clear contact paper. Unfortunately the drawer doesn't pull out any further than this so it was rather hard to get it stuck down evenly.

 I then put everything back in working out what things needed to be nearer the front, so I played around with the layout a few times.

So I eventually landed on this, it means that my mouse and hard-drive (the things that I use the most) are at the front and things like my calculator that I hardly use are further at the back. My pens were already in a plastic organizer (yes I do have crayons...). Also leaving place for my label-maker to fit nicely in the middle.

My desk only has the one small drawer. I was looking for a desk that had a drawer along the whole front, but I couldn't seem to find one, let alone on my budget. But somehow I manage to fit everything in this drawer, it is not as accessible as I would like but now it is super pretty with polka dots!

Are you a stationery junkie like me? How do you organize it all?

School Computer File Organization

Staying on track of assignments, making sure they are handed in on time and nothing is left out is really really important. So I am focusing today's College Series post on Computer File Organization.

I find organizing my computer files really fun (does this make me really weird?) it is so easy to save things in their proper place and then when you come to needing them again you can find them really easily. Now I have a laptop running Windows 8.1 so this will mainly apply to those of you with similar laptops or computers, but you can use my advice from this post and use a similar system with other operating systems.

It is getting to the middle of the semester here, which means a lot of assignments due before we break up for Easter (it has gone really fast...), so having designated folders for classes and assignments is just a little thing that I find saves so much time.

 First of all I have a Uni folder on my desktop, because my semesters run March to June, and July to October I arrange the folders inside this by year, you could label them as 14/15, depending on where you live.

 Then inside these folders I label two folders "Semester 1" and "Semester 2", this way I can easily locate the things that are relevant to what I am doing at the moment.

Inside these semester folders I have a folder for each class, I only take four classes at a time so I just label these by the course code.

Finally inside the class folders I have sub-folders for each assignment and lecture slides as well as the other things that may be relevant to that course that I feel I should keep.

How do you organize your school computer files? Are there any organizing ways that help your stay super organized all semester?

Assignments and Readings Printable

I love to stay on top of all of my college work, it makes me feel relaxed and free to enjoy my day. Most of the time this doesn't happen, as much as I plan and make sure I get everything done on time I always feel like once I have finished one thing there is a thousand more things to do.

So I made another printable.... And I am going to share it here with you!! (yippee!) 

 The printable is made to be printed on both sides of the paper, so on one side you will have the assignments for the week, or classes however you want to categorize them (the photos have the dates and my classes printed, but on the PDF they are blank).

So on the back will be the readings, which again are left blank, so you can write them by class or date or however.

These really help me in staying organized and on time with assignments and readings and I hope they will be a big help to you too!

You are welcome to download them here

Outlining Textbook Chapters

Outlining or note-taking from your text-book is super important in College. It is really helpful because usually the set readings for a lecture cover the same thing as the lecturer does in the lectures. So if you do the reading before the lecture (something that it took me until the second semester to work out) it will give you a little bit of background to the topic that you are covering in that lecture.

I mentioned in the College Readings post that I will cover this topic of outlining a textbook chapter. This is the sixth post in my College Series.

First of all I will quickly skim over the reading, not necessarily reading every single word but more just getting a general idea for the chapter. This helps you to understand the key points in the chapter as well as giving you a little bit of knowledge on topic so it is easier to paraphrase.

Then I write down the title of the chapter at the top in the color that corresponds to that course. I then write all the headings from the chapter underneath and underlining in the same color as the main title leaving around 8 lines between each to write in the information. After that I write all of the sub headings marked with a bullet point in the margin leaving a couple of lines between each, you also may need more or less depending on the size of the paragraphs.

I then read the chapter in these little segments writing and paraphrasing the main points and important details. This breaks down the reading so that you can take in the little bits. I find that if I try to read the whole thing my mind drifts off toward the end in a subconscious way that I still know I have so much to read. I write the information in with bullet points just inside the margin line. 

This is a really great way of being able to understand what the lecturer is actually talking about in lectures. It gives you a great background knowledge as well as boosting your grade because you have more of an understanding of the topic and the outlines are easy to use for studying.

How do you outline your textbook chapters? Is there something you do that really helps you to understand what you are learning?

Budget Organizer

 I love organizing. I love the way that it makes you feel lighter and just generally better after you have tackled a project. I hate it when you organize something then after a while it looks like this....

 I know, it is really really bad. But wait it gets worse.... This is our bill paying cupboard. These are our bills. There is no organization system. If you want to find something in a hurry you are dead out of luck because it is all in different books, in envelopes thrown into the cupboard and tied together with a rubber-band (don't even get me started on the rubber-band).

So I decided to do something about this shambles I created a Budget and Bills Organizer. These handy sheets were created by me to work purposefully for us. So I thought that I would share with you the system that is soon going to be in place (I just need to buy a binder and dividers). I printed six months of these pages so we will try them out and see what works and what doesn't.

This is the monthly budget page, where everything is budgeted for and then the actual amounts are put in. This allows us to keep track of both the incoming and outgoing money for each month. On the back of this page is a notes page, useful for working out balances and other miscellaneous notes.

The next page is a transactions sheet, this page allows us to track all of the money we have spent and what it was spent on. There are two of these for each month.

Other pages that are in our new Budget Binder are a checkbook register because the one in the checkbook is always so small, a monthly bills page to keep track of when bills are due, a calendar and a cover-page. I will let you know how this system works out for us. I will put some dividers at the back and label them as either a space to store old bills or to divide the months, I am not quite sure yet.

How do you organize your bills and budget? Are there any special ways that you feel are really helpful in staying organized when it comes to you budget? 

Planner Organization

I have an addiction to planners, particularly cute and functional ones. I use mine so often that I cannot see how someone can function properly without one. In this post I will share with you how I use my planner as well as my color-coding scheme that I keep mentioning.

This is the fifth post in my College Series.

I got my planner as a birthday present last year from here. I have been using the same one for a couple of years now and I absolutely love it. So here is a sneak peak of the inside (which is just as cute as the outside).

 As you can see I have put my color-coding to work. This semester I have decided to try out Organized Charm's Daily Prioritized Study List, so far it is working out all right, but it does leave me with very little space to write other things in definitely when College assignments start to roll in together.

I also added to her system to make a full-blown color-coding system for my planner. This includes colors for work/appointments, social, general College stuff, Events and Holidays and a Other category. I also use this same system on my wall calendar which I shared the printable for here.

 I like to write all the important dates in my planner first, this means that I always know what is coming up and combined with my color-coding it makes it easy to see what I have to get done that week as well.

 I love the illustrations in this planner as well as the extra pages at the back to record restaurants, movies, books, expenses and contacts makes for a well-rounded and functional planner. I also love how it comes with a little notebook, perfect for writing lists (my favorite thing to do ever..)

What planner do you use? How do you organize it? Do you wish you could find one perfect for College students too?

Note-Taking Tips

Taking notes is an essential part of college, without them you would fall very, very far behind and they are the easiest thing to help you remember what you have learned. This is the fourth post in my College Blog Series.

I like to hand-write my notes on a piece of refill paper. This way I can write down everything that the lecturer says and fill in the stuff from the slides when I re-write it in my notebooks. When I say write down everything that they say I mean everything. Why? because that way you understand the context of what they are talking about and not just have notes that have no meaning to you in the future.

 I don't care about how it looks because it is more important to get all of the information down. I don't use anything other than a black pen and a pink pen for underlining the titles (sometimes the lecturer goes so fast there isn't anytime to underline in a different color so I just underline it quickly in black to remind myself that it is a heading.

You have to remember that each class is different some lecturers don't use slides, some read off them so you have to adapt your notes to fit in with their style.

When I get home I re-write my notes into one of my notebooks. I know a lot of people don't see the point in this but I am a visual learner so re-write helps the information to sink in for me. 

I like to highlight the examples, people, and dates just like when I am note-taking from a text-book. In the lecture I scribble away the whole time about what the lecturer is saying, this helps to keep me focused on what we are actually learning. I also like to paraphrase what the lecturer is saying, this way I actually understand what it means and don't end up with a bunch of  long technical words. However sometimes these words can mean something, so always write it down if it does.

I have already shared with you the color-coding system I use for my notes. This is a great way to help you find specific examples and key words. Also for studying it makes it easier to remember the points as you can remember back to when you wrote it (is this just me?).

I usually use two pages of my notebook for an hour lecture, if I do anymore I find that it becomes too repetitive and hard to follow, so four pages for two hours and so on. I like to under-lined the title of the lecture, the sub-titles and the date in the color that corresponds to that class.

How do you take notes? Is there a studying technique that helps you a lot?

College Readings

Hi, this is the third post for my College Blog Series.
In this post I will share the ways that I keep up with my class readings, and how I take notes from them. As well as color-coding highlighters and organization of reading due dates.

First of all I write down all of the readings that I have to do, in the corresponding color for each class. I write down the day that the reading needs to be done by, usually the next time that I have that class. Therefore I know which ones need to be done first (less chance to fall behind this way). Once I have done the reading I cross it off.

I have piles on my desk of the readings that I have to do with a post-it on the top of the date that it needs to be done by. This however only works when you have printed out readings. So when I have readings from a textbook I will use a post-it to flag the page and write on the post-it the date it needs to be read by.

I also like to take notes and highlight the readings at the time. Therefore for exams or reading quizzes I have more of a knowledge of what I have just read, instead of just skimming through it. Note-taking from a reading/textbook also means that you remember what you have read.

 To take notes from your readings don't copy word-for-word but paraphrase or even write in your own words the important points. This also helps you understand what you are actually learning. I will write a post on how to take notes from a textbook so look out for that.

My highlighters are also color-coded (big shocker!). I used my label maker to label what the color corresponds to. This helps me remember what colors mean what and also helps me when looking back through my notes for a specific example, date or person. I use the blue highlighter to mark a page reference on my lecture notes.

How do you stay on top of your readings? Are there any specific ways in which you like to note-take from your readings?

Calendar Printable

Hi Everyone!

Last week I shared my tips on Things To Do Before You Start Back at College and in this post I featured a calendar that I had made. So today I am going to share with you this calendar as a free printable!!

The printable calendar features 12 A4 sized months, perfectly sized to write the things that you have on this month. Of course mine is color-coded (which I will share later in my College Series).

It is available to Download Here, so enjoy!