Staying Organized in College

As a 2nd semester Junior I feel I have a lot of wisdom to pass onto little freshies and freshettes that are just entering their new life. One of the most important thing I learned very quickly is that if you forgot something you normally forgot it big time. To avoid forgetage you have to stay organized. I tried various methods. Separate notebooks, organizers, etc. But I finally fine tuned it down to a system that is very organized and easy to use. This is perfect because it keeps everything in view and keeps you from losing papers. I can see this working for a high-school student as well. To set up your organizer you are going to need:

• 1 large 3-ring binder. Get one in a color you will like but not too fancy. You will probably wear it out in one semester anyway. Mine looks like this:

 My brother drew this picture for me. So I stuck it in the binder so I could see it every day. 

 It is nice because it has two inside pockets instead of one. I smudged out my student ID so nasty people can't hack into my account and give me bad grades. 

• One 3 ring hole punch. This is not completely needed, you could do it with a regular hole punch but a 3 ring makes it faster:

• One pack of highlighters. Try to find a pack that has as many colors as classes you have that semester. I normally take 5 classes and was lucky enough to find a pack that had 5. You will assign a color to each class and anything that needs to be highlighted for that class is only done in that color. For example I assigned English a blue highlighter. Anytime I had research I printed out I highlighted the information I needed in blue. I did this to make sure that if my papers got mixed up I could tell which research was for which class. 

• One pack of dividers. Make sure you have one for every class. You can pick if you want them to have pockets or not. I personally chose ones without for this semester because I was doing online classes. If I was in a classroom I would chose ones with pockets and any work I needed to turn in the next class would go into that pocket. 

• One sheet protector or hole reinforcers.This is to keep your weekly schedule in or to reinforce the holes in your schedule. I use reinforcers because I am too lazy to pull the schedule out and put it back in. 

SET UP

Setting up the binder is not hard. First place the dividers in your binder and make sure they are labeled neatly with the each class like so: 

Once your class starts either print another copy of the syllabus or make a copy of the one you get from your professor (or you could ask them for another copy). File the original one way in a file box. Make sure you keep all of your syllabi. Place the copy in your binder behind the divider for the corresponding class like so:

Now your binder is set up. 

SCHEDULE

If your professors post their syllabus online on a site like Blackboard, Webtycho, Moodle, etc then you are in luck. The following screen shots show you how to make a schedule for each week:

Open a Word document 

Open the syllabus 

Copy that week's assignments 

Paste it into the Word document 

See?

Do this for the next class

The finished schedule should look like this 

Highlight each class in the chosen color 

When you have finished an assignment highlight it. That way you can tell at a glance what you have to do. 

USING THE BINDER.

Any papers you get from class or create yourself should be punched and placed behind the divider that corresponds to the correct class. Make sure to keep all your research and papers you write. If anybody wants to know what to do with the papers at the end of the semester, let me know and I will show you. 

I hope this is helpful to somebody. If you want anymore advice on this topic let me know. Good luck in the next semester. 

10 things about me

These top ten are easy for me to do and I find them interesting.
10. I always carry a knife. ALWAYS!! I own two Gerber knives. One with a 3 inch blade and one multi-tool. They always come in handy.

9. I have naturally curly hair. I don't curl it and I wear product in it, not to make it curly, but to keep it from frizzing too much. My hair goes into those tight ringlets no matter how many times I separate them.

8. I am 5' 6". Most people think I am taller but I am really 5'6" according to the doctor. I look taller because I am thinner and I sit and stand straight. Thank you mother.

7. My favorite color is...it depends. My top 3 are red, blue and green.

6. I really should not eat dairy or caffeine. Dairy makes me sick and caffeine makes me crazy. :)

5. I like football and soccer. I hate baseball.

4. I love silver jewelry (you hear this future boyfriend and hubby? lol). I really love super old (teens and '20s) silver.

3. I wear work-boots all of the time. They are the real deal, Timberlands. Worth every single penny.

2. I am a country girl. If you take me out of the country I will die. Honest. Going to Baltimore makes me very nervous and I can't wait to leave.

1. I love my family. I don't mean like just love them like normal people but love them so much that I will kill and be killed for them.

Top Ten TV shows

I am going to try another top ten list. 

10). America's Got Talent (Americans are some really talented people and some of the best entertainment ever)

9). Kitchen Nightmares. (If you can get past the language in this show, the conditions of these kitchens freak me out and reinforce the idea that I really hate eating out)

8). Glee. (I watch this for the music mainly. I really hate the petty relationships between everybody but the music rocks.)

7). Lie to Me. (I feel this is like a House with detectives. I love shows that focus more on the power of the human brain and how people interact then other stuff.)

6). Raising Hope. (A show that should be watched by people who are 16 or older because the humor can sometimes be a little off color but this show gets my vote because of the awesome relationship the family has and how much they love each other.)

5). Human Target. (Action TV show that gets me because I love action and it is based on Marvel comic books. Besides the main actor is a hunk. lol)

4). Firefly. (This is a show that only ran not even a complete season. Si-Fi like it just is funny and action at the same time.)

3). Psych. (I love Shawn and Gus. I love their friendship and the goofy stuff they do.)

2). Doctor Who. (I am a nerd and a geek and I love The Doctor. I have watched all of the seasons and I want my own personal sonic screwdriver.)

1). House. (I am House. I am not as nasty to people but I understand how he feels. If I was going to be a doctor I would be like House and be all brainy, witty, snarky and brilliant.) 

The horror

I have to complain about these items that just seriously irk me. Those would be Ugg boots or anything that looks like Ugg boots. I have nothing against the boots themselves. I think they make very comfy slippers for when you are at home or at your grandmas but not out in public. I think personally that they function as another excuse for young women not to get dressed and to walk around in their jim-jams. Girls, lets have a talk about these shoes.

1st they are not meant to be worn out in public. It does not matter that some hot starlet wears them, that is most definitely not a reason to wear them.

2nd they are ugly. I don't care how you argue it, they are ugly. Seriously, do you think guys like those things? (I know you care about what guys think, it is hardwired into your brain).

3rd they prevent you from walking like a normal healthy person. I hate winter around Maryland because with it comes the endless sound of girls scuffing their feet. Somehow because they feel like slippers, girls feel like they need to scuff their feet. That gets really annoying. PICK UP YOUR FEET or your great-grandma will roll in her grave!

4th they make you lazy. Look at them. They scream "Stay in your sweats or track suit (oooo don't get me started on the track suits) and that messy bun (I am not dissing the messy bun because I rock it at the beach and in my private home...ONLY!) and fetch the milk from the store."

We girls complain that clothes are hard to find that are comfy and easy to wear and look cute. Listen to me. There is a famous designer who really introduced one of the most comfy outfits to American. His name is Ralph Lauren and he introduced the white t and jeans to the fashion world as all American. I live in jeans and t-shirts in the summer and jeans and long sleeve t-shirts in winter. I find them as comfy as my jim-jams and I look like I tried to get dressed. As for comfy shoes try a pair of the more fancy boots from Uggs or my personal favorites Timberland. I live in my work-boots from 9 am until 9 pm and my feet never hurt and they stay warm and dry. So this is a personal plea, if you must wear Uggs wear them in the comfort of your own home. I will be personally grateful.

Washing clothes

When I came home from work today and after I ate dinner, I felt the urge to place a load of my clothes in the washing machine because I wanted to wear one of my favorite shirts which was dirty. As I was loading the washing machine I realized that I washed my own personal clothes like a 10 year old. I just sort of shake the pants to see if they jingle (golden dollar coins) and toss them in the washing machine.

I don't turn anything right side out and I most definably do not sort them by colors. I am a tiny bit terrified by the idea of sorting the lights from the darks and then having to do two loads instead of one. If I did two loads that would mean having to remember to switch the loads and that would mean extra work and frankly that scares me stiff.

So they all get tossed in the washing machine no matter color or ethnicity. I have had some loads come out strangely colored but that is decreasing as I get older. All of my clothes are mostly dark colored so it doesn't really matter. I wear mostly dark, not because it makes me look thinner (which is a nice bonus), but because it doesn't show stains as much and I am horribly vain and I have been told I look best in dark colors. I will honestly admit that I am vain enough to dress to seek complements. I am a horribly vain person and I am afraid there is no fixing it now.

But back to the clothes. My mother decided to start using these things called Soap Nuts. I kid you not when I say it is soap that grows on a bush. They are little nuts that are the size of a shooter marble. The marble that parents invariably throw away because they are a choking hazard to those who put items in their mouths, mainly small children and those who suffer from pica. They look suspiciously like very large rabbit droppings and they smell very strange indeed. They do wash the clothes however and the clothes smell fresh and clean, something I am very picky about.

After my clothes are done washing I am a little more careful about drying them. Now untangling my clothes is a little hard. Try having several pairs of 35 inch inseam pants plus long sleeve shirts with extra long sleeves and you get the picture. If I don't want them to shrink I hang them up to dry. This is normally my pants because I can't afford to buy new pants every time they get too short from shrinking. 5'6" is not very tall but when over half of your height is in your lower limbs it makes finding pants that fit difficult to say the least.

Back to the clothes, I generally untangle everything and stick it in the dryer and press the highest heat and longest dry time. Again no extra time wasted restarting the dryer because the clothes are not dry because you stuck too large of a load in there. After the clothes are dry they normally sit in a basket for a couple of days or weeks until I get around to either wearing them or hanging them up. I don't worry about wrinkles too much because I buy clothes that don't wrinkle.

I guess this whole ritual that surrounds my washing of clothes just goes to prove that I am a highly lazy person that can't be bothered. Don't judge because nobody is perfect.