How to organize yourself and your college stuff

We all know that awkward moment when you stand in front of your door and you realized you forgot your key. We also know that moment that you were convinced that you had your books packed for class and that, once in class, it turned out you did not have them with you. This exactly why organization is important, but sometimes it is difficult to awake the discipline inside yourself and actually start getting organized. There are different tips and tricks and today I will share some of my own with you. In an earlier post, I gave tips for saving room. Some of these tips might complement the tips from that post. 

Files can hold very much paperwork and protect it at the same time. In Dutch, they are called ordners, and for a reason. Not only can you easily and chronologically order your stuff in the files, but with tabs, you can also make sections for the paper work of each course. No more searching for old lecture notes or papers that might be handy for a follow-up course. As long as you file everything, you will not loose anything! I always keep lecture notes with the printed powerpoint slides of that lecture and add the readings to them, so that I have everything ordered by class session.

In order to know which documents are in which files, you need to use labels. You can keep them very general, such as 'Bachelor, year 1' or 'Master', but if you need several files for one semester or year, it might be wise to label them by course. I have, in fact, gone as far as to label them in the same order as they are in my files: 

I also value mail partitions. Sometimes you get mail that you only have to store, other times you get mail that requires you to undertake some action, such as transferring money to another bank account. Or maybe you just want to have papers within reach of your arm, regardless of what it is and how often you really need it. Mail partitions are the solution, as long as you use one shelf for each type of mail or documents. This should also help you keep track of your private finances. 

It is also tempting to make a mess of the drawers inside your desk. I know all about it and the only solution is to keep your discipline, so that your drawers will keep looking like this: 

Note the divider between the front and the back of the drawer. This way you can also keep things and items for different purposes separate from each other. 

I also like to keep my books together. When you read a series such as Twilight, Harry Potter, Hunger Games, or Gossip Girl, this is fairly easy, but with college textbooks, you might need to rethink your methods. While you can order by colour, I prefer to order them by general, overarching topics, so I keep methodology and statistics books together, I have a section for psychology books, a section for interpersonal and conversational skills, and so on. 

Last but not least, we often forget stuff because we start packing at the very last moment. It is therefore wise to keep a look on the clock and pack your bag the night before your 9 am class next morning. It is an advice my 7th grade tutor gave me, when my class was fresh in junior high school and still afraid to forget books because forgetting something could result in expulsion and detention. In college, no teacher will remove you from class when you forget something, but for yourself it is handier to be prepared. So, pack your stuff in time so that you can remain organized outdoors, after the aforementioned indoor organization advices. 

What do you do to stay organized? Or is your (part of your dorm) room an 'organized chaos'? Do you have other tips to become and remain organized? We probably all have our own ways, so everyone gets wiser by the exchange of information ;)