Being a college student is more than just taking classes and getting a degree. It's more than studying and taking tests. Because, somehow, you still need to have a life. To have a life, you need money. To get money, you need a job. Then, once you have a job, you don't have time for a life. You're busy. Stressed out. You don't know how to juggle a job, classes, a social life and manage to feed yourself and sleep. Each day seems like a never-ending parade of things to do and errands to run. How on earth are you going to handle it?

There is a simple solution, if you're willing to take the time to do it: Organize your schedule.

Oh, I know. You've heard it before, "Organization is the magical solution to all of your problems." Being organized isn't going to make you any less busy than before, but it will help you keep track of the things you have to do, so you don't become overwhelmed. Trust me, I know sitting down with a planner and a pen isn't appealing to everyone.

So, here are a few keys to being organized that might make you actually enjoy it.

Make it fun.

Organizing things can be quite boring, so do it in a way that you enjoy. If you like to doodle, do it. If you like to draw, paint or color, do that too. You can plan out your week while doing something that you love. Don't make it just another chore that you have to do each week. For example, I like to decorate, so I make my weekly schedule part of my decor. Find something that you like to do, and plan your week while you do it.

Use stationery that you like.

I don't know about you, but the $1 section at Target is my ultimate weakness. Every time they get new inventory, you cannot keep me away. This being said, getting organized doesn't have to be expensive. Most of what I have was bought in the $1 section, and it's absolutely adorable. I buy stationery that is cute, so I can enjoy planning out the week (somehow, having floral sticky notes makes the task less daunting). So, find things that you like and incorporate them into your weekly planner. It doesn't have to be all black ink and white paper.

Now that you have stationery that you like and have decided on how you want to plan out your week, here are some keys to actually organizing your schedule.

Color coding is your best friend.

If everything you write is in the same color, or on the same pattern of sticky note, you're going to have a problem. Choose a color for work, a color for classes, a color for your social life, etc. Keep it all separated. This way, if you forget what time your shift is, you can just glance at your schedule to find out. Color coding will also help you identify what it really important during that week. For example, if you choose blue for Chemistry, you can easily see how much time is going to be devoted to that class by seeing how much blue is on your calendar.

Hand-write everything.

I know that a lot of people use their phones to keep track of what they need to do, but I promise that hand-writing it will help you immensely. First, hand-writing makes you more likely to remember, which means that you will spend less time looking at your calendar. Second, being able to visualize your schedule is very important. Seeing everything that you need to get done at one glance is much more effective than seeing a couple of dots on your iPhone calendar.

Factor it into your schedule.

Choose a date and time to plan out the next week. For me, that day is Saturday. Each Saturday, at some point, I sit down and plan out the next week. This way, I know ahead of time exactly when I am available, so I can make plans. I know you already have enough to do without factoring in time to write it all down, but this will help you. Knowing exactly what the week looks like is going to take away so much stress and make you less likely to forget about something important.

I don't expect you to follow all of these rules, nor do I expect it to make a huge difference. I can say that it will relieve stress, and help you remember the things that you need to do. I cannot count the amount of times I have forgotten about an assignment until the very last minute, just because I was so busy with everything else that I had to do. For me, organizing my schedule helps. Maybe it can help you too.