As the school year approaches, I figured it would be the best time to give some insight on my world of organization. Just like many other college girls, or working girls for that matter, I spend tons of hours on Pinterest gazing at the tidy and creative charts, lists, and books others make in order to keep their events, meals and bills on track. I like to think that as I begin my senior year of college that I have finally figured out a method to my madness of organization. Here's just a few details about my planner that hopefully will help others as the year commences.
First, purchasing a planner is so difficult for me. I question my sanity or if others are really this indecisive. I want a cute planner but also a functional one. It feels like I spend hours in the aisles at Walmart, Barnes and Noble, Staples, etc. making mental notes of what would constitute my perfect agenda. Unfortunately I had found my ideal planner online, yet i could not fathom spending $60 plus shipping on an agenda. It's just not pliable with all of my upcoming expenses this school year. So typically, I opt for one at an office store that is as close to ideal as possible. Less frills and more practicality is definitely the way to go.
Outside of spending money on the planner, I like to have a set of pens that are used for my planner. I bought an eight-pack of Bic pens with different colors. From here, I chose a color to represent the different organizations in which I am involved. For those who have less activities, coordinating a color per class is also a good way to keep yourself in order. I have come a great way from my freshman year in college. When one Friday in April, I had 3:15-5:15 written in my planner, no location or title, so I was very lost. I still wonder what I was supposed to be doing that day because I never found out what I missed. If I had at least color coordinated it, I would have a slight idea of what was going on. I use pink for my sorority, blue for dance team, green for work (light green for the writing center and dark green for the pool), black for important dates like days off of school and holidays, purple for assignments and red for exams and big due dates. This break down has saved me some space so I am not questioning what event I have and also so I am aware of when I have big things coming up. When my calendar is mostly red, I know midterms are approaching and it gets very stressful.
I will mark up the monthly calendar to show myself the important events and use the daily portion to help break down my day even further. In the past I've tried many different sorts, last year I enjoyed an hourly break down to arrange my schedule. However, with a majority of my events taking place in the evening and this calendar ending at 6 p.m., I found it to not be the ideal fit for me. But I did like the ability to break down my schedule, so I would really enjoy a planner that has sections for morning, afternoon, and evening. I also found myself having little notes that I wanted to put down, like little reminders, so I would prefer a planner with notes sections embedded in the planner. Instead, I used a wide array of Post-It notes to keep me on track. I have various sizes and colors that help brighten up my agenda to keep it pretty and organized.
If you are someone that likes stickers and pictures, the happy planner has been all the rage lately to keep planners exciting. However, this can also get expensive. Try purchasing small packs of stickers to keep yourself happy; some planners even come with stickers attached to mark certain dates for birthdays, doctor appointments and even exam dates! I incorporated some stickers to keep track of how many times I went to the gym, seeing the gold star actually helped motivate me a bit!
After you decide how you want to organize your planner, don't forget to use it! Quickly we lose momentum, even I have at times, left pages blank or just scribbled it all in with pencil. First week of the semester, new job, new year, get right to it! I usually will grab the syllabus from each class and start writing in major due dates such as exams and papers. I also will add in my work schedule for a couple weeks until it is ingrained in my head. The sooner my monthly schedule is written in, the better I feel!
For the weekly/daily portions, I recommend setting a certain time ahead to actually write in it. Typically, I would use the time in the morning when I have my coffee to glance over and see what my day/week is like and make any changes. During the day, I get to class and work typically 10 minutes early, I use this time again to update any schedule or add in some homework that I was assigned. Make sure to use a paper clip, binder clip, or any other type of place marker to keep everything in the right spot!
For people that like organization even more than I do, customizing planners is easy and can even be done with printouts on your own to add in more specific details. Tracking and planning meals can be done as well as bills! Multiple stores have family planners available that have spaces for each member of the family, perfect for the busy soccer mom! Hopefully when that day comes I will still be this motivated to be organized!
There are so many other sorts of planners out there that there is one for every type of person. I honestly have no idea how someone survives college without an agenda book, I would be so lost! So hopefully my insights have given you some new ideas or maybe just the motivation to actually start to get your year planned! So I will continue being obsessed with organization because it lets me pretend that I have my life together!
