What's In My Bag: Finals Week Edition

So it's not exactly my finals week but like a good student (hear that Mum, I'm a good student), I am starting to study 2 weeks before my actual finals week. Since the library has become my new home, I obviously have to pack anything and everything I could potentially need during my journey to the land of the books and procrastination.

Here are the contents of my bag:

1 pack of Sour Patch kids - a reward of course
Half a dozen pens in various colors
2 Highlighters
1 pack of Snapea Crisps - these are an amazing snack
As many of my notes that I could find from the semester in file folders
2 Legal Pads
My iPad
My Laptop
Every electric cord I could think of - iPad charger, phone charger, laptop charger
My monogrammed TI-84 Silver Plus
A few different colors of PostIt Notes
My Planner
A Cardigan
Secret Garden by Johanna Basford - it's a coloring book for grownups in case I need a distraction
Instant Coffee Packs
A Water Bottle

What do you take for your productive study sessions at your library?

Start the Semester Strong

Well first semester has come and gone and we are officially done with those classes - thank goodness! I know one of the biggest goals for this semester for many people is to maintain grades better than we did last semester. I have a few tips for to help kick off the semester!

During the first week of classes, go ahead a print off your syllabi for the semester and mark all of the important dates that your teacher gives you or really any dates your teacher gives you into your planner. Don't have a calendar? Utilize the calendar associated with your school's email address.

Bookmark the websites you will use most in the semester for completing school work and un-bookmark sites like Pinterest and Facebook. If nothing else, this helps you stop procrastinating by reminding you of homework regardless of the temptation of other internet sites.

Look at your class schedule and figure out where you have breaks to make it to the library to study. When you make the habit of heading to the library now, it makes it so much easier to wander that way when you feel unmotivated to get there.

Good luck in your classes! What are you taking this semester?

How to Organize Your Planner

The first day of classes is vastly approaching, for some people classes may have already started. With a new school year in gear, it's important to stay organized and the tool I use most to keep organized is my planner! Here are my tips & tricks to using your planner efficiently!



Start with a to-do list on a sticky note, random piece of paper, whatever. I find it easier to put assignments on a to-do list and then in the weekly section of my planner, I write the assignment down on the day I want to complete it and again on the day it is due.

I use a color coding system that is really simple:
Due Dates
Sorority Events
And then I use a blue or black pen to write down everything else.
I find using a color code system is really helpful if you keep it simple like this. I tried using multiple colors and it just confused me but do what works for you!

Make it Fun! If your planner is colorful and fun to look at you'll be drawn to use it more. This year I bought my first Lilly Planner (the one in the picture above!) & I am absolutely in love with it. Use stickers (Lilly has some Greek themed planner stickers), washi tape, the whole nine. Like I said, the colors will make using your planner more appealing.

What planner did you get this year? How do you organize it?

Transition from Summer to School Smoothly

Summer is winding down and it’s (unfortunately) time to get back into the academic flow. It’s beyond exciting to get back to campus and see all of my friends who have scattered across the US this summer, but it can be especially difficult to transition if you’re like me and spent the summer babysitting one of the world’s cutest families instead of a 9-5 internship or job like I have every other summer. When it comes time to transition from summer fun to school drudgery, I need a definite system to keep myself on track.

Probably my favorite back-to-school organizational tool is my dry erase calendar. It’s perfect for my very Type A personality and without it I absolutely would be a disorganized mess. At the beginning of each semester, I grudgingly print out the last page of every syllabus: the assignment list. I set up my month by using my vast array of markers to assign each class, work, DZ, and other things like university events (aka football games, Go Bucks!) a color and mark the assignments accordingly. If I have an extra important assignment like a midterm, I border the entire box so that date is heavily outlined and when I look at my calendar from afar I can clearly see when it’s appropriate to start panicking.

It's actually become infamous among my friends 

Another great way to stay organized is to hang each assignment list somewhere in your room. As the weeks go on highlight the assignments you’ve already completed. I think highlighting is a better alternative than crossing out assignments because you can still read what the assignment was in case you need the dates or anything later on. It’s a really easy way to look at your month week by week to ensure you don’t miss anything important.

I do carry a planner around but since my assignments are pretty spread out, the week-to-week setup of a planner isn’t very helpful and the monthly calendar is so small it would be impossible to fit five or six classes worth of info in those tiny boxes. While I depended on my planner in high school to get by, four years later it’s not such a helpful utensil for me. But my roommate lives by her planner, so it can also be used as a really helpful tool to keep you organized and have a monthly assignment list with a week-by-week breakdown. The same way I use different colored markers on my calendar, I’d suggest different colored pens for your planner just so every assignment doesn’t blend together.

This is probably the most I ended up using my planner… #priorities

One last really easy trick I use to keep my life organized? Since I always have my computer with me (most of my classes run on PowerPoint presentations) I saved my syllabi to my desktop and keep them all in the same place. Next to them I have the document outlining my graduation requirements for quick reference. So when I’m on campus and far from my insane calendar, I have an easy way to find my assignments, even when the wifi decides to kick everyone off the network.

I hope this helps keep your life in order as you switch from summer to school mode, good luck!