Back to School

So like every other college girl out there, I'm finally back at school and I love it. I love my college. I love what I'm studying. And I love my sport here. I've already been bombarded with assignments and readings and next week my first round of exams starts. Also it's finally my senior year and then I'll have to enter the real world of jobs and bills. Eek. But I have to say, there are a couple of school essentials that have been helping me keep track of everything and not go insane during this time. I love back to school shopping so maybe I went overboard, but I really can't function with out most of these things. And the ones that aren't exactly "essential", well they're still a fun addition to your back to school supplies list. Here are five back to school essentials that I like to have for every new school year.

1) A Planner

I don't know how I would be able to sty organized with out this baby. My freshman year I tried not using a planner and quickly learned how stupid that idea was. I've had a few ones that are set up as a little calendar where you write at each day, but I find that I work best with just a plain lined notebook. Each week, I write at the top of a new page "Week of...." and make a checklist of things that need completed that week. Anything that doesn't get checked of that week will carry over to the next new page of my planner.

2) Fun Notebooks

Notebooks are a big deal for me. I know some people who let theirs become a whole jumble of doodles and scratched out sections, but I like my notebooks to be neat and pristine. I think it helps me stay better organized when my notes are nice looking. It makes them look a whole lot better when they're written in fun notebooks. I write my notes on loose leaf paper or in plain spiral bound notebooks during class, but I like to use nice bound books for the final version of my notes. What I mean by final version is that before each exam, I hand write out that section's notes to help me study. The benefit of having your notes in a fun, nice-looking notebook is that later in life, if for whatever reason you need to reference your old notes, everything is all nicely put together in a cute little book. As an Animal and Food Science major, there is a lot of material covering many species and diseases so there's no way I'll be able to remember it all off the top of my head years from now. But I can easily just find the notebook and look the information up.

3) Cute Backpack or Tote Bag

Having a cute bag for school is always a good idea as you will be carrying it everywhere every day. I have a backpack and a tote bag and depending on how heavy the load I need to carry around is or which matches my outfit better, I choose between the two which I'll be carrying that day. I think it's better to pick something cute that matches your personal style because seeing twenty plus people every day with the same L.L. Bean backpack or Longchamp tote as yours gets old. I know because that was me freshman year. You'll want something sturdy yet stylish so choose wisely while shopping. This is a bag you'll be carrying every day so that's why I think it's important for the bag to be cute and so it holds up from daily wear and tear. And don't think that you need to drop big bucks on a bag to meet that criteria, I found my latest two totes in my collection at TJ Maxx for under $30 apiece.

4) Post-it Notes

So I know that Post-its are a name brand, and no, I am not advertising for them. You can use whatever brand sticky notes you want, but I just commonly refer to any and all sticky notes as Post-its, just like bandages are commonly called Bandaids and tissues Kleenex. Now that that's cleared up, let me begin by saying that my system of using Post-its can get a big overwhelming as deadlines build up so don't panic when you have a planner full of uncompleted Post-its. As I receive a project, deadline, or appointment, I write it on a new Post-it and stick it in my planner. Then as I finish each task, I take its Post-it out and shred it. For some reason this really helps me stay more organized and on top of everything than when I don't use them. I buy Post-its in all different colors and assignment a color to each type of task, for example, orange Post-its for meetings and blue Post-its for projects. I think because seeing each individual item on its own Post-it helps me actually understand the volume of tasks needing to be completed, rather than just scanning over the list of everything written in my planner. It's just another method to help remember what's due when and such.

5) Flash Drive

This one's kind of stereotypical, but a flash drive really is a back to school essential. I keep all my important documents, like my updated resume, on it. Also, I save each complete and incomplete assignment on it so I always have a backup in case something happens to my laptop. This came in handy my sophomore year because I knocked my laptop off of my bed and broke the charger port. While my laptop was away being fixed, I was able to finish everything on the library computers because I had all my assignments and projects on my flash drive so it didn't matter that I didn't have my laptop.

Bonus: A bonus item that is essential to me, but is in no way required, is a tablet. I currently have an Apple iPad mini and before that, I had a Samsung Galaxy tablet. I really liked the galaxy tablet, but after switching to an iPad mini, there's no way I can go back. The iPad mini is better than the galaxy tablet but unfortunately I can't pinpoint exactly why, I just like it better. I use tablets to follow along with the power points during lecture and I have an audio recording app to record what the professor says and any questions answered during class. I honestly even use my iPad mini to surf the internet and play games more than I use my laptop. At this point, I only use my laptop to write documents on because I like using a real keyboard better for long documents.

Hope you like my back to school essentials list!

Meow