Top 5 Tools to Stay Organized in School

Many of my classmates discovered that Part One of our midterm is this Monday. I know this makes me sound evil but I actually asked the professor to clarify the date because no one believed that the test was next week. My prof thought I wasn't paying attention but we know the real story. Anyway, in the midst of the maelstrom I was calm because I was prepared (not that I could take the exam today) and the girl next to me noticed. "You are so organized," she told me. This is my favorite compliment, possibly ever, and I'm wearing new pants. When it comes to school, I bust my hump to stay organized. This is the only way to stay afloat in challenging courses and schedules. I think this is truly one of the best parts of being a "mature student" in college; I know how to stay organized and time management is less of an issue. I say less because sometimes I blow stuff off and watch "Fringe" with James instead, like every other college kid.

So, today I thought I'd write about my Top 5 Tools to Stay Organized in School. Beyond the obvious things like keep a routine, plan your outfits, etc. There isn't an hierarchical aspect to the following, either.

01. Google Calendars will Save Your Life

I use Google Calendars for all kinds of things and share them with James. These calendars can be viewed and edited from our phones at a whim and reminders can be set to remind James to pick me up from work, etc. What isn't on here is James' work schedule because various clubs and what not are still settling in.  

For school I create a calendar for each class and spend "Syllabus Days" (the first day of class where nothing happens but syllabus review and role call) in the library between classes typing in every assignment and material covered. Looking at an individual syllabus and then flipping to another is for the birds! Please do not get me wrong; I love a hand-written calendar, too. For years I lived by my Moleskine like everyone else. But when there is a shift in the class-time paradigm the rest of the semester is off and it hurts my soul.

02. Color-Coordinate Those Classes

I cannot state how much this helps me. The colors in the calendar above are by no means random. I selected an ink color for each class for notes, flashcards, and calendar use. In a program like mine, especially, when similar information is often used in various courses, it's helpful to distinguish what I learned for which class. An example is that for SPPA 101 I may not need to know that /θ/ is an interdental, voiceless, fricative but I do need to know that for SPPA 215. So, if I have a card written in blue for 101 and purple for 215 I'm more likely to remember which requires more detail.  

03.  7-Subject Expanding File Folder

Every class, it seems these days, is run with PowerPoint lectures. This has it benefits in that I don't have to anxiously scribble everything down in hopes I won't miss any information and not really pay attention. Nor do I have to recopy said scribbles so they are legible. But the downside is that because I don't write it twice I don't always feel like I know it as well. Can you tell I am a (Multimodal) Visual-Verbal Learner? The other piece is that I have heck of a lot of paper within a few weeks. A regular folder only gives you so much storage and you need one for every class which runs the risk of one being left behind by accident. Enter the Expanding File Folder. This guy holds all of my classes at once so I can work on an assignment at any time even if I don't have x-class that day. I opted for the clear for two reasons. One being aesthetic, and liking the clean look; two is that I can see a printout of calendar through the front. Since there are two extra sections I can devote the back one to keeping a slim 2-subject spiral notebook so I can still take extra notes/write to-do lists, and so forth. Heck, I could just carry this guy around and I'd be set. I'm even thinking of naming him ("Gary" for some reason) because he's so reliable!

Gary, like myself, isn't very photogenic so this will have to do :D

04. A Bag with Plenty of Room, Like a Bag of Holding

Over the summer I got this on sale and it has been wonderful ever since. I like it so much I try to use it as a regular purse. Which, since its rather large, is not the best plan. 

The bag came from Think Geek which a great company; I've been buying stuff from them for years. I get emails from them and they often have sales or coupon codes so I saved something like $20 when I got it. I opted for the backpack version because it's 2 in 1: the messenger version is only 1. I can take the cross strap off if I want to and just use the back pack straps (very good with new textbooks). It's like an Alton Brown bag.  With a D&D reference. I mean, need I say more? 

Bonus points to a phone wallet, which forces me to carry less crap everyday.  

05. Grid-It Organizer
Now it's going to look like I'm sponsored by TG but I'm not, I promise. They now sell the bag and a Grid-It but I don't know if it is this size (the 5.125x10.25") since I purchased them months apart.  

• Multicolor pens, mechanical pencils, highlighter, and fine-point sharpie in the back zipper.
• 4GB Flash Drive & Argyle Case: I admittedly use this rarely because of Cloud tech but I keep it on me just in case
• iPhone cord (repaired with hacking putty)
• Star Trek pillcase with Tums and Iburpofren: I found this on Etsy some time ago and I love it so much. Here is a link to the shop, she makes all kinds of awesome pillboxes.
• Travel size hand lotion: because, well, its nice to have.
• Lip balm: ditto.
• Quirky Earbud Wrap: This is great, my cords don't get tangled and it's slim. I found mine at Target in the $1 bin a few months ago
• Booklight. This was actually a gift from my Secret Santa/Cousin last Christmas. She and I got each other and both did gift certificates to a book store and book-related item. It was adorbs. 

2013?!

I cannot believe that is 2013 already. Time seems to speed up as we get older, which my father warned me about a long time ago.

This month we celebrated our fifth anniversary! Woo hoo! And then in March we will have our first wedding anniversary. DH gets to plan that day because my fantasy football team, Tyrion's Impalers, beat his North Baltimore Chaps. A little friendly rivalry is good for a young couple, right?

We've made some changes around the old abode since I last wrote (oh so long ago.) The most noteworthy is continuing to improve our kitchen. We have been working very hard to stick to meal plans and save money by avoiding take-out, which is hard because I have an intense love for Indian food.


Our kitchen is much smaller than our previous but that's where a keen eye and organizing come in handy. Or, in reality, moving stuff around a lot and seeing if it works (thank the gods for my incredibly patient hubby).

I started searching around for small, white kitchens. The first one that really struck a chord with me was the kids over at Seventh House on the Left.

What especially drew my eye was the open/glass door cabinetry. I've been ogling that in a few places lately.

So, one night in November, full of pluck and 9pm resolution I grabbed my drill and attacked the kitchen.

As I mentioned, the paint job is not the best — who doesn't love painting right over hardware so repeatedly that things are rounded and it takes six tries to even find the groove in the screw in which to drill? I definitely am not bitter...

And for awhile they stayed like that, making the kitchen seem a lot larger, a nice trick for our small square footage.

But, it started to seem a little plain. Not inherently clean and utilitarian but unfinished and "bachelor-paddy". So I thought we needed some color and something to bring out the older styling of the room.

We have a wonderful independent store here in our area called Trohv. It's the kind of place that when you walk in you wish you could live there and use all of the cool accessories. Including beautiful wrapping paper.

I loved it's retro pattern and light teal color, airy but defining. The white details connect it to the rest of the kitchen. We had a gift card from a dear friend so we bought two rolls (hoping that would be enough since I hadn't gone to the store with the cabinets in mind) which came in around $10.

For a few weeks I let the paper lie flat so the application wouldn't be as difficult.

And finally I got up the gumption to get my butt in gear. Once again, I am very lucky to have married a man with the patience of a saint. I tend to be stubborn, loud, and independent in home projects. I hope by the time we buy a home I will be more like James, a team player.

I originally planned to measure and then cut but I realized that since the cabinets are not completely level and vary in many spots, the best method was to press it and cut. Enter my friend the X-Acto knife and adhesive tape. Since we're renting the place, it can't be permanent so I may have to re-apply tape now and again.

Pardon the blurry quality of these photos, I had to use my iPhone camera.

The hardest part was aligning the details so it looked like one solid piece instead of the three separate per row. But, if you turn head just the right way and in just the right light, you can see the little pieces of tape. Oh well!

All in all, it took about an hour to put up (including the false starts and changing of methods.)

It was love at first sight! I especially enjoy how it brings out the Butterprint Turquoise Mixing Bowls in the upper left (a gift from my lovely MIL.)

And the finished product! Our kitchen feels so much better! It is more home-y, a little retro but just enough to not being kitschy. After all, that would have to be called a "kitshchen" (I love bad puns so much!)

Library Studies 101

“Of course it's alright for librarians to smell of drink.” ― Barbara Pym

Which is good because our library and our bar live in the same room. Hello? Books and booze? A perfect combination. Throw in the beagle and it's all three of my babies. Okay, that's enough alliterative torture.

Source

The Library Project was inspired by my Dad. He always had this crazy notion to put all of his books in order, shelve them and then maintain them in a database with its own dedicated computer. So, before I started in on his large collection that I have requested be bequeathed to me, I wanted to try it out with my measly four bookcase collection. Plus, this was the first time all of the books were already in need of being shelved. I chose Library of Congress Classification over Dewey Decimal for a few reasons.

• Dad seemed to prefer LCC (even his LibraryThing account specified as such)
• "Uh, it's for grownups!" — an acquaintance who is studying for his MLS.
• I am just more familiar with it, period.
• Have you ever been to Main Reading Room at the Library of Congress? That's where I want to go when I die. (Or anywhere where my Dad's spirit is.)

Source

 Anyway, the decision was made and then the work ensued.

This is what we started with, (almost) all our books collected in the center of the room.

I have moved lots of times and I have moved lots of books each time. Use boxes designated for copier paper
— trust me — they fit books well and you end up with the perfect weight. Avoid a pulled back or cardboard ripping and book cascade! 

Now, I thought I was ahead of the game a bit because in my previous library incarnations I kept books together (loosely) by genre. This is why every box is labeled carefully, e.g. the bottom box reads "Books — Nonfiction (Memoirs & Bios)".

Once we put the shelves up barren (of which I regrettably do not have a photo) it already felt more studious than in our old house. This is why I like dark-colored shelving, it feels more literary than plain white by a landslide. So, one day I got up early (seriously, I woke up at like 5am for no apparent reason other than I wanted to get started) and made many cups of coffee. James left for work and I started pulling books out.


There are a few tools necessary.


One thing that is useful to have when beginning a project like this is the internet. Since the majority of my books do not have the updated LCC info on the reverse of the title page. So, what you can do (and I was forced to do until the cable guy came later that evening) was make piles of "to research". At some points I got antsy and started looking things up on my iPhone, which I'm sure was great for our data plan (le sigh).

After some practice I discovered I did not like using the LoC Online Catalog for this purpose. It was not designed for referencing in this manner.

But, Classify is a great tool! This experimental database contains "91 million classification numbers" and is not limited to LCC or DDC. It's attached to WorldCat which is a great way to find a book in your local library no matter where you are. 

The other good thing to familiarize yourself with is the basic structure of the system. I printed one out and eventually copied it by hand (because I'm a verbal-visual learner like that). This will help keep you in check should you get a bad call number, which will happen from time to time.

There are numerous outlines to be found and the most detailed is from the LoC (big shock there). They offer a printable version of each but that would result in hundreds of pages and be a big waste of time/paper. So, I found one that was much more simple. I also wanted to have a copy of the outline available to refer to later when everything is all shelved. At some point this will actually be created and I'll be sure to make it available.

My tools other than that were post-it notes and a pen (the other stickers and the marker come in later)

So, in the grand scheme I spent nothing because I already had all of my materials but on the off-chance that I didn't the project would have been $11.66 or $311.63 with shelves (minus cost of books).

I've staged this over several days so I estimate the hours to be 12-24 depending on the size of your library. The first step is the longest!

1. OCLC Classify — free
2. Outline of LCC — $0)
3. Recycled 3"x3" Post-Its (here) — already had, approximately $6.10 retail
4. Ball-point pen — already had, approximately $1.82/2 pack
5. 1/2" x 32/4" Multi-purpose labels (similar version found here) — already had, apparently paid $2.10 years ago
6. Ultra-Fine Point Sharpie — already had, approximately $1.64/2 pack
7. Billy Bookshelves from IKEA, in black-brown retails for about $299.96
1. 3 of the 31.5"x 11" cases, already had, $79.99 each ($239.97 +tax)
2. 1 of the 15.75" x 11" case, already had, $59.99 each

Step One — Identify Call Number
Write it out on a sticky note and place upon the cover.

Classify allows you to search in many ways, via ISBN, UPC, ISSN, and up-frotn with Title and/or Author. 

If you have found numerous call numbers for the same title, either grab your handy outline or write both and make a note to check it later.

 

Sometimes a book may have two different call numbers listed, but as your familiarize yourself more with the system you will probably be able to decide which you would prefer to use.

This is going to be the longest part of this process, it will take the most time so do not be discouraged!

Step Two — Group Books by Main Class
It's really tempting to go ahead and start lining books up on the shelves in their detailed order. I know, I did this at first. It was a real heart-breaker when I realized it was folly and a real head-ache when I had to move everything else after it. 

It will be a surprise how many or how few you have of certain classes. James and I have a lot of C (Auxiliary Sciences of History), E (History of the Americas), PQ (French Literature), PR (English Literature), and PS (American Literature). I did not expect us to have as much B (Philosophy, Psychology, and Religion) but it was a pleasant surprise — minus the moving everything thereafter as I mentioned.

 
It looks like quite a mess, doesn't it? It was a long day of piles but that's the longest and most trying part!

Step Three — Move Everything To Shelves
If  you have some spare sticky-notes, it might be a good idea to put them around each section so if you have a stray book you can find it's home (roughly) rather quickly.

Step Four — Label The Spines
Now that all of the books are known to you and in relatively the right spot you can make for the really good looking part, spine identification. Grab those Multi-purpose labels and a fine point sharpie. You could, of course, type them and label that way, which is much more authentic but for me and for the time  I have, handwritten is fine.

I labeled all of the books, removed the post-its and and waited until everybody was "spined" before organizing. 

Could you skip the Post-It stage entirely and go straight for the spine? Absolutely. I wanted to make myself more familiar with the system by doing it the long way, but that's just me :)

Step Five — Re-Shelve and Show Off
Now that you can see the Call Numbers from the spines it should be very easy to put all of your books in the correct order.

Now, kick back with the book of your choice and enjoy the pages!

Cut-out and move forward

It was no surprise to me that I had a lot of paper in my house. The majority of which is bound and beautiful, beautiful books. What I had forgotten — probably on purpose — is how many back issues of magazines I had.

My house had become an archive of Real Simple and it was a real mess. As we packed up and I got exhausted I would treat myself to a little down time. Just me, my Xacto knife and back-issues. I got to re-read some issues and discover the items and articles I really wanted and not feel a need to hold onto anything else. Recipe I wanted to try? Cut-out and move forward. Inspiration photo? Cut and and more forward. So on and so forth.

I created a bunch of file folders for magazine cut-outs.

You can't see it very well there, but I have a slew of options:

• Recipes To-Try (the keepers get moved to the Household binder)
• Party Ideas
• Household Tips
• Beauty, Fashion & Health
• Gift Ideas

So, in an effort to avoid repeating the RS habit from the old place, I am doing this on a month-to-month basis. Currently I am only subscribed to Better Homes and Gardens but I miss RS and will probably go back soon.

At the end of the month, when I know the new issue will be winging its way to me any day, I sit at my dining table and re-read it, carefully cutting out anything that catches my eye. This month I used scissors instead of an Xacto knife but I highly recommend the latter to avoid snagged and torn edges for a full page removal.

I come prepared with Post-It notes (I like the small pad made of recycled materials best) so I note why I was struck by something. In this case I knew I wanted to paint the mailbox a bright orange for my Oriole loving husband. Bam! Here is the perfect color so I can remember to pick it up. Plus, a little complementary color action if I fall in love and want to use it elsewhere. 

Once I've cut-out and tagged everything, they go in their folders or on a bulletin board et voilà! I can take the rest of the magazine and recycle it, knowing I've gotten what I wanted and my house isn't going to become all the more cluttered!

 

And don't forget a delicious drink to cool off! That's my seltzer water with a bunch of frozen berries —
better and tastier than ice!

But, I can imagine someone thinking

But what about the things that don't apply now but might later? Problem solving tips and stuff?

That is the joy of the digital age, my friends! So many major magazines now offer a digital version as well as a paper. Heck, a lot of them will give you both with one paper subscription. So if later down the road I think, damn, I remember there was a BHG tip about wobbly fans in June, all I have to do is flip open my e-reader. SO simple and clean!