College can be extremely overwhelming for anyone. There are a million things happening all the time, with assignments and due dates and exams and work and classes and extracurriculars… One way to help manage all the things happening in your brain is to keep your classes and related materials organized. My strategy is best defined as color coding, and I love this system with my entire heart. I assign each class a certain color and then use that color for every aspect of the class. I’ll walk you through each step. Prepare yourself for the beauty that is organization.
Phase 1: PLANNER
You guyyysssss. The planner is the most essential aspect of college. Hands down. If you do not have a planner, you are wrong. If you have a planner and you are not utilizing it to its full potential, you are wrong. They are FUN. I live for the day that I get to buy a new planner and set it up. I have a whole blog post about how I set up my planner. It’s super cute and fun. Basically, I color code everything in my planner to match each class so I can easily visualize which supplies and assignments go with each class.
Phase 2: BINDERS
Because I’m in nursing school, there’s a lot of stuff. To keep it all separate and organized, I got a binder for each class, in its respective color. Inside the binder is:
the class syllabus
a notebook
handouts
notes
So, everything for the class stays together. If my teacher gives me a handout, I immediately hole punch it and add it the binder.
Most of my classes are divided into 3 or 4 units, so I’ll use binder dividers to split my notes between each section.
The binders stay in the file drawer of my desk, and that way, when it’s time for class, I can grab the binder confidently knowing that everything I need for that class is in the binder.
Phase 3: NOTES
It’s becoming increasingly common that professors post their powerpoint slides for students to print and then take notes on. All of my professors do this, and highly encourage we take notes this way. So, I print the slides out, and take notes on them in class. Then, once class is over, I use my notes from class and the textbook my professor is lecturing from to rewrite my notes. This helps me learn, synthesize information, and have an easy guide to look back on. 
You can read more about how to take notes by following that link. I keep both the powerpoint slides and the notebook in my binder so I can easily look back on them. 
So, there you have it. My overall strategy for staying organized boils down to color coordination. I love this strategy, and I love keeping my space and supplies tidy so I can keep my mind tidy as well. What do you do to stay organized in college? 
