As the spring semester begins to pick up speed, it is easy to feel overwhelmed by your surroundings. To help, I’ve compiled a list of easy organization tips that you can do right now to alleviate some of the stress. Cleaning up these small aspects of your life now will make a huge difference in the long run. So, turn on your favorite show for some background noise and try one of these cleanses! Your future self will thank you later.
- Google Drive
College students take many different courses each semester, which means that there are likely tons of assignments sitting in your Google Drive without a proper home. This cleanse has two benefits: first, organizing all of your assignments from the previous semester, and second, devising a system in your Drive to organize all future assignments.
To start, create new folders for each of the courses you took in previous semesters. Then, put all of the documents you have for that course into their respective folders. Once all of the documents are sorted, you can move all of those folders into a singular folder titled Fall 2022. Finally, create more new folders for the courses you are taking this semester, so whenever you begin a new assignment, you can immediately sort it into the proper folder.
Organizing your Google Drive makes it so much easier to quickly find the assignment you are looking for. The best part? You can color code all of your folders however you like!
Another area that could definitely use a refresh is your email inboxes. Between my school email and personal email, I get at least twenty emails every day (University Book Center I’m looking at you), so it’s super easy for everything to get backed up. To organize your email, start creating new folders that your emails can be sorted into. I created a folder for each of my classes and clubs, a folder for past and future jobs and a folder for promotions from stores.
Once you make your folders, begin going through your inbox and moving each email into the proper folder. Create as many new folders as you need so that it is easy to find what you are looking for later. One thing to look out for as you are sorting is for emails that are no longer relevant. For example, an email from a teacher regarding a test that you already took, or an advertisement for a sale that already ended. Rather than sorting these emails into a folder, they can just be deleted.
- Photos
If you’re anything like me, you have over 10,000 photos in your camera roll, and have no idea where anything is. When you want to show a friend pictures from your Italy trip in 2017, it’s a total lost cause. In order to organize your photos, create albums for certain moments or memories.
For example, put all your photos from that Washington D.C. trip into an album, or all of the TikTok screenshots of things you want to buy into an album. While you don’t need to organize every single one of your photos into their own albums, categorizing the photos will make it much easier for you to find that specific photo in the future. These albums can be of absolutely anything – I have an album dedicated to photos of my dog.
- Spotify Playlists
This cleanse is for the people who have a playlist for every single mood and music genre one can think of; organize your Spotify playlists into folders! In order to create a new folder, right click on any of your current playlists and click the “new folder” button. Now, you can drag as many playlists as you like into that folder, and then name it whatever you want! While you’re at it, another thing you can do is add some cover photos to your playlists to make them look cuter.
- Makeup, Skincare, and Haircare
In order to organize your makeup, skincare, and haircare, go through all of your products and figure out which ones you actually use on a daily basis. These are the only products that should be out at all times. That glitter eyeshadow palette you use three times a year does not need to be sitting out next to your daily concealer. Additionally, make sure to check the expiration dates of your products, and get rid of anything that is past its expiration date. Your skin will thank you.
- Closet
While at college, we have limited space in our dorms and apartments for clothes. If there is anything that you have only worn once this entire semester, or even worse, haven’t worn at all, it doesn’t need to be taking up space in your closet. Take these clothes to a local thrift store, give them to a friend, or sell them online!
If you devote an hour of your day to one of these six areas, that is one less thing that you have to stress about in the long run. So take the extra moment. You’ll be grateful you did later in the semester!