As students, we spend a lot of time at our desks or in a designated workspace. It’s important to keep your workspace organized and decluttered in order to have the most efficient and high-quality work possible. Research shows that organization:
- Improves focus
- Organization reduces the number of stimuli in a workspace. When everything is put away, it is easier to focus.
- Reduces stress
- Clutter makes stress more active, and being in high school is stressful enough! An easy step to reduce stress is to organize your workspace.
- Improves your mood
- Your mood improves when stress is reduced!
- Gives a sense of control
- Working towards organizational goals will make you feel more productive and give you a greater sense of control.
- Improves efficiency
- Reducing the number of stimuli around a workspace by having everything tucked away will improve productivity.
- Improves quality of work
- All the things above (focus, stress, mood, etc…) can affect the quality of your work. Organization can help you easily improve your work without actually doing that much.
There’s no use in knowing that organization is important if you don’t know where to start. Some good ideas for your desk are:
- Charging Station/Outlet Bank
- Wires are one of the easiest ways to clutter up space, fast. However, you probably need your phone and computer on your desk. Two ways that you can improve this is by using an outlet bank which adds more outlets, and silicone cord holders keep your cords in one place and tidy.
- Coffee Mug Writing Utensil Holders
- Getting creative to save money is always a good idea. On a desk, you need a place to put all your pens, pencils, and other writing materials. If you’re like me, you like to keep things separate. For example, I keep my erasable pens separate from my normal pens, separate from my highlighters, and so on. A creative solution I’ve found to buying a desk organizer is using coffee mugs or other glasses to store all my supplies.
- Paper Clip/Push Pin Holder
- While coffee mugs are great for bigger things like pens and pencils, they’re not great for paper clips or push pins. In the kids’ dining area at Target, there are little bowls that range from 50 cents – 3 dollars. You can use them to store any small office supplies – they’re shallow and very durable.
- Milk Crates
- Milk crates are the perfect size to hold binders and folders. If you’re in middle school, they also fit into your lockers! They are pretty small so they can sit under your desk or under your bed (depending on the height of course).
Desk organization is important, but backpack organization may be even more important. You use your backpack to store everything! The basics you will need for every class are a binder, a notebook, and a section in your homework folder. Pro Tip: always have a spiral-bound notebook for English class (and I recommend getting one for every class – even if you don’t use it, you have it for next year).
There are two different ways to go about having a homework folder. Option 1: use your notes folder for each class as your homework folder. Option 2: have one folder with lots of pockets for homework and a different folder or binder for notes and tests. I prefer the latter option because it keeps my homework separate, and otherwise, I find it gets lost in the notes. I use this type of homework folder for all my classes and one of these notes binders for each of my classes. These binders are unique because they are in the shape of a folder and they don’t have rings, they have a snapping mechanism that allows your notes to stay compact. I also use normal binders for my homework, tests, and quizzes.
For a notebook, I would recommend rocketbook notebooks. These are rock-based paper notebooks, so they are erasable. You write on them with special friction pens, then scan your notes into your Google Drive. An alternative if you prefer having real paper is the Kokuyo Binder Notebook. This is a normal paper notebook, but what makes it really cool is that the spiral opens like a binder so you can add more paper. Both of these notebooks are reusable, and the rocketbook notebook almost eliminates the need for binders if you are willing to scan everything into your Drive.
Using a planner is super important for organizing your life, whether you use an online planner or a paper one. One really cool planner is the rocketbook academic planner. It is reusable and has lots of other cool pages, such as a project tracker and a priority planner. Another good planner is the Erin Condren academic planner if you like to write in your planner.
The best places to find school and desk supplies are:
- Jetpens.com
- They also have a YouTube Channel!
- Erincondren.com
- Riflepaper.com
- Staples.com
Remember: organization is a very easy thing to do and it can benefit you in so many ways!
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