Any neat freaks out there wanna give me some advice?

<p>I am so horribly messy, I can't keep things in order ever. I lose my card or keys all the time (and end up finding them under piles of junk two days later). Luckily I haven't lost anything super important like assignments, mostly because I don't print it out until RIGHT before class. Anyone have any times for organization? I think my lack of organization may contribute to my lack of time management as well. Thanks</p>

<p>Not that this is any help, but I think there's a difference between "neat" and "organized". I'm super messy too-my stuff is just everywhere - but I have certain places where I keep my important things all the time, so I don't lose those. Like my keys go straight from my pocket/clip to my desk, to the right of my monitor, and it gets clipped back every morning, and my homework always gets put in a stack to the right of that (until it goes in my backpack). Otherwise, less important things are just kind of in this huge mound on my desk :)</p>

<p>you will only learn from your mistakes....</p>

<p>the wakeup call for my seemingly uncurably procrastination was my counselor telling me that if i was a day later in brining my college transcript ( concurrent enrollement) she wouldn't have taken it.....thus i wouldn't have gotten ELC and a lot of other UC benefits since that was the deadline</p>

<p>AUlostchick </p>

<p>I go to University in your neck of the woods. But, I do the online degree option at University- because I did not want to quite my jobs and whatnot:)</p>

<p>I learned something neat recently about organisation. For University, it is important to keep a really organised notebook where you keep index tab dividers for just everything. I learned that recently from my Survey of the Old Testament Professor and I really love the idea. I mean, it only costs you like maybe $10.00 to be like that. It is great. I have one gigantic notebook and at the beginning of the notebook I have a calendar of all the stuff I do and then I have my schedule of classes and then I have the goodie goodie nerdy stuff. It really has helped me to be that organised. Took my a whole half a day after Church to do it, but it was worth it.</p>

<p>Now, since you obviously do not do the online option at Auburn. You could keep one big notebook in your dorm room with everything organised in it. Then, you could buy a smaller notebook to take with you from class to class which would have your calendar, syllabi, notes, and outlines/journal articles for papers in it. And, then at the end of the week, you could transfer everything to the big notebook and maybe take a little time to review all the work you did earlier in the month or whatever.</p>

<p>I also keep a proper datebook. Basically, that is because I work two jobs and all. My proper datebook is a pretty purple color which is darling- it looks like a Jolly Rancher candy color. And, I try to keep everything in there really organised and normally just transfer stuff to my calendar in my notebook once or twice a week. It is no big deal. </p>

<p>I always carry my datebook and keys with me in this little neutral colored purse I bought from LL Bean. I find that just keeping a fair amount of stuff in one big old bag is easy, because at the end of the day, you just hang the bag up somewhere. I also bought a keychain clip which is where I put all of my keys and I hook that to my LL Bean purse. What is neat about this is that you carry the LL Bean purse, and hang it up after your day. Then, you can transfer your lip gloss and id's into a cute purse for when you go out.</p>

<p>OK, this is probably going to be terrible advice, but I'll try anyway.</p>

<p>I'm the WORST person when it comes to neatness. My parents like to tell me all the time (and they're not joking) to not feel bad if my roommate requests a change after the first week...Also, my school binders looked like recyling bins overflowing with papers from 6th-10th grade. </p>

<p>Basically, I'm still messy, but I've really improved my organizational skills.</p>

<p>First things first, I think time management comes before organization. I didn't have /time/ to devote to organizing stuff, so I would just throw everything in a pile and "get to it later". It's important to start immediately having a sort of schedule for yourself, where you get your hw done, socialize, and then don't feel bad about setting aside 10-15 minutes every day making sure you have all of your class supplies and textbooks, and also that your notebooks are in order AND that you have picked up things in your room. Yes, I need to take 10 minutes every day to constantly "organize" my stuff. Otherwise it just piles up. I look at it like an extra daily hw assignment...</p>

<p>Also, I used to go the "one big binder" route, but I found that I keep things more organized when I break them into smaller sections. So, I have a 1" binder with dividers for every class, and there are sections for classwork, homework, notes, returned assignments, etc. So, it's also dually about recognizing that what you're doing now doesn't work, so you've got to find other ways to organize. If you're having trouble with your desk, seperate it into sections using shelves, cups for pencils, etc. If there's clothes on the floor, get a hamper...sounds obvious but I didn't have one for ages...hehe.</p>

<p>If you really force yourself to designate "spaces" for things like keys (get a keyhook?) and organize daily, you WILL become more organized. In fact, you'll get ****ed off if you don't keep stuff neat! Trust me, it's hard at first, but you'll be surprised at how quickly you ease into it if you really, really try hard. Disorganization isn't part of your personality...it's just a bad habit, like biting your nails, and is easily broken...</p>

<p>Just buy a 1 GB flash drive for 30 or 40 bucks and save everything on there. You can keep it on your keychain or something that you always have with you and know you won't lose.</p>

<p>cut your hair and apply to westpoint.</p>