Survival Binder: What Would you Include?

College Life
1

<p>One of my (smart and organized) friends started a binder with her daughter to keep critical info together on her daughter's college out of state. She would then take this with her to school, and add to it as the years progressed. Purpose: easy access to numbers, info, etc that is likely to be quickly needed. She would give me copies of pieces as needed for home in case of loss. </p>

<p>I would love to hear if others did this, and what they included! So far, </p>

<p>DD's Binder (Assumes that we start together at home, adn she adds on her own when she is there. Assumes that anything confidential would be either locked up or otherwise protected)
1. Student Number, email address, phone and addresses for common university depts.
2. Contact Info for Family Members living close in case she needs a "quick hug or cheer up"
3. 10 favorite recipes that can be made with a pan and a spoon that she could make if she just couldn't stand one more dorm meal<br>
4. Contact Info for Southwest and JetBlue with her frequent flyer numbers
5. Copies of warrantees of printer, computer
6. Contact info for cell phone service
7. Contacts for storage facilities for summer
8. Place to start a "Brag Sheet" like she did in last two years of high school to remind her of contact info and responsibilities that might come in handy for resumes and recommendations
9. Transcript info and place for notes on who NOT to take for various classes from upper classmen
10. Health insurance info</p>

<p>WHAT ARE OTHER STUDENTS IDEAS?? I have a "brain book" like this at my office for work and one for home - they are INVALUABLE. If it isn't in there, I don't know it!</p>

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<p>I keep everything on my MacBook/iPhone. It works much better for me since I’m atrocious at keeping up with papers, binders, etc. If I ever want to take a piece of info with me, I don’t have to worry about returning it or losing it. There’s no risk of ever losing any of it if it’s backed up, and you can find anything in like two seconds with the help of a search bar. It’s much better than “Oh hold on, I know I have that number somewhere.” “Did I take that paper out?” “I have something important to write down and my pen ran out of ink!” etc. You also don’t have to worry about locking up confidential stuff because a good password can take care of that. And even better - if you have an iPhone, you have access to everything on the go, and it can be password protected and everything. Compact, user-friendly, and all in one place.</p>

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<p>Good point, 27dreams. Do you use a specific App on your phone?</p>

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<p>“Notes” is the quickest one. You can download similar apps where you can organize your notes into specific categories, though. There’s this free one in the store - I don’t remember what it’s called - where you can make categories of notes and choose which categories are password protected. There’s also a free app for reading PDFs (great for scanned documents and such; includes zoom feature), a contacts app, a calendar app, etc… There’s probably even one out there with lots of recipes that will allow you to bookmark your favorites. All it takes to find them is a succinct word or phrase in the App Store search bar. You’d be surprised - there really is an app for almost everything.</p>

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<p>The phone numbers for places nearby that they might need, like delivery places, hospitals, campus security, etc.</p>