In college, it can be easy to take on way more than we are capable of. And that’s not only in terms of commitments and responsibilities; people can easily get caught up in the acquisition of everything from clothes, to movies, to books. In a cluttered life, time management goes out the window entirely. Sometimes, it becomes necessary to simplify everything and get back to the basics. In honor of National Simplify Your Life Week, here’s some tips on how to do that:
1. Clear your closet
Closets have a tendency to get stuffed long before we realize they are. You’ve got space one day, and the next you’re buying hangers to hold the shirts you just bought at a Pac Sun sale. Thankfully, clearing things out is never difficult. For me, the easiest way to figure out what to get rid of is to find what you actually use. Take all the hangers and turn them around. When you wear something, turn the hanger back around. After a few weeks or so, you’ll begin to see what you consistently wear and what you don’t. All that’s left then is to get rid of the stuff you don’t, either by selling or donating. I prefer to donate, but if you’re strapped for cash, selling can be a welcomed little boost. Erin’s recent blog explains great ways to resell your clothes!
2. Check those shelves
Everybody’s got some kind of hobby, whether it’s movies, books, video games, comic books, sports, or collecting tiny toy elephants. Now, some people might have a bit more crowded shelves than others, but the fact remains the same: do you use everything you have? If you do, then good for you! That’s better than most of us can do. If not, it’s time to do some spring cleaning. Go through those shelves and grab things you’re sure you will never use again, and then check a second time to get rid of anything that’s on the fence. The closer you get to having only what you need and use, the better. Don’t stop at the shelves, either. Go through everything you own and do the same, and before you know it, you’ll be de-cluttered in no time.
3. Organize
Sometimes it’s not the volume of the clutter that’s the problem, but the organization. Organization can go many different ways, depending on what’s being organized and who’s the one doing the organizing. Maybe you sort things alphabetically, or by color, or maybe by year. Whatever works best for how your mind operates is what you should use, and that’s going to be different for everyone. The important thing is to make sure that whenever you need to find something, you know exactly where to look. That goes for schoolwork, too. An accordion folder or some other type of file sorting system works wonders. However you choose to sort your things is perfectly fine, as long as you like how it’s all arranged and can find what you need.
4. Get connected
Now, I’m not saying this from a social media perspective, but from a tech standpoint. With a smartphone, iPad, laptop, and maybe even a desktop PC at home, things can get a little cluttered. The first step into making things a little more manageable is to connect everything together. Using cloud services (even something as simple as Google Drive), you can have all of your files for classes, work, or freelance projects on any device at any time. Plus, this lets you edit pieces on one before working on it more on a different device later on. When speed is the name of the game, you can’t get better than this.
5. Rework your schedule
Many of us (me included) tend to bite off a bit more than we can chew. It starts slow, but suddenly you’ve got two full-time jobs, an internship, a mentorship, four collaborative projects with other students, and you’re trying to finish a screenplay in whatever spare time you have left. When this happens, you need to cut down. Whether it’s through cancellation or postponement, get that huge list of responsibilities down to something manageable. And don’t forget to leave a little space for relaxation to clear your mind.
6. Learn to love your Calendar
Calendars are the lifeblood of simplification, and you should learn to use them religiously. By keeping all of your events, classes, due dates and bills on a single format, it makes the stresses of life much easier to maneuver. The only thing is you have to use the calendar for everything, or else there’s not really a point. But once you get into the habit of writing everything down right when you learn about it, life slows to a much simpler place.
7. Combine your work and your passion
This last one is a little on the vague side, but it’s important nonetheless. By combining the things you are passionate about with your work, either in or out of school, it makes the work easier and you get some learning out of it. For example, I might be a journalist, but I’m also incredibly passionate about film (trust me on that, it’s a bit of a problem). Now, these two don’t always overlap, but I try to mesh them in whatever way I can, like doing film reviews for the school paper or doing freelance videography on the side. The important thing is to never let go of your interests, but instead of trying to balance multiple interests at once, find a way to bring them together! The less you spread yourself out, the better.
