Free Sock Organizers: Shoe Boxes

I have a ton of winter socks: long socks, fuzzy socks, wool socks, ankle socks. I didn't want to spend any money to organize them, so I wanted a free solution.

Shoe boxes are great to organize socks. They're the right size for socks and still short enough to fit into the drawers of my dresser.

For more crafty folks, the boxes can be covered in scrapbooking or other colored paper for extra decoration.

Positivity: Spring Commitments

As we enter spring, I always feel the need to tidy up my life.

Spring cleaning is a big deal for me; I started before spring break and feel a commitment to starting with everything clean. I always start with my desk since it's where I spend the most time. Next is the bed, again for time reasons. I'm also going to clean out the fridge and cupboards in the kitchen.

But there's also tidying up my life and commitments.




For spring, I want to refresh my wardrobe. This means getting rid of things I don't wear often but also adding in some new clothes. I did empty my closet quite a lot over the winter, but it feels like I'm missing the bright colors. I always hesitate about buying nice new clothes. Sometimes it's the cost. Other times, I worry that I won't have the confidence to try an adventurous new trend. I would like to overcome this fear!

I realized that I love to do volunteer work, but haven't been making time for it. I want to find a way to refocus on this. I do get the emails for volunteer events but rarely find the motivation. Possibly I should find a volunteer friend who will also enjoy helping others.

I wonder if it would be possible for me to take three classes each semester from now on. I already know that I'm not graduating on time and have a scholarship for a ninth semester. The work load for this semester was so much more reasonable than last semester. I'd have to talk to my advisor about this.

Working out! I need to work out on a regular basis. I was doing pretty well on the yoga in the morning. I can feel how sore my body is, having been less regular with it. Funny story: while walking around Disney and Universal, I would stop and do little stretches. Pdiddy laughed at me for doing this, embarrassed by my old lady stretches. But guess what? The next day, I was fresh as a summer morning. Pdiddy wasn't; her knees and legs were super sore. I want to regularly work out for mood and health.

College Dorm: Under the Bed

One of the most important spaces in a small dorm room is also the most overlooked: the space underneath the bed.

If you have a roommate, stacking the beds can save space. Make sure that both of you are happy with stacking and can agree on who has top bunk.

Maximizing the use of space under a bed is really major. For me, I have saved so much space and can store my bulk purchases underneath the bed.

Storing under the bed

Depending on your bed frame, you may be able to lift up your mattress frame so that there’s more space under. If the frame doesn’t move, try out bed raisers.

Bed raisers can give you more space underneath your bed and come in nice colors. A cheaper option is asking after a few cinder blocks to lift your bed frame.

A few large sealed storage pieces can do you major favors. You’ll need large storage bins to store things for the summer; keeping them under the bed can add utility. I have three large blue plastic storage containers and a wheeled storage container. 

Check out this clear plastic storage container (Amazon, $52) or this large wheeled storage container (Amazon, $62).

Suitcases are great for under the bed, especially since carry ons are easy to fit. Filling a suitcase with out of season clothes or extra stationary doubles the use of space. You can see my purple carry on underneath my bed.

Storing over the bed

Amazon Clear Shelving $86

Make sure that it’s okay to mount things on the walls before moving ahead with any nails!

Check to see if your dorm or college has a shop. My dorm has a shop, stocked with wood and band saws, which means that building shelving is really easy and convenient.

Prioritize the shelving so that these are things that you will use when waking up and going to sleep but not things that will tempt you to stay up later.

Amazon Wire Shelving $55

Clear plastic or wire shelving is a good idea, allowing you to see all the things you're storing without being overly expensive. 

Vacation sleeping insights

It's amazing how different MIT students approach their long vacations. A lot of my friends spend most of their vacation sleeping. We travelled all the way to Florida, to see sights and enjoy the warm weather. But most of the day was spent sleeping in. To my amusement, there was great anger at my attempts to have an early start so that we could see more of south Florida. I'm really not exaggerating: Waking up at 2pm and going to sleep at 10pm, sometimes with naps in between.

Why do these kids do this? What reasonable explanation could there be for sleeping away a vacation?





The desire to sleep on vacation is great since most of the school year is spent sleep deprived.

During the school week, most students are sleep deprived not just because of course work, but also by choice. Their logic is that with 24 hours a day, there's however long school work takes and 5 hours of fun. The time that's left over is for sleep. Often a 16 hour work day with 5 fun-hours leaves 4 hours for sleep.

Just 4 hours for sleep.

You might think that I'm exaggerating, but there really most students self report 4-6 hours of sleep a day.

You might be catching the logical paradox that I saw.

If their priority is staying awake for fun, why do these kids spend their vacation sleeping?

To me this makes a lot of sense with a slightly closer look. Your body needs 6-9 hours of sleep, whether you try to convince yourself otherwise or not. The body is crying out for sleep.

For long vacations, there's no work hours. It's just 24 hours of "fun". And sleeping is amazingly fun when your body is crying out for it. So amazing, that a disproportionate time is spent sleeping, trying to catch up on all the hours missed during the semester. An impossible task.

The moral: Work sleep into your schedule. 8-9 hours are the ideal for the college age group. If you don't you may spend your Florida vacation napping.

Over-committing: Classes, Clubs, Career

There's a big shift transitioning from high school to college. You have a lot more independence to pursue what you want when you want but more responsibility follows. Classes in high school were really easy for me; I could skate through lectures and rely on the repetitive style of teaching if I wanted to zone out for a day.

College is not like this.
At all.

The work load is more intense, especially since professors aren't holding your hand through the material. It's up to you to keep up with work and ask for help when you need it. Despite this, a lot of students coming into college try to replicate high school, signing up for tons of clubs and activities. While it's good to have things outside of lecture, the priority of a college student is their classes, in my honest opinion. Well, it's not just my opinion: it's the opinion of the faculty and advisors.

Here's some advice for the times when you've overcommitted in your classes, clubs, and career.

Classes

Coming into college, it's easy to think that classes will be like high school. A lot of high school advisors don't know what you can handle so you may be used to ignoring warnings of too much course work. Working as an Associate Advisor with freshman advising, I see lots of students think that they can handle five challenging technical classes while doing a varsity sport and who knows what else. Most of these students come back, a little bit humbled, hoping to drop their fifth class and transfer into a slower paced class.

My first suggestion would be to listen to your freshman advisor. Challenge yourself but don't overload on your first semester. If certain classes are pre requisites, it's for good reason; don't try to skip around. If the advisor suggests your course load is too much, consider them seriously. Weight what your advisors says with the advice of upperclassmen who have taken the class.

If you've signed up for too many classes, speak to each professor. Ask how you're doing in their class and ask what you can do to keep up with the work from now on. Make sure to email the TA, asking about what tutoring is available and their office hours. Your school may have a Writing Center or Tutoring Office that you can go to for extra help.

Finally, meet with your advisor, reporting back what each professor has said and how you feel about your work load.

If you need to, drop a class. There's no shame in letting go of something that you aren't enjoying or doing well in. Make sure you keep track of drop date and the necessary paperwork.

Extra Curricular and Clubs

If you've signed up for too many extra curricular responsibilities, there's no shame in stepping back. Speak honestly with your club about why you need to re-focus on your school work. Make clear that you want to stay involved with the club, but will be less active until your work is better in hand.

Don't just disappear! Talk to the club, even if it's just an email or a stop by at the next meeting. Having been on both sides of this, I can say that it hurts to worry about a club member who hasn't been seen in a long time and to scramble to take over their responsibility.  It also hurts to feel that you can't come back to the club because there was no clean break or explanation for leaving in the first place.

If you can't drop the commitment, ask another club member to split the work with you. Work something out to share the work, delegating parts of the project to others.

Plan out when things need to get done, organizing your time.

Career

If you're paying your way through college, you may not be able to cut down your work hours. I totally understand that; I'm paying my own way with the generous help of scholarships. But what you can do is make sure that your work is either applicable to your major or allows you to do course work.

For example, I am a desk worker at my dorm. I can do a lot of my school work while sitting at desk, letting people in and out of the building. The pay is decent for the amount of double tasking I can do.

If you are just working for experience or extra spending money, remember that your course work is the priority. Plan out the number of hours you can do in the week. Some labs will let you come in on the weekends so if that works well with your class schedule take advantage of it.

Look at your syllabus at the start of the year and make sure to get time off for your exams. This might sound silly but you may have an evening shift that conflicts with a late evening exam time.

Wrap Up

The moral of the story is that coursework if the main priority of a student. Everyone's heard the story of a wise professor filling a jar with golf balls and then pouring in the small bits of sand to completely fill in the jar.

Block in the class work and let classes, clubs, and career work follow in to fill in your free time. Organize your time and don't sign up for things you can't follow through on.

I hope that this advice helps you. If you  have any suggestions that you want to share comment below!

Staying positive: Lookin' Good

I've realized that a major part of me feeling good about myself is based on feeling that I look good. This spring and summer, my goal is work a routine of healthy self care and trying out a new more outgoing personal style.



Read more to hear about my rationale for this new commitment and the steps that I've broken this major goal down into.




I was raised on the belief that "cleanliness is close to godliness" and that "your body is a temple," so I associate taking care of my body with taking care of my soul. I may not be as spiritual, but the feeling of being clean is still linked with a sense of personal peace and reflection for me. I often spend my shower planning out my day or revving myself up for class.

Looking back on my low points, I see that personal care is one of the first things that I cut out. The sad thing is that removing self care makes it difficult for me to go out and leads to debilitating self criticism. While the first thing to go, self care certainly isn't the last. Cutting down on self care is a rather common thing for people suffering from depression or even just general stress. If you struggle with this, there's a lot of support out there. Even if it's not part of a serious difficulty, it's easy to rationalize exchanging showering time for cramming for a test. Maybe we can challenge ourselves to take better care together!

This year, I made a commitment to improving myself and I catalogued those resolutions in my day planner.
( Read my improvement commitments here.)

I want to commit to looking nice, taking care of my appearance, so that I can tackle the world with a more outgoing personality.

• My goal is to shower daily, taking the time to shampoo, condition, exfoliate, and just enjoy the process of getting clean.
• I will try to do my hair well, so that I feel confident with it. 
• I want to wear make up on a regular basis rather than "giving up" on my appearance. 
• My outfits will be things I confidently enjoy rather than things that let me feel slouchy-comfortable. 
• I will take advantage of my clothes and jewelry that I own. 
• I should try to feel brave and adventurous trying out new clothes, rather than cautious. 

Conventions are not your playground

To make a long story short: Conventions are not your playground. You do not get to ignore people's personal boundaries just because you are wearing a costume. If you or your fandom in general do harass people, expect con-goers to avoid your fandom. Don't be surprised if people talk about your bad behavior. Instead, acknowledge what's wrong with your fandom's behavior and understand why people are suspicious; do your best to change the community. Or maybe, if you don't like what this community does,  consider that maybe it's not a community that you should be a part of, much less defending?

There are rules at conventions. You are expected to read the rules of the con. In the same way you'd have to pay if you lost your con badge to get a second one or return to your hotel to change clothes if your costume contains contraband, if you harass someone you will have to pay the consequences. If the person harmed goes to con staff, you could have your pass taken away or even be banned from the con.

More than that, if you and many members of your fandom treat the con as a personal playground and take that as an opportunity to harass, catcall, or otherwise abuse other con-goers, guess what? You don't get to be upset that your fandom has a bad name at cons.

Morning Routine

Let's just say that my routine is very important to me. I think that it's very important to look forward to a routine that can give structure to your day. At the very least, it's very important both for sleep schedules. At the best, routine is a safe thing to fall back on for times of stress. And there is always a lot of stress.

On the other hand, leaving a full amount of time to walk is good for keeping stress down. I've always had said to me to start off the day the way it should go. Starting the day in a stressed running rush keeps the whole day in a state of stress.

Here's a full run down on what I do in the morning before rushing off to class.

• Struggle to wake up for 5 minutes
• Drink water
• Shower
• Dress
• Breakfast with water
• Checking email
• Setting things to boil
• Make Caffeinated Tea for travel mug
• Moisturizer
• To Do List for the day
• Check backpack
• Walk out with enough time to walk

This may sound silly, but one of my priorities is to drink water at the start of my day. Water sometimes feels like the biggest refresh for the mornings. I wouldn't give up my caffeine but I wouldn't give up my water either.

I would like to devote more time to making myself look pretty in the morning. At the very least, exchanging my plain moisturizer for a BB creme. Maybe even add some mascara for adventurous days.

Desk organization: Top it off

There are all sorts of way to make your desk interesting while keeping the calm that will let you get work done. Read more for some tips on how I keep my desk exciting and well organized.

Light it up!

Make sure you have good light for your desk. If you can, have your desk in front of a window to take advantage of day light. Studies show that day light is good for your mood and helps concentration.
For evening cramming, get a LED lamp. The white light is better for your concentration. More than that, the LEDs last longer than regular bulbs.
If you want to go into the cute decor realm, there are tons of options as far as fairy lights. They wouldn't suffice as your only light but do make a cute touch.

Hold your pens!

Get mini buckets or pen holders to store pens on top of your desk. It's easier access than trying to store pens in drawers. I use these buckets that I picked up at the $5 and less section of Target.

A cheaper DIY version is to use chipped cups or old mason jars. The Edward Elric cup that I had got broken so I use it to store my copics and other markers.


Hold your papers!

This is something that definitely depends on your organization style. Different people organize in different ways, so I'm just going to share the options that I take advantage of.

• Magazine holders:  I use magazine holders to store my papers and notebooks for the term. Before getting magazine holders, I constantly had a stack of papers on my desk. Even if the stack was organized, it looked terrible on top of my desk and took up a lot of space. A magazine holder turned the stack vertical, giving me more space and a better look

• Letter holders:  A good desk top organizer. Depending on how many letters you get, a smaller size may be better. I use my letter holder for storing pass codes, coupons and letters that don't require my immediate attention. This letter holder comes from a desk set. ($29, Amazon)

• Cork Board: Easy to pick up from any craft or hobby shop and a great way to organize scraps of paper. When mounting, be certain to follow dorm guidelines. 

As always, be certain to go through these paper holders regularly. More than once I've realized that my letter holder was building up a back log.


Plan the days!

Get a desk calendar or a white board calendar to put up. I have my monthly calendar up right near my door so that I can see what I need to for the coming days.

Some people prefer desk calendars, a staple of any stationary or office supply store.


Get a plant!

This may sound totally crazy, but get a plant. It cleans the air in your room and gives a lot more cheer to your desk. Check with a local florist shop to find out what plants can survive your plant caregiving skills. Be absolutely honest with how much care you want to give your plant. Also take note of how much sunlight your room gets and where in the room you'll have your plant. If your room doesn't get any sunlight, you can always buy a plant light ($20).

I keep my plants right in front of my desk, where I can see them and they can see the sun.
I order my seeds from here and keep them in a window sill holder from Urban Outfitters.

UO no longer offers the one that I have but they do have a few similar designs. One ($39) and two ($39-49).

Spirit of the Season!

For each season, have some sort of cute desk topper.
For winter, I have a frosty reindeer and some felt pine cones. I put Christmas ornaments in tea cups, choosing colors that compliment my desk.
For spring, I have an easter egg.

Get a few things that will change up the feeling for your desk throughout the year. I personally start to get a little bit antsy about the organization of my desk after a few months so adding a decoration for the season can alleviate this feeling.

Do what you have to do!

Do whatever organizing will help you to study. What I suggest is just advice, not authority. If you have something that works well with you then share it in the comments.

I know some people that tend to have a very sloppy desk, just a slathering of papers, while others have nothing on top of their desk. Find a good balance for you.