Things That Facilitate My Hyperorganization (aka Things I Use to Counteract My Poor Memory)

I looked at my desk the other night before I left school (I'm finally done for the semester--5 whole weeks of freedom!) and it was covered in lists and sticky notes for...everything. Refill the water pitcher sticky note, grocery list, packing list, to do list...etc etc. I went through a whole sticky note pad this semester. My memory is horrible, so my life pretty much runs on sticky notes, lists, and cell phone calendar reminders...

Things I Use to Counteract My Poor Memory

1. Sticky notes: Best invention ever. They're all over my planner, desk, notebooks, everywhere. I have different sizes, colors and designs; I ran out of my blue pad of sticky notes with the letter "N" on them, and have now moved on to neon salmon (it's not exactly neon pink...). I also have one of those mini-post-it cubes.
2. My hand: This was of more importance in high school when my individual days were more hectic, but I still use it to remind me of certain important things. In high school I tended to use it to remind me to talk to teachers, take books out of my locker, etc. The back of my hand was covered in pen every single day.
3. Phone calendar reminders: I have so many reminders set that I keep having to go back and deleting old ones because my phone keeps running out of memory. I often have at least 2 a day--appointments, to-do's, everything.
4. Planner: My school lifeline. Homework, due dates, exams, club meetings, Shabbat dinners. Frequently, I have these things written on sticky notes as well. And possibly on my phone calendar. And on my hand. I'm really forgetful.
5. Tables and schedules I make in Word: For long-term to-do lists (like for long breaks), packing lists, and (more in high school) specific schedules, I make tables in Word. Seriously. This was my packing list for winter break. The things that look like bullet points are checkboxes...because I, of course, know those random tricks in Word. :)
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
6. Folders: I have both real folders and ample on my computer. The real folders are pretty normal...plenty of students use folders to hold their school stuff, though I also keep lots of other random things in folders. I'm not quite as organized in that department as I wish I was. Honestly, the whole bottom drawer of my desk at school is filled with random papers I've thrown in there because I don't have enough folders. But I'm bringing folders back with me in January and I'm going to organize that drawer!
7. Post-it tabs: I suppose I could have combined this with the rest of my post-its, but they serve a different purpose. These post-its mark things in books. Generally, I use them for school books...my books for my comp lit/English classes always have tons of tabs sticking out of them. Too bad I don't have a picture of that. It's kind of funny. But it's very useful when it comes to writing essays.

So those are my main things. Anddd--here is a picture of my desk, just in case you didn't believe me:

Yeah. I'm that cool.