As you can tell from Jen and Rachel's posts, we're in a bit of a back to school theme this week. Fortunately for me, school doesn't start for another week (whoop whoop one more week of freedom), but I'm already trying to get into a routine and stay organized.

     With an internship, a basically full time job (new! yay!), and being a full time student, I've got a lot on my plate this fall which is why it's super important for me to stay on top of my schedule and keep everything as organized as it can be (i.e. organized chaos). One of my biggest tips for keeping my sanity is having everything written down in my agenda. I'm a big fan of Lilly Pulitzer's large size agendas, however this year I decided to go with a C Space medium size. I also quite like Kate Spade and Jonathan Adler, though if you're on a budget Mead makes a nice variety as well. I prefer academic planners since I am still in school and it's easiest for me to plan that way. But office-type agendas work well if you like to plan out your day by the hour.


 The first thing I do after I get a new agenda is color code the different categories that things could fall into. For me, it's work, school, blogging, internship, and then other. I like to use BIC colored pens for this, though any colored pens will work obviously. I also recommend white-out, in case your schedule changes, or also keep a pencil to write down events that you're not 100% on.

     If your agenda doesn't have monthly tabs (like mine this year), I would advise either using a binder clip so you can flip immediately to the page you need, or using post-it flags at the start of each month so you can flip to whatever month you need instead of spending forever trying to find the right page. It's a time saver and helps you keep things on track so you don't accidentally write something down in the wrong spot. Even if you do, no worries, that's why white-out was invented. Or at least I'm pretty sure.

     My last tip for keeping your agenda organized, would be to make a checklist for things you need to do. I like to write any assignments that I get that day down, and then when I get them done I can cross them out. If you don't like how messy that looks (because it will get messy), use a new line for each assignment and then make a box so you can check it off. Another personal favorite of mine is to write down everything that I need to get done in a day on a sticky note and check it off as I go. I usually sit down on Sunday nights and write out the whole week, each day on a different color, and add throughout the week as needed. If there's an ongoing assignment I have, I can write it down on every day so I know that I need to work on it.