The "My Life"...My Number One Back-To-School Supply

I can't believe it is almost AUGUST everyone!  And you know what that means... Back-To-School Shopping Season!!! I was joking with my mom the other day that I must really be a nerd because my favorite time of the year is Back-To-School Shopping!  I was practically jumping up and down the other day when I saw a Back-To-School advertisement on TV.  I know,a little strange...  Well I don't care what people think because I love staying organized.  It is the only way I can keep some sanity in my school life! :O

My Summers are often slow, but Back-To-School Shopping reminds me that Summer is coming to a close.  That means one thing: School is starting soon, and I need to get my game face on!  Most of my friends ask how it is that I could keep all of my applications, contests, volunteer work, extra curricular activities, personal life, grades AND school work all in order without going crazy.  I always would pull out one of two of my little personal agendas.  My friends would all flip through it and see how organized I was.  I also had an agenda JUST for my homework assignments and tests.  So when people saw my crazy personal agenda, they would call it, "My Life".

My friend/mentor actually got me started with the idea of keeping a personal agenda during her Junior year.  She always carried one around with her everywhere.  So, I kind of 'stole' the idea from her, but she doesn't mind.  All of last year I started to keep a personal planner to write EVERYTHING down.  And when I say everything, I mean EVERYTHING.  I didn't have the room to write assignments or upcoming tests down though...that's for the school agenda.  Anyways... below is a picture of what the design of my agenda is like.  I jot down events in the monthly sections and actually details in the weekly sections.

Monthly and Weekly designs are a MUST when buying an agenda! 

Over the summer, I kind of took it to the next step.  I started to color code everything just so it would stand out a little more.  Of course, I had to use "Latin Pens" (inside joke I'll explain later) to color code everything.  This is what type of planner I use.  The inside looks just like this except I don't have translations of the same month.  I have everything inside of my agenda.  I use to only write one or two of the big things when I first got it.  But I realized that you should write every single little event in your life so you don't forget.  I have trouble remembering what books to take home let alone have to worry where I'm suppose to be in 20 minutes.  Trust me, it is soooo helpful to just be able to glance at the monthly calendar every evening to see when an application is due.  I would have missed so many deadlines if it weren't for this little planner!  Whooh...

This is what the inside of my current agenda looks like (except my months are only in one language)

Now, I recently bought a friend a 'Life' after he would call, text or even steal my planner to find out when we had an extra practice or when the deadline was for the applications.  So, I had a choice.  Give him "My Life"  or buy him one of his own.  It was Christmas time; so I just bought him one that was on sale and gave it to him as a present.  To tell you the truth, he STILL uses it today!  Some of my other friends love just looking at "My Life" because they love to read all of the quotes I write in the margins for inspiration.  I even write some of my more famous quotes in my friends' agendas!

My advice to anyone that is doing some Back-To-School Shopping, buy a "Life"! I always buy mine on sale because I'm kind of a cheap-skate.  But Mead always has good student planners to keep you really organized.  My current one is a medium sized Blue Sky personal agenda.  I love it to pieces.  I always tease my friends that I would be totally lost without "My Life" .  So if you have a disorganized teenager living at your house, then buy them a little "Labor Day Present" as my Algebra teacher always says!  You will be thanking yourself later, and the student will be thanking you as well. ;)


Good Luck All You Back-To-School Students!  Please send me some feedback on the ways you stay organized and what you think of "My Life"!!!  I can't wait to read your comments!

-Your Back-To-School Shopaholic