Weigh Less: Tips for Minimizing Your Book Baggage

October 21st, 2009

In college, your classes are more spread out so that you have fewer places to be each day, but your work load is a lot heavier. But with all that extra baggage comes library books, textbooks, planners, notebooks, papers, folders, portfolios, and other crap that weighs you down and can even cause your body serious damage and injury. No matter how fit or big you are, lugging around a backpack that’s about to burst can affect your posture, give you back or neck problems, and even darken your mood, if you’re constantly reminded of how much work you have to do. Unlike high school, though, you don’t have a locker to stash books between classes, and even if your school is pretty small, you may not have time to dash back and forth between your dorm or even your car to switch out your bag’s hefty contents.

The most effective way to lighten your load is to first streamline all your supplies and books and then organize your class and study schedule so that you’re not packing more than you need each day. To minimize the amount of stuff you have, use an expandable notebook or folder for all your class paperwork, and even your extracurricular papers, if there’s a separate section for that. A 5-subject notebook or a binder with dividers that have pockets can help tremendously. If you think your notes will fill up a single notebook or divider too quickly, than use two: one for your Monday/Wednesday/Friday courses, and one for your Tuesday/Thursday classes. If it’s Tuesday, though, and you want to fit in a little studying for a Wednesday exam, you won’t want to bring both binders with you. Instead, keep the expandable folder or notebook for study guides and important print-outs or copies that you want to keep with you, every day. After the test is over, you can file the papers back in your binder and fill the everyday folder with more updated study materials.

As for books, only bring the ones you know you absolutely have to have for class or to study. If you have reading to do, bring the lightest books with you and leave the heavier ones for reading in your room or for when you can go back to make a swap. Another trick for lightening your load is to make photo copies or copy downloads, web pages, and other research. onto a disk drive.

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