There are three things that all students can minimise, declutter, or cut back on: (1) paper
usage; (2) stationery and (3) student-related organization methods and apps.
i could do a whole video on minimalism but there's so many amazing content creators out
there that explain it way better than me that I just decided to list my favorite ones in
the description box.
Minimalism for students, however, is not a hugely popular topic although we tend to hoard
a lot of things during our academic journey.
For instance, according to the California Integrated Waste Management Board, the average
school in Los Angeles wastes more than 74 thousand ponds of paper annually.
1) **Paper**.
Even if you are not a fan, going digital is probably one of the biggest steps you can
take to minimise the amount of notes and paper you use, read and annotate in college.
Your notes, paired with assignments, information sheets, practice tests and other handouts
will eventually add up to hundreds of pounds, per year, spent on paper.
Of course that not all people have the chance to cut back on paper.
When I got to my first lecture of Ancient Greek a couple of weeks ago, my teacher already
had a binder with at least 200 pages of notes prepared for each student.
These notes weren't provided to us digitally so we all carry this binder with us during
the entirety of the course.
However, I can also say that in my experience, this is usually the exception.
Most teachers nowadays are willing to share the digital version of their documents online
and allow you to either use a computer, tablet or even your phone to consult those documents
in class or allow you to print the parts of the document that are relevant to the class
while keeping the rest of the material stored in your computer.
Even if you are not allowed or can't afford to bring a digital device with you to class,
being able to select smaller portions of the document to bring with you to class, or even
reduce them to a portion of the size by taking your own notes on a couple of pages, helps
tremendously on cutting back on the amount of paper you use.
You can also stick with double-sided printing, use the digital version of newspaper or magazine
subscriptions, improve your paper recycling habits, using whiteboards or blackboards to
write notes instead of paper, and so on.
If you're a fan of books, you can also try the ebook version and I must say that is the
biggest difficulty I have in my life in terms of sustainability because I love my printed
books and I find it really hard to switch to digital, so if you're in the same train
as me, I totally get that.
2) **Stationery**
If you consider yourself part of the studying, planning or bullet journal community on social
media, than you have probably fallen prey to the thousands of pictures of expensive
stationery that you sometimes have to import from overseas, or find on etsy or other craft
stores.
I have fallen prey to that and I am currently using colored pens and buying no more black
pens until I've finished the two or three packs of stabilo and staedtler fineliners
I hoarded during the years.
THe thing is, too much stationery is expensive, wasteful and does nothing for your studies.
Of course I'm not saying you shouldn't have fun with your stationery shopping but going
all out and purchasing a pack of 50 colored fineliners when you definitely always write
with the same 5 colors is a waste of time and resources.
Cutting back on this will help you minimise your usage of space as well as the amount
of unecessary decision-making you have to make when you're taking notes and studying.
Using less supplies will allow you to create simpler notes that allow you to focus on the
really necessary and important concepts.
Furthermore, if you just don't want to go the digital route and substitute all of your
stationery for a mouse and keyboard or a digital pen, you can simply commit to using the same
stationery for the entirety of a semester, which will probably be enough for you to use
most of your writing supplies.
You can also consider investing in better quality and reusable items, like a ringbound
planner, which can last years, a sturdy backpack or a binder instead of spiral notebooks.
While some of these items can be a bit more expensive, a binder with a good cover for
instance, can last you the entirety of college; the only thing you would have to care about
would be the refills.
3) **student-related organization methods and apps.**
Another thing I fell prey to is going overboard with organization tools, be it digital or
not.
I'm talking about keeping several planners at the same time, going back and forth on
10 or more organization apps, using different note taking apps in different devices, etc.
Although it's fun to try and experiment with different options and alternatives, it's also
crucial to be able to make a commitment with some of your choices and stick with them for
a longer amount of time.
If you're constantly switching back and forth between different methods, you will feel overwhelmed
and you won't even understand if the methods you employ actually work, since you're not
testing them for a large amount of time.
My rule of thumb is to stick with each method at least for 30 days and if it's failing miserably
I'll just think of an alternative.
If you are interested in the whole sustainability movement I highly recommend a documentary
called called "Bag it", which talks about the problem of using plastic and the effect
that consuming it in high amounts has on the environment, sea life and even human health.
If you want to watch the whole documentary you can do so by signing up for free for CuriosityStream,
who is sponsoring today's video and has thousands of documentaries in different categories and
was created by the original founder of Discovery.
As a special gift you can use the promo code "study corner" or click the link in the description
box to have a free 30-day membership, which will give you more than enough time to watch
"Bag it" as well as many other documentaries in their list.
It's also available for a ton of different devices so you can keep learning everywhere
and after your free membership, it just costs 2.99 a month and I think that's pretty cheap
for almost unlimited learning opportunities.