Archive Storage: Cleaning Up Your Dorm Room

College dorm rooms and apartments are notoriously small, and the things that one needs to finish college take up more space than most students think possible. The paperwork alone can bury the unsuspecting scholar while he sleeps - and one has to admit, there are not a lot of students who will actually take the time to organise all of those books and notepads.

When a student start finding themselves starting to spend more time looking for things than getting any thing done, that is a sign that it is time to clean up the place.

What Is Needed

1. Time - set a date to do the cleaning, and nothing else.
2. Pens or markers, or a labelling machine.
3. Folders and binders for loose leaf notes.
4. Storage boxes for the stuff that needs to be put away.

Steps in Organising

1. Garbage out. The first thing to do is to clear out the work area or student storage of everything that is there. Place all the papers on the bed or some other surface near the table and sort those out. Remember to keep a rubbish bin nearby. If there is something in there that had not been seen or used in the last three months, chances are those will not be seen or used again for the next three. Throw those out or place them in archive storage boxes for future reference.

2. Categorise and sub-categorise. Arrange the papers, notes, or books pertaining to one subject in each of their own piles. After, arrange these more meticulously either in alphabetical, chronological or order of importance. Another set of archive storage boxes will be useful, and remember to label each box carefully. Get the sturdiest boxes affordable, especially if there is likelihood that the boxes will be reused later on for other subjects.

3. Replace. The study table should contain only what the student will be using for the week - and all unnecessary clutter should remain in the archive storage boxes. It will take a bit of getting used to the idea of rummaging through boxes, but organising things now will help out in the long run. An "IN" and "OUT" pair of trays can also help keep the student keep track of the things that need to be done and those that need to be done.

4. Tracker. For the ultimate type 'A' student, a ledger or record book of all the boxes and their contents might be something to consider. But the fact is that it has been scientifically proven that the arrangement of a person's belongings coincides directly with a person's brain patterns, and most people will remember exactly where they put everything.

Organising can be a drag, but with the number of types of student storage boxes out there in the market, it will be easy enough to find one that will fit the student's sense of style, or environmental stand. Some are made of plastic or stiff cardboard and will come in sizes that are made to hold folders and papers. Plastic is great for keeping out the elements, but if the archives are going to stay inside the dorm room for a while, sturdy cardboard boxes will do just as well. The boxes also come in different colours and may be stacked up in storage facilities or the garage when the contents within are no longer needed.