How to Organize Your Room and School Work (for Teens)

Co-authored by Karen Parziale

Last Updated: July 5, 2021 References Approved

So, you're stressed out because you can't find your school papers in your room. You always lose your papers before the due date and your parents are bugging you to clean up your room. Getting organized might seem overwhelming, but this wikiHow will show you exactly how to get organized!

Part 1

Part 1 of 3:

Organizing your room

1
Grab your radio or iPod and turn it up! It'll give you a good distraction to what you are actually doing and get you pumped up and ready to go!^{[1]
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2
If your room is in a bad state and the thought of cleaning it all makes you overwhelmed and slightly panicked, remember one rule: You can do anything for fifteen minutes. Just do fifteen minutes of work at a time, then take a break and look at what you've accomplished. Take a few minutes off if you have to (but a few minutes doesn't have to mean the rest of the day). Breaking things into short chunks of time will keep you from getting burnt out.^{[2]
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3
Get two laundry baskets, a trash bag, and a box. If you do not have a big box, use another laundry basket. One basket is for dirty clothes or stuff that needs washing. The other is for stuff in your room that belongs to another place in the house. The box is for things to give away, and the trash bag, obviously, is for the trash.
4
Start in one corner of your room. A good place to start might be the bed. Just make the bed and arrange the pillows. There, a part of your room is tidy already, and it probably only took a minute or two!
5
Pull the stuff out from under the bed. Don't panic if there is a lot of stuff, just take one thing at a time and sort it. If it belongs in your room, put it near where it should end up. If not, put it in one of the baskets or the trash bag.
6
Move around your room, following a wall until you've cleaned everything along that wall. Then, keep going to the next corner.
7
Do not forget your closet! Yes, it is tempting to ignore that bulging black hole that's stolen your clothes and shoes and who knows what else, but you must resist the temptation. If you neglect the closet, chaos will creep back into your space and your effort will have been wasted.
- Keep your clothes organized in bins. For example, you could store summer clothes in one bin and winter clothes in another.^{[3]
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  Expert Source
  
  Karen Parziale
  Home Stager & Interior Designer
  Expert Interview. 30 June 2021.}
8
After you've gone around all the walls and your closet, do the stuff in the middle of the room.
9
Get the vacuum. It was probably covered up by all of the things on your floor, and now is a good time to vacuum up all of the stains, spots, and whatnot.

Part 2

Part 2 of 3:

Organizing your schoolwork

1
Use the music and fifteen-minute rule described in Part One if you like.
2
Go through your school binders and your backpack. Clean out all the papers you don't need and either file them for studying for exams or recycle them. (this is easiest at the end of a quarter/semester, but can be done anytime).
3
Get one of those expanding portfolio folders, either from the store or something your parents have laying around.^{[4]
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4
Put a bunch of lined paper, and some graph paper if you use it at school, in the very last pocket. Label the tab in front of it "paper".
5
Leave one or two tabs for each of your classes at school, depending on how many papers that the teacher usually hands out. Label the very first tab of each class with the name of that class.^{[5]
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6
Look at all of the papers you decided to keep from the first step and put them in the right place.

Part 3

Part 3 of 3:

Staying organized with a sanity saver book

1
Keep things organized once sorted. That will keep chaos and stress from messing up your life. To do that, we are going to make a Sanity Saver Journal.
2
Get a 4X6 photo album. It should be pretty and something you will like using. It should have plastic sleeves in it for pictures. Make sure it can hold at least 20 pictures. That is ten sleeves with 2 in each sleeve.
3
Get some 4X6 note cards, a pen, and access to a computer with a color printer. You may also need a pair of scissors.
4
Go to Microsoft Word on the computer and insert a rectangle. Make it size 4X6. Find a pretty clip-art background and drag it to fit the rectangle. Now add text. This will be a title for your book. Call it whatever makes sense to you, it is your private book.
5
Make a 4X6 text box. Label it morning routine. The first thing on there, after you wake up, will make your bed. The rest will just be all of the things you have to do to get ready in the morning. Put things in the order you want them, and don't leave anything out. Add pictures if you want.
6
Make another text box. Call it Afternoon Routine. You should list everything you need to do when you get home from school. Don't forget your homework.
7
Make one last text box. It should say Evening Routine or Before Bed Routine. List everything you need to do. One of the items should be spending a quick five minutes tidying your room. This way your room will be neat each morning when you wake up. The first thing you see will be a neat and calm space. What a way to start your day!
8
Print these creations. Cut them out, and put them in the photo album.
9
Get 6 note cards and a pen.
- On one notecard, write "To-Do List". You will write all the random stuff you have to remember to do on here. Put it in the next available sleeve behind your Evening Routine in the photo album.
- On the next 5 note cards, write "Homework for blank". Make one for each weekday. Put these in order in the photo album. Take a few minutes each weekend to make new ones for the next week. Now, when a teacher assigns homework you just whip out the card and list it.
10
Add any other papers or information you want to always have with you. If your school has paper hall passes, like in a student planner, you could cut them out and put them in here. That is what I did so I don't lose them anymore.
11
Done. Your sanity saver book is complete. Now all you have to do is look at each day until you remember your routines. Don't forget to put it in your backpack.
- Now you are nicely organized. Congratulations! You now have a more organized room!

Expert Q&A

Question

What's an easy way to stay organized and declutter my room?

Karen Parziale
Home Stager & Interior Designer
Karen Parziale is a Home Stager, Home Organizer, and the Founder of The Real Estate Staging Studio based in Hoboken, New Jersey. Karen has over 15 years of home staging and decorating experience and has staged over 5,000 homes. She specializes in project management, space planning, material selections, and builder, architect, and client relationships.

Karen Parziale

Home Stager & Interior Designer

Expert Answer

I'm really fond of cube shelves. They're super customizable, and you can style them in so many unique and interesting ways. I have like nine of them, and use one for hair products, one for skincare, one for hairpins, etc. You could do something like that and use one cube for homework, one for personal items, a row or two for clothes. That's probably your best bet for bedroom organization.
Question

What's a cute way to organize my desk?

Karen Parziale
Home Stager & Interior Designer
Karen Parziale is a Home Stager, Home Organizer, and the Founder of The Real Estate Staging Studio based in Hoboken, New Jersey. Karen has over 15 years of home staging and decorating experience and has staged over 5,000 homes. She specializes in project management, space planning, material selections, and builder, architect, and client relationships.

Karen Parziale

Home Stager & Interior Designer

Expert Answer

I love using decorative boxes. They come in all kinds of colors and motifs. Pens, scissors, papers, snacks, pretty much anything can be arranged and organized on a desk using small storage boxes.
Question

How can I make my bedroom feel cozier?

Karen Parziale
Home Stager & Interior Designer
Karen Parziale is a Home Stager, Home Organizer, and the Founder of The Real Estate Staging Studio based in Hoboken, New Jersey. Karen has over 15 years of home staging and decorating experience and has staged over 5,000 homes. She specializes in project management, space planning, material selections, and builder, architect, and client relationships.

Karen Parziale

Home Stager & Interior Designer

Expert Answer

Upgrade your bedding! Throw pillows, plush blankets, shaggy rugs, and cute drapes are all a great way to give your bedroom a cozier look.