Staying organised is never easy when you have a student schedule. With so much going on, any extra help is appreciated. That’s why we’ve found some DIYs that will help you to keep on track, keep your room tidy and will also look super cute.
Having a calendar is a great way to stay on track with assignments, nights out and important dates but they can often be boring and impractical. Sometimes plans change and so writing things down in ink onto paper isn’t the best solution. Luckily there is a perfect DIY that will give you a large and adaptable planner that also looks really cute.
What you need: A large, plain black frame (ideally 60 centimetres tall and 40 centimetres wide and is double glass panels), 35 paint tester squares (choose colours in a variety of shades that will match your room to make it look even better), a large sheet of paper either patterned or plain depending on what you like (you won’t need this if your frame has two glass panels), a sheet of plain A4 paper, PVA glue, whiteboard markers.
Instructions:
1. Place the frame face down and lay out the paint tester squares in a grid of 7 across and 5 down. Glue each one down with a thin layer of PVA glue (this will dry clear but it’s best to keep it neat).
2. Cut small strips from the A4 paper and write a day of the week on each one. Stick these in order above the correct column of paint tester squares (remember it will be back to front when you flip the frame back up.
3. When that’s dry you can put in the second panel of glass or, if you have a normal frame, lay down your chosen paper and put the back of the frame back on.
4. Flip the frame back over. Use the whiteboard marker to write the month at the top and the days on the relevant squares. At the end of the month just wipe it down and start again.
Cork/pinboards are a vital item for a student room, giving you a space to leave memos, tickets or anything else you need to remember. So why not give a new look to this dorm room essential.
What you need: Corkboard sheet (or roll but you will need to make sure that’s flattened out properly first), craft knife, masking tape, paint (a few different colours is best), command picture hanging strips, a protractor, ruler, and pen.
Instructions:
1. Lay out the sheet of corkboard and start by drawing out your shapes. For a hexagon, you need to create angles of 120 degrees for each corner. Only use a faint pen rather than a sharpie because you don’t want it to show up too much on your finished boards.
2. Using your craft knife, score the outline of your hexagon (using the ruler as a guide can help). Scoring will make it easier to cut.
3. Cut out your shapes with a chopping board below. Stick a piece of masking tape across the middle (or at an angle if you prefer) and paint one side of the board. When the paint is dry, peel off the tape, leaving a neat line.
4. Use the command strips to hang your cork boards on the wall.
Bullet journals are the most aesthetic way to organise your thoughts, plans and anything else. Also providing a fun and calming hobby for anyone creative, they’re a great DIY to keep you organised this semester.
What you need: A journal (it’s best to choose pages with grids of dots), pens, pencils, highlighters, etc., washi tape.
Instructions:
There are very few instructions for bullet journaling because it’s really up to you what you want to include. Our advice would be to keep things simple, look at other people’s journals for inspiration and keep an index page of what you’ve put in there so you can find everything easily.
Keeping track of your module notebooks can be tricky if they’re all identical and there’s nothing worse that turning up to your seminar only to realise you have the wrong book with you. Decorating the books yourself is both a fun and practical solution.
What you need: notebooks (the plainer the better), something to decorate them with (wrapping paper, cut up magazines for a collage, or something you’ve drawn yourself), glue, sticky-back plastic.
Instructions:
1. Lay out your notebook. If you can put it face down so both covers are face-up without damaging the spine then this is helpful.
2. Stick down the paper you have chosen or make your collage. Make sure that all corners are stuck down well so that they don’t fold up later.
3. Use stick back plastic to cover your notebook. Make sure that you smooth it out to get rid of bubbles (using a tea towel to do this will help).
Planning meals can be an organisation nightmare and it’s easy to fall into the habit of eating the same pasta dish all the time. This meal plan DIY will fix that problem easily.
What you need: pinboard, washi tape, pins, 7 wooden pegs, card (colourful or patterned is best), plain white paper glue gun.
Instructions:
1. Start off by making the pegs. You can use a sharpie to decorate them or just leave them plain. On the back of the pegs, use a glue gun to fix push pins on to them. Pin them into your pinboard one below the other.
2. Cut up the card into small flash card-sized pieces. Stick small pieces of plain white paper on top and write a meal on each one. It can be things you know how to cook already or new recipes you want to try. Try to fill in as many as you can. Put them somewhere safe.
3. Cut up a letter for each day of the week (M for Monday, T for Tuesday, W for Wednesday…). Stick these to the left of each peg in order.
4. Each week randomly chose a meal card and peg it into a day of the week. That way you have you’re food planned for the week.
Keeping your room organised can help to keep your mind organised and makeup gets everywhere. This DIY offers a cute solution.
What you need: Toilet/kitchen rolls, card/wrapping paper, black card, glue, and a glue gun, cardboard.
Instructions:
1. Cut the cardboard rolls to different heights. Cut up the wrapping paper and cover the rolls in it.
2. Cut thin lengths of black card and stick it around the top to create a nice edge.
3. Next cut a large circle from the cardboard and from the black card. Stick them together.
4. Use the glue gun to stick the tubes to the larger circle as a case. Now you have a great place to store your brushes and lip glosses.
Losing your keys is anyone’s worst nightmare and, when you’re a student, you can’t really afford to keep replacing them. So make yourself a handy place to store them with this DIY.
What you need: Small hooks, a picture frame (it must be wood and fairly thick), a nice picture.
Instructions:
All this DIY requires you to do is to screw some hooks to the top of a photo frame and add a picture into the back. Then you have the perfect place to keep your keys without ever losing them.
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