Organized Binder for Muslimah (Back to School Series)

Recently I have a project during this summer vacation to make a good planner and binder organization for Muslimah who are students. Why not muslim brother? Actually it can be used, but... it's kinda pinky and girly things. haha But the methods, I hope all of us can use it.

I did some research about how to make organized binder for students, especially muslimah that have a lot of things to handle in the bag for example like papers, books, pencils, pray mat, mukena, Al-Qur'an, books, and other. Therefore, I tried to make a simple binder that includes all people need to organizing papers. For other thing, I will tell you in other posts. :)

So... when I choose a binder, I will try to find something that cute (so i will be happy to use it), enough for many papers, and have pouch or pocket. My binder looks like this. Pink with soft cover and I can put my name with green paper in the right side. The size is for A4 papers, therefore it is bigger than A4. I choose this size because i know that in school, teachers will give us papers in A4 sized papers.

This binder looks like ordinary binder. But I make it different for students. :)

I have a pocket in the left side when the binder is opened and I used it for my name card, so if this binder lost, someone can return this to me with the information in the card.

Then...sometimes...for girls....having a lot of things to do and organized are overwhelmed. Papers with many different purposes make us feel like... don't know what to do. Especially when we try to find specific papers. So, I used this dividers and color coded it. Actually the first I buy this dividers, the color is not like that. The colors are only green and white. But because I want to color coded it, I used my sticky-notes and decorated tape and make it looks more beautiful. haha

I have several categories in my binder, such as important files (but not the most important, i will tell you later), research notes (for labs and classes), conference, thesis, papers, households, notes, blogs, schedules, and stickers.


IMPORTANT FILES

What I put in here are papers that in my opinion are important, but not really important because I already used it. For example like flight itinerary that I already used but I want to keep it in case I need those things, Toefl test letter (not the score but the payment), hotel booking receipt, etc. I will trashed them when it's already very very expired, like maybe one year. haha

I used a plastic folder that have holes and can be put inside my big binder, I called it holed folder, because I'm not sure the name of this kind of folder. haha I used this because I want my files to be kept separated. And if I want to take it all together, I only take this binder out once, not all one by one. :)

I also use color code to represent each category in this section. But I use post-it to differentiate because I can take it out easily when I want to discard specific paper in my folder.


RESEARCH NOTES

As a master degree students, we tend to have a lot of things to do in the research. Sometimes, the ideas come directly and we need paper to write it down. When I have my binder, I will directly write my ideas in this section. But, if I don't have my binder, I will write it down in my life planner (sorry the post is in Bahasa Indonesia).

Actually I also use the holed folder to keep my notes paper after I finished writing. Because the paper for 3 rings binder are easily ripped near the binder's rings. But I also have several blank papers in the back side of the holed folder.

CONFERENCE

Sometimes I will go to the conference and need a place to store my papers like research papers, presentations, and notes. So, I decided to use a 4 pocket holed folder.

This is very useful because it is easier for me to put inside and outside. In conference, I always take out and put in the papers all the time.

So, it is very useful for me.



THESIS

This part is very special and important for last year students. hahaha We will have a lot of papers to be saved, like downloaded research papers, ideas, revision, notes from professor, list of what we need to be done, etc. Those papers are very important!

So, I decided to use another holed folder like I use for important files, so I can keep on track about my research progress.

In front of the folder, there is a card holder. Sometimes, people use it for name card or label the folder. But, I use it for motivational quotes.

Yeah you know sometimes I will feel tired of doing my research (like right now haha) and do not want to continue and become lazy. But. it's a bad behavior. Therefore, I have a motivational quote that can make my day again. :)

PAPERS

The meaning of the papers in here is that the place where I store all of my downloaded papers, or even my papers. I talk about research paper from journal.

I use this kind of folder which is very useful to store a lot of printed papers. Because it is very thick and can hold many papers. Not like folder that I use for thesis and important files that have thin plastic.

Sometimes, I also make a label in the left side of the folder. So, I will now exactly what are inside the folder. Because in the research we will have different kind of literature review. So, it is better to put label in the folder to keep organized.




HOUSEHOLDS

Maybe this section is the most important section, or maybe not, depends on you. haha Why I said it is important? because this section hold every notes about household things. But only notes.

After I make notes and see the most important things to be saved, I will move the notes to my life planner, so it will not going to lose or something. Just in case something happen to this binder. haha

This section also keep my long-time planner. Like maybe when I want to buy a house, I want to have a house like what.  :p


NOTES

Another thing is notes. This is just a section for blank paper. Maybe when I have idea of something, or I want to paint something. hahaha

BLOGS

This section is for all of my ideas to write a post in my blogs or maybe make some videos. You know..ideas come fast and disappear fast enough too. haha

ISLAM

As a muslimah, I will not going to forget about my duty as muslim. So, I have papers that include my long-term plan for my day as Muslim. Because this month is the month of Ramadhan, I will tell you one of the example of Ramadhan activities that I put in my binder.

I've been learning about how to be a productive muslim from productivemuslim.com and they gave me a daily calendar for Ramadhan, like this one.

You can download it for free in the website of Productive Muslim. This taskinator can help us manage our daily activities during Ramadhan.

I put this paper in the binder because sometimes I will make a point and move that point in the Ramadhan Taskinator in my life planner.

Actually I am still working on it. So, I am still improve my binder all the time. If you have any comments and suggestions, please let me know. I will be very happy to hear from you.

Okay...I hope this post useful for you.

Don't forget that I have a project for you about life planner for muslim which will be launched soon. Don't worry...it is free!! ^__^