If you’re starting with a brand-new and empty backpack, you’re way ahead of the game. If your backpack is stuffed full of papers, books, and other stuff from your previous semester, empty it completely.
If you take your laptop to school, you should put it in the first pile too. Discard or put away anything that doesn’t fit in any of these 3 piles, such as trash, candy, toys, extra phone chargers, etc.
Some backpacks even have slots for pens, pencils, and cellphones. Use these for those items. If your backpack doesn’t have a smaller compartment, get a pencil bag. Put your supplies into the bag, then put it into your backpack. [1] X Research source
If you need to buy new binders, folders, and notebooks, consider color-coding them. Use a different color for different subjects, like red for English and blue for Science. Stack binders with their spines facing away from each other. This will create a straight stack rather than a sloped one. It will take up less space.
Leave the stuff that you don’t need at home or in your locker. This also goes for school supplies. If you take art class once per week, there is no need to carry around your art supplies every day.
Place this folder behind or in front of the other books and folders.
Instead of using full-sized lotion and hand sanitizer bottles, go for the mini travel-sized ones. You’ll need to replace them more often, but you’ll also save space. If you live in an unpredictable climate, then having a warm hat or an umbrella might be a good idea.
If you’ve organized your pack in the same way for a long while, emptying it out completely can help you imagine new ways to organize it more efficiently.
For instance, if you have a cooking pan you really like but rarely use, it might be a good idea to leave it at home. Consider replacing it with a lighter pan instead. How much your backpack weighs in the end depends on what you can personally carry and endure. Different people can carry different amounts of weight.
In other words, the heaviest items should be against the area that actually touches your back.
The goal in both modes of organization is to center the weight on your hips so that you can more easily maintain balance.
If your backpack doesn’t have many outer pockets, keep the more useful items towards the top. Leave the items you seldom use towards the bottom.
You can place shirts or rolled-up socks inside cooking pots. Rolls of duct tape can slide over hiking poles. Bear canisters are perfect for cramming with snacks and other scented items.
Consult your backpack owner’s guide to identify how the manufacturer intended the backpack to be used.
