By Jenna Moede

I remember the overwhelming excitement of reaching my last final exam or handing in that final research paper. A feeling of relief always washed over me because I had completed, successfully, another semester.

Then I would take a look around my home and force myself to figure out what to do with all the papers, notes, books and information I’d accumulated throughout the semester.

After several semesters, I learned what I needed to keep, what to throw out and, fingers crossed, what to sell.

I plan to use the same strategy when my classes start back up over the summer.

First, I tackled what to keep. My hyper organization kicked into play a lot on this one. I don’t like to keep anything that won’t benefit me in the future or that I just won’t use.

I have more trouble keeping school material than I do with giving it away.

That said, make sure you keep anything specifically geared toward your major and minor. This includes notes, research projects and papers, including electronic copies.

You never know when you may want to reference them or when you might need to revisit a topic you thought you wouldn’t need again.

Also, keep any books that relate directly to your major or minor. I can’t tell you how many times I went back to refresh my mind on theories, formulas and concepts that I supposedly had already mastered.

Remember that every class for your major or minor builds off previous classes so professors won’t spend time re-teaching what was already covered. They expect that you know and remember it.

Having those books easily accessible will really help you handle processing and computations you’ve already studied.

I also always kept an ear out during each class because professors often note what material students should keep. If you happen to catch that type of information, make sure you keep that specific paper, reading or presentation outline. Who knows when it will come in clutch.

Finally, keep any citation manuals you have to buy. Typically, your major will use one citation type. For example, my business major used exclusively AP. I dread citations, and I will do almost anything to avoid them, but having the manual saved me quite often.

Now, my favorite topic, what to toss. Let me say it again, I love saying “see you” to clutter I won’t use again.

Make sure, however, that before you throw anything away or delete any files that your professors have posted final grades. You may need to send another copy of a paper or project, and you want to make sure you still have that available if necessary.

After final grades post, feel free to throw out anything you know for certain you won’t use again. Usually this includes papers, tests and notes you used for general education classes, including electronic files.

I did this for all my general classes such as film, environmental science and music appreciation. I knew that I had completely finished those classes, and I didn’t plan on taking similar classes. For generals like math and English where I needed to take several courses to fulfill the general requirements, I waited until I finished the last one before I threw anything away.

I took a lot of pleasure in creatively getting rid of a couple of book reviews on books I hadn’t exactly enjoyed too much. Let’s just say that my apartment had confetti sprinkled around it!  

I also toss all of the scratch paper I used over the semester. Even when the scratch paper related directly to my major, the chances that I would revisit calculations that I never even turned in seemed slim at best so I never kept them.

Okay on to the best part! What to sell. Everyone likes making a little cash, so sell the textbooks you used after each semester right away. Don’t wait and let them build up because professors often switch books which means they might not hold their value.

You can sell these in various places so I recommend shopping around to find who will give you the best price. While on campus, I found that selling them to underclassman worked out better than selling them to the bookstore. They liked getting a deal cheaper than the bookstore, and I liked receiving an offer better than the bookstore. We both won.

Another trick I found was to trade books with classmates. Once you know what books you’ll need, you might have enough luck to know someone who needs the books you have and has the books you need.

This happened a lot with my friends while I took my general classes. It saved us both a little money.

Finally, sell what you’ve learned! People will pay for knowledgeable and relatable tutors. Take your knowledge and share it with other people while making enough to put a little extra money aside (or towards rent!)

In general, make sure you organize your copious materials after classes end so that you can make the most of what you’ve learned and start with a clean slate the next semester.