School supplies?!

[aml1109]

I know the basic school supplies I will need (binders, notebook, pencils, etc) but is there anything anyone used "outside of the box" that helped? I'm not the most organized person so I am trying to figure out how to do this all and be successful!!

Thanks!! :) :)

[MommaTy]

I bought a huge dry erase calendar. It's great for marking when things are due and where clinical sites are :) It also has a notes section so anything that you want to remind yourself of.

[springchick1, ADN, RN]

Do you actually use the scanning and copying features of the printer? I have heard that I'll need a laser printer because I'll be doing a LOT of printing, but is scanning/copying a necessity, too?

TIA!

I do use the printer and the scanner. I am able to scan some of the documents in for clinicals and if I find something to share with my classmates, I'll scan it and add it to our page. I use the printer to have a back up of my work I turn in if it isn't something done on the computer jut to be safe:). And I've never needed color ink before. I know someone asked about that but it hasn't been an issue.

[i♥words]

I bought a huge dry erase calendar. It's great for marking when things are due and where clinical sites are :) It also has a notes section so anything that you want to remind yourself of.

I second this. I use a dry erase weekly calendar that helps me keep track of things. In total I have three calendars including the dry erase one, regular wall calendar, and planner. I feel like if I don't have it written down at least three times, I won't remember it!

I also like to use a huge dry erase board for studying. I can write things over and over or draw pictures without wasting a ton of paper.

[springchick1, ADN, RN]

I bought a huge dry erase calendar. It's great for marking when things are due and where clinical sites are :) It also has a notes section so anything that you want to remind yourself of.

I have one of these too! It has a place for notes and comes with a small cork board at the bottom. I love it!

[4boysmama]

One tip on the "planner" - I'm an organizer at heart, and I use google calendars for this; I prefer it to a paper organizer because I can delete/update things without it getting messy with crossouts and such. I've got a calendar for each class, and specific colors for tests/quizzes/assignments/clinicals, etc. It syncs automatically across my laptop, smartphone, DH's computer.

[SunshineDaisy, ASN, RN]

Laser printer was a must for me! We printed out SO much stuff that it was less cost for me in the long run to get the laser printer. I paid $100 for it on sale. It's an HP, got it from Best Buy. It's wireless too, so can print from my PC, laptop, iPhone and iPad! I have had it for 2.5 years and have gone through about 4 toner cartridges ($60-70) each, and 2.5 boxes of paper. Of course I am not the only one who uses it, but I use it the most. I have printed thousands of pages (each cartridge is about 2,000 pages). My friend would go in half on the ink and paper because she used it as well. Like I said, cheaper for us. School printing it 10 cents/page. Ink jet ink doesn't last as long. So, yeah...

Also, really good pens! You write a lot. And colored pens, helps to keep your notes organized. I also used the colored tabs for my books. Each test was color coded, and I'd put that in the front. like test 1 was blue, test 2 pink, etc. That way I wouldn't be confused when looking through the book for a specific test!

[Ash81386]

I just graduated and I must say... As far as the printer goes, my dad bought me this big, giant canon printer/scanner/copier (and I think fax also?) that only prints black and white... At first I thought he was a little crazy because it looks more like a business office printer than a person's home/personal printer. However, that thing came in handy BIG time!!! Through my 3 yrs of nursing school, I think I only had to buy toner twice (MAYBE 3 times, but I doubt it)! And there was *soooo* much to print out!

As far as color being an issue, whenever I had a presentation that I had to use pictures for, I'd print the pictures (say, for example, graphs/charts) in regular black & white but glue it on colored construction paper for color. Or I'd go use whatever cute scrapbook papers or stickers I could find to match the theme of whatever presentation. It was never an issue and my presentations always came out well. Trust us... get a good printer!

Our school also loaded like $8 worth of printing credit in the library, btu the library was SOOO far across campus and the only print lab near us required us to either: 1) bring our own paper or 2) limit our prints to 15 pages & pay for the rest.

[nay2vp]

Definitely Get a dry erase board! It makes practicing med math a lot funner!