Clean your room for the new year

See that pile of papers? The stack of books? Those dishes on the floor? It's time to clean it all up and start fresh in the new year.

It's been nice to ignore the books for a while. But you've got a lot to do again. Classes, activities, sports. And maybe even some more college applications. Or, if you're a junior, perhaps some college tours.

A clean desk can kick off the fresh start:

• Give away the books to a younger student.

• Recycle all of your old notes. Shred anything that's really personal.

• Open your desk drawers. Even if you can't see the mess, it's still there.

• Clean up your computer too. This includes dumping unused items from your desktop into the "trash," and organizing your digital files in the cloud.

Let's go!