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 week or so. But you're going to have a lot to do again, very soon. Classes, activities, sports. And maybe even some more college applications. Or, if you're a junior, maybe even 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!