Back to school season is upon us and that means one thing: it’s time for me to clean out my backpack. If you’re anything like me, your backpack has probably been sitting in the same spot at your messy desk since May. My backpack is filled with nine months worth of homework and trash that I have no interest in cleaning out. I've had it since my junior year of high school and I honestly don’t know how it has survived this long. It’s dirty and worn out but it does its job of carrying all of my books and supplies across campus. Before my backpack embarks on its fifth year of being dragged around, I thought it would be fun to clean it out and document my findings.

My backpack is pretty large and contains five pockets. This means it is capable of holding a lot of useless stuff that I don’t even need. The first pocket is home to an unidentifiable melted lip balm. The only aspect of it that gives hint to the flavor it once had is that it’s red. Next to the melted lip balm is a mostly used pack of orange "tic tacs," a crumpled up piece of paper that I think used to be my class schedule and a yellow zebra patterned flash drive. I’m pretty sure I’ve had this flash drive since the eighth grade and anything on it is far too embarrassing to open.

The side pockets of my backpack are of peculiar size and can’t hold much. In the left one is a bunch of granola bar crumbs and used tissues. I tend to blow my nose a lot and be the annoying person who never misses class even when they’re sick so that explains all the tissues. I just wish I threw them out after I used them. Inside the right pocket is a half full bottle of hand sanitizer. Like I said, I get sick a lot. In the front pocket I’ve found a pencil that seems to be made out of lead and an unnecessarily large stack of post-it notes. The post-it notes were definitely a purchase I made early on in the school year in an attempt to be more organized. Judging by the fact none of them appear to be used and the state of my back pack you can probably tell that my attempt to be more organized didn’t go too well.

The last and largest pocket of my backpack isn’t as messy as I thought it would be. It contains my planner which I seem to have forgotten to write in, a pencil case I’ve had since my freshman year of high school, and a notebook that weighs about three pounds. Surprisingly my pencil case contains more than the one pen that usually survives the school year. My notebook also still has its front cover intact so I guess this past semester wasn’t that bad after all.

It seems as if my backpack will survive another semester. Although, I may have to vacuum out all of the granola bar crumbs. As this new semester starts remember to be kind to your backpack and throw away your tissues right after you use them instead of letting them sit in its pockets for four months.