Livin’ It Lufbra Series: Settling Into Your Uni Routine
Our Student Living Blog Series: Livin’ It Lufbra is aimed at helping you get the most out of your uni experience, be that at work, play and everything in between!
This month we’re looking at helping you settle into your new uni routine, whether that’s working out how to tackle your dissertation or just planning your first assignment.
Episode 2: Settling Into Your Uni Routine
Whether you’re a fresher just starting out or a returning student going into your final year, now that the craziness of Freshers Week is done and dusted it’s time to start settling into your new uni routine and striking a healthy balance between work and play!
Besides leaving the family home for the first time and the struggle of managing your money, striking a good balance between your social life and uni workload is right up there as one of the toughest challenges you’ll face as a student.
For many, it is the first time that 100% of your daily routine decisions are firmly placed on your own shoulders. As great as that sounds, in reality it can be a shock and twinned with the inevitable peer pressure to ‘join in’ it can become a real test of self-determination and willpower to find the time to study! Even students moving into 2nd and 3rd year often still struggle to divide their time wisely between work and play.
Our Top Tips For Nailing Your Work/Play Balance At Uni
Thankfully, we have a little experience in this area and thought we’d share a couple of our top tips to help you plan your time wisely so you don’t miss out on anything.
Make a plan
So this may sound super obvious and really simple but actually WRITING down your schedule and having a visual representation of your timetable can work wonders for managing your time. Invest in a decent academic diary or wall planner and mark out your weekly routine so you know exactly what you’ve got on and when. This will also help you to easily spot where your busy periods are, enabling you to plan your social life more sensibly so you’re not having to pull all nighters to meet work deadlines.
Get up at a decent time
Students often get a lot of flack for sleeping too much, and let’s face it who doesn’t love an afternoon nap, but getting up at a half decent time every day will really help you keep on top of your time management. Even on days when you don’t have morning lectures, planning in study time over sleeping is a sure fire way to ensure you keep your evenings free for more sociable activities!
Hold yourself accountable and reward yourself when you stick to the plan
Ultimately, you’re the only person that can ‘make’ yourself do anything and the joy of university study is that your education really is in your own hands – you’ll get out what you put in. So, if you make a plan, stick to it. Hold yourself accountable to your own schedule and when you hit your targets, reward yourself accordingly!
Rather than making yourself feel guilty or ‘punishing’ yourself when you slip up or procrastinate, build rewards into your timetable so you have an extra incentive to hit your own targets. Having something to look forward to after you’ve finished an assignment or study session is a great motivator!
Top Student Deals & Offers
This month we’re bringing you our top pick of student deals and offers to help you organise yourself, save money and get stuck into your work – after all that’s why you’re here… right?!
Extra 10% Off Textbooks With Amazon
Textbooks are expensive, and unless you’ve camped out at the library during Freshers Week it’s likely that the core textbooks for many courses will be in short supply by now. Thankfully, Amazon are offering an extra 10% discount off textbooks for students for a limited time only. Why not form a study group with your course mates and spread the cost of textbook purchases – buy one or two titles each and organise a textbook share across the year?
20% Discount At Cartridge World
So, we know printers and printing ink aren’t cheap, but why not club together with your housemates and invest in a printer share?! You can get a range of printers for under £40 these days; pair that with 20% student discount on ink cartridges from Cartridge world and you’ll be laughing come assignment deadline day when everyone else is queuing at the library!
8GB USB For Under A Fiver
GizzmoHeaven are offering an 8GB SanDisc USB stick for just £4.49 along with free delivery! Just what you need to start a fresh and get all your work in order ready for the year ahead.
Stock Up On Stationery
Grab yourself an academic diary or wall planner at a discounted price and start implementing your personal plan today!
It may seem like you’ve only just moved in but many student houses for next year will be booked up before the end of this term! Take a look at our Loughborough student accommodation now or pop into the office anytime for a coffee and a chat to discuss your needs.
Andrew Chell can be contacted as follows:
Phone: 01509 552814
Mobile:07769 684800
Email: [email protected]
Office: 66 Ashby Road, Loughborough LE11 3AE
Published 19th October 2015
