Days at college or uni are among some of the best you’ll ever experience but it’s not always a walk in the park. There will be times when you’re run down, exhausted, hungover and perpetually skint. How do you stay positive and healthy on a diet of noodles, working a part-time job and having essays to write? Here are some essential life skills for student survival:
- Learn how to budget
Being skint is unavoidable as a student but becoming completely penniless can be avoided with a little sensible budgeting. One smart option is a pre-paid budgeting card that has a certain amount for each month on it which is used solely for disposable income. This allows you to keep your money for rent, groceries, bills and travel totally separate. You’re much more likely to stay on track using this method. You can even download an app that’s assigned to the card for you to keep tabs on your spending.
- Know when to stop partying
Just a couple of drinks can easily turn into an all-night session. Knowing when to call it a night is a difficult skill to learn and takes real will power. One method you can try is to visit the cash machine before you go out, leaving your card at home. This way you only withdraw what you need and are happy to spend and no more than that.
- Develop your speed-reading skills
Whether you’ve genuinely forgotten, or you simply couldn’t be bothered, arriving at a class having done no preparation can leave you in an awkward situation. The skill of speed-reading will come in very handy, for revision time too. For articles and chapters, a quick speed-read is better than no reading at all. Highlight anything that looks important, so it doesn’t look like you’ve done nothing at all. Make sure your accommodation has an adequate study space and you might feel more encouraged to get studying! For top Student accommodation Gloucester, visit http://studentaccommodationgloucester.co.uk/
- Ask for help
In any area of life, there is no shame in asking for help. Whether it’s problems with coursework or concerns about debt, always seek advice and help. Don’t let problems pile up and become out of control.
- Develop basic cooking skills
You don’t have to live on baked beans and noodles. Spend some time learning some basic recipes for simple, healthy meals and master those before moving onto something more complex. You’ll be amazed at how easy it is to eat well and save money by knowing how to prepare simple yet delicious meals. For example, pasta and sauce can supply a dinner and a cold lunch for the next day. Microwave meals taste awful and takeaways are too expensive to eat all the time, so you need a few recipes under your belt and a list of cupboard essentials.
