How to organize yourself and your college stuff

We all know that awkward moment when you stand in front of your door and you realized you forgot your key. We also know that moment that you were convinced that you had your books packed for class and that, once in class, it turned out you did not have them with you. This exactly why organization is important, but sometimes it is difficult to awake the discipline inside yourself and actually start getting organized. There are different tips and tricks and today I will share some of my own with you. In an earlier post, I gave tips for saving room. Some of these tips might complement the tips from that post. 

Files can hold very much paperwork and protect it at the same time. In Dutch, they are called ordners, and for a reason. Not only can you easily and chronologically order your stuff in the files, but with tabs, you can also make sections for the paper work of each course. No more searching for old lecture notes or papers that might be handy for a follow-up course. As long as you file everything, you will not loose anything! I always keep lecture notes with the printed powerpoint slides of that lecture and add the readings to them, so that I have everything ordered by class session.

In order to know which documents are in which files, you need to use labels. You can keep them very general, such as 'Bachelor, year 1' or 'Master', but if you need several files for one semester or year, it might be wise to label them by course. I have, in fact, gone as far as to label them in the same order as they are in my files: 

I also value mail partitions. Sometimes you get mail that you only have to store, other times you get mail that requires you to undertake some action, such as transferring money to another bank account. Or maybe you just want to have papers within reach of your arm, regardless of what it is and how often you really need it. Mail partitions are the solution, as long as you use one shelf for each type of mail or documents. This should also help you keep track of your private finances. 

It is also tempting to make a mess of the drawers inside your desk. I know all about it and the only solution is to keep your discipline, so that your drawers will keep looking like this: 

Note the divider between the front and the back of the drawer. This way you can also keep things and items for different purposes separate from each other. 

I also like to keep my books together. When you read a series such as Twilight, Harry Potter, Hunger Games, or Gossip Girl, this is fairly easy, but with college textbooks, you might need to rethink your methods. While you can order by colour, I prefer to order them by general, overarching topics, so I keep methodology and statistics books together, I have a section for psychology books, a section for interpersonal and conversational skills, and so on. 

Last but not least, we often forget stuff because we start packing at the very last moment. It is therefore wise to keep a look on the clock and pack your bag the night before your 9 am class next morning. It is an advice my 7th grade tutor gave me, when my class was fresh in junior high school and still afraid to forget books because forgetting something could result in expulsion and detention. In college, no teacher will remove you from class when you forget something, but for yourself it is handier to be prepared. So, pack your stuff in time so that you can remain organized outdoors, after the aforementioned indoor organization advices. 

What do you do to stay organized? Or is your (part of your dorm) room an 'organized chaos'? Do you have other tips to become and remain organized? We probably all have our own ways, so everyone gets wiser by the exchange of information ;) 

Five ways to live on a budget

Many students around the world live on a budget since studying is not cheap. There are tuition fees, books and other supplies for your study, but you also need to eat, pay rent and/or public transportation costs, and many other things, and not everyone is blessed with rich parents or parents who are willing to pay the college experience for their grown-up children. No matter the cause of your limited budget, here are five simple tips you can follow if your months are longer than your money. 

First, check whether you really need the latest edition of your textbooks or that an earlier edition will suffice. The earlier editions are often offered second-hand on the web, so they are cheaper than the brand-new editions. If you even do not manage money-wise to buy books at all, check at your library whether your course books are available there. In my faculty's library, they have the textbooks at the desk that are not for lending, but for short-term use within the library. You go to the desk, ask whether you can use the book for X hours and bring it back when you're finished. Our library also happens to have the readers of all departments for instant use. Also check whether your faculty has this, because this can also save a significant amount of money. And, now that we're on the topic of books anyway, you might as well check out whether your teacher has written the actual textbook(s) needed for the course. I once had a teacher telling us that she would not mind sending us all other chapters of a book  via e-mail that she had written and published. 

The second advice I can give is to try to print as much as you can with two pages on one sheet of paper. This, of course, depends on the lay-out of the text you're printing, but it has occurred to me a couple of times that I was deceived by the lay-out on the computer screen and therefore printed one page per sheet while I could easily have printed two pages per sheet. If you use the two pages per sheet setting for all your prints (other than official documents, such as papers, essays, and theses, that must be handed in!), your print costs can be reduced by almost 50% !!!

Thirdly, it might be useful to find out whether there are second-hand shops within a reasonable distance from your campus. What is a reasonable distance is different for everyone, but a reasonable price for students is probably not! Second-hand stores are usually closer to reasonable prices for students than the 'normal' stores, unless it comes to collector's items. If you have no objection against using things already used by others, going second-hand is an ideal option for those living on a budget. 

My fourth advice is to keep track of the sales and other special actions of the shops. Since a few years, I am  under the impression that there are more weeks in a year that especially clothing stores have 'sales' racks throughout their shops than that they have not. Also be aware of shops that are about to move, renew the interior of their building, or going bankrupt. These shops usually try to get rid of as much stock as they can by reducing the prices like crazy. This one is for people who do have an objection against used things, but who are also on a budget. Since many fashion trends are also allowed to be worn for a longer period of time, buying during the sales does not necessarily mean that you're dressed old-fashioned next season! 

Last, but not least: think economically! Weigh the costs of an item versus its perceived usefulness or benefits. For example, some biological foods are more expensive than non-biological foods, but biological foods yield a stuffed feeling faster than non-biological foods, so you need less of them. Besides, biological foods really are tastier, so you also weigh the price-quality balance. Also try to find out for which grants and compensation you are eligible as a student. This may cost some time and reading tough paper work, but it might be worth it. Thinking economically is really not that difficult, you just have to make a cost-benefit analysis and be realistic and honest to yourself. If you see a super cute cardigan that does not fit with the rest of your wardrobe and therefore ends up unworn, it might be a waste of money, no matter how cute it is. 

These were my advices for living on a limited budget, but I'm sure that you have your own ways of figuring financial stuff out. How do you manage? Are you the lucky one who get everything from the parents? Or are you okay with taking a loan and having debts for the first years after your graduation? 

Why we'll never have so-called perfect skin and skin care rules - also for guys!

I think we have all had moments when we wished we could have flawless and smooth skins like the main characters in TV-series or the models in beauty advertisements. Forget it. You will never get that, and I will explain you why. However, there are a few rules that can help you get your skin naturally smooth and healthy. They will be given after the reasons why our skins just cannot look like those on TV and fashion/beauty adverts. 


Firstly, the people on TV and fashion/beauty ads have likely had a facial before the cameras were turned on. They have also been in the make-up seats for at least 60 minutes and the average college student does not have so much time when lectures start at 9.00 AM. On top of that, this make-up and the hairdos have been done by professionals and, while I believe some college students can do amazing things with make-up or hair, we are no professional make-up artists or hairdressers. And this is only the beginning.


There is something else that makes the skins of celebrities stand out from ours: perfect lighting and angles. If a top model has a few pimples on the right half of her face while the left half looks fine, the camera will not zoom in on this right half or the light technician will make the light fall on the model's face so that the pimples are hardly visible. However, we cannot always control how others see us and we cannot always control the lighting in the lecture rooms. If this nice guy or girl decides to sit beside us on the side which has the most pimples, we can hardly tell him/her to take a seat on the other side of us, especially if that seat is already taken. So, face it: we will not always be seen in the best possible lighting and from the best possible angles.


Last, but not least (and I am convinced we all know it although we hope it is not true): airbrush and Photoshop. These technologies can remove pimples, freckles, unwanted fat, and anything that is not desired on a certain photo or in a certain scene. They may also add a close to unnatural shimmer to the model's/actor's face and hair. I personally could not believe that modern technologies were used for such purposes until I saw this. These photos showed me how modern technologies are used in order to make people look better on pictures. Check the 'before'-shots and you will find out that your skin might not be so bad after all.


So, now you know why you will never reach the perfection created during photo sessions and film recordings, it is time to find out what you can do to keep your skin in a healthy condition. The guidelines are simple, in my opinion, and they do not demand the use of make-up at all, although they may require some discipline.


Rule number 1 is that you should wash your face twice a day. This is more than just splashing some water in your face when you wake up; you better get a face cleanser that actually kills bacteria, too. Especially if you like to wear make-up, water alone is not likely to wash away everything you put on your face. The leftovers of make-up may clog your pores and so cause pimples (this also goes for other types of 'dirt', but make-up is a good pore-clogger, too). In addition, I like to scrub my face once or twice in a week. A scrub peeling cleans your skin a bit more thoroughly and gives a fresh gloss as it removes many dead skin cells.


Rule number 2 is easy, as well. Now you have washed your face with more than just a splash of water or you have just come out of the shower and the skin on your face may feel a bit strained. Time to bring out a nice cream or oil! It will depend on your skin type which cream or oil works best for you. Those with a more sensitive skin might benefit from buying organic and natural skin care products, but it really depends on what ingredient your skin is most sensitive to. A good cream or oil hydrates or nourishes your skin so that you don't get lines in your face from dehydration, nor do they cause a pimple outburst from being too fat for your skin. Some brands have creams that go for both day and night; others have separate creams for day and night. As soon as you notice lines under your eyes, a cream for your eyes might be needed. When you are in your twenties, the lines you may spot in your face are not wrinkles, but lines caused by your skin not being nourished/hydrated enough. They do, however, give you an idea of where to expect wrinkles by the time you are old enough to have and how they look on you. If you are unsure about your skin type, do not hesitate to ask the lady at the shop where you like to buy your skin care products.


Rule number 3 is another easy one. It is probably a predictable and lame one, as well, but I want to mention it anyway, since skin care does not only rely on what you do on the outside: live healthy! I define living healthy as getting enough sleep; eating many fruits and vegetables and leave the meat alone every now and then; drinking water and maybe fruit juices; going out in the fresh air for at least 30 minutes on a daily base, and work out. This work out is not necessarily a boot camp or fitness session at the gym; it may also involve hiking in the forests nearby your town or going out for shopping. Living healthy also includes catching sunlight with moderation. Too little sunshine will keep your face pale and pimples will never disappear (trust me: they hate sunlight like vampires!); too much sunshine will make you look like sunbathing is your #1 occupation, it speeds up the ageing-process, and it increases your chances to get skin cancer.


So, these are the basics of skin care for students. I follow all of these myself and since I know how much Photoshop and airbrush can do - even to a skin - I am actually much more content with the state of my skin.