9 Tips And Tricks For College Students

Hullo, friends! So today’s post is a little different. This past semester, I finished my first year of college, and it was certainly a new experience. 🙂 So I thought I would share some of the little tricks I learned in my first year at college. Keep in mind that all colleges and their surrounding towns are different, so you may  not be able to do some of these, but I hope you’re able to find something to help you out. And if you’re not in college, share this with someone you know who is (or bookmark it for future use 😉 ).

1. Be creative when it comes to food. It is really, really easy to get bored of the same old cafeteria food. If your cafeteria has a salad bar, try using some of the items on there to mix up other meals. Tired of hamburgers? Add some bacon bits and shredded cheese. Bring some salsa from an outside restaurant, or bring your own salad dressing or sauce. Buy Go-gurts and put them in the freezer to have your own froyo (seriously, it is the best)! Building off of that…
2. More expensive restaurants may equal more meals. Spending twelve dollars on a meal at a more expensive restaurant may not seem like a good idea at first, but take into account how many meals you can get out of that twelve dollars. To-go boxes are amazing, guys! The food is usually more expensive (not to mention better quality) at some Italian restaurants, but they usually also give you bread of some kind and a side salad as part of your meal, which can easily fill you up. And if they have big portion sizes… well, I’ve gotten four meals out of one twelve dollar meal.
3. Get a library card. By this I mean a card for a public library, not the school library. A lot of public libraries not only have awesome reading books, they have movies, too. All you need is a library card, and you can get free movies! They’ll usually have a shorter rental period than books, but they’re definitely cheaper than Redbox.
4. Pay with cash. Lots of studies have shown that people who pay with cash tend to spend less. This is sooo true. It’s easier to spend money with a card, because it’s harder to hand over a twenty dollar bill to a cashier than to just swipe a plastic card. Plus, this is better for your finances in the long run.
5. Save your change. I actually learned about this from my Business teacher, and it builds off the previous tip. At the end of the day, empty out your change from your wallet or your pockets and put it in a jar or container of some kind. You can actually save up a lot of money this way! Change tends to build up without you realizing it, plus this can relieve some of the weight in your wallet or purse.
6. Ask about student discounts. This is mostly at restaurants, but student discounts are really helpful! Just by showing your ID you can get anywhere from 10-20% off your usual price. This is easy to forget about, but try and ask when you’re shopping or going out to eat. You might be surprised at the places that do student discounts! (You can also try Googling, but keep in mind each location is different).
7. Get up early to do your laundry. Very, very few college students will get up at seven to do their laundry on the weekends. Take advantage of the empty laundry room and get your laundry done early. Better to get up early than to wait hours for a dryer! (And also, this is just courtesy, but move your laundry right after it finishes!)
8. Go for a run or a walk. I actually did a whole speech last semester about the benefits of exercise, and one thing I was surprised to learn was that exercise can actually help your creativity a lot. So if you’re stuck on something, try getting some exercise or just going for a walk. It can also help improve your focus!
9. And last but not least… talk to people. I know, sometimes us introverts like to avoid social interaction, but there are times you want to hang out with people… and you can’t do that if you don’t have friends to hang out with. 🙂 In college, you even have a few basic questions you can ask the people who sit next to you in class, like “what’s your major?” and “where are you from?”. Don’t rely on other people to start the conversation. Put down your phone before class and start up a conversation with the people around you, sit with someone who’s sitting by themselves in the cafeteria, or just compliment someone who’s wearing a shirt with your favorite superhero on it.

I’m sure there are many more tips and tricks out there, but this is a pretty good start! Do you have any college or school related tips? Have you used any of these before? Do you want to see more college-related posts like this one? Comment below with your thoughts!