It’s Tuesday night, you’re sitting on your bed in your student house with your laptop on your knee trying to finish an essay, you have your phone in your hand texting your Dad about when you’re next visiting home and there’s a housemate meeting later to discuss household bill splitting.
Feeling a bit stressed? There just aren’t enough hours in the day to get everything done and it’s tempting just to hide under the duvet away from it all.
You’re not alone. Student life is busy! Uni work is obviously pretty important but so are your friends, the gym, family and the part time job you took to fund the £1 a pint nights at the union.
But running a house is stressful too right? The girl downstairs will kick off if the bathroom isn’t cleaned before her Mum visits next week….and it’s your turn.
The only thing that needn’t be stressful is the shared house bills.
That’s because the sharing of household bills for students can be sussed out in the first couple of weeks and forgotten about.
Time management is the key to not losing your mind in your effort to keep everyone happy. Study, work, fun and health can be successfully balanced, promise! It just takes a little bit of organisation and being mindful of these tips that we have put together.
Decide on your daily goals
Don’t roll your eyes. Making a plan for the day the night before will make sure you get the important stuff done. Don’t pretend you are going to do it first thing in the morning….laying in bed scrolling on your phone is what will happen and there’s no point denying it.
Don’t put too much on your to do list though. Be realistic and you’ll have more chance of completing everything and then you get to feel a bit smug. Get into this habit and you will achieve more.
Make dead time useful
The bus journey into Uni could be used to catch-up on your reading. Waiting for your friend to come out of a lecture is a great time to call your Gran and get some serious brownie points with your Mum.
Use your phone for scheduling work shifts, emailing your tutor and ordering the next text on your reading list. Your phone is NOT just for Pinterest or looking at the holiday photos of your second cousin’s best mate.
Sleep and sleep well
Think like a toddler and get yourself a proper bedtime routine. Obviously falling out of an Uber and sleeping in the garden isn’t going to be at the top of that list….it will happen, we get it! On ‘normal’ days wind down, put your phone away and aim for eight hours as unlikely as it is.
The day after a good night of sleep is highly likely to be productive. You will get stuff done, your work will be quality not confused and everything will be done more efficiently leaving time to chill.
Work out when your brain works best
We aren’t going to assume all students stay in bed till lunchtime. That’s clearly a cliché. You might be on fire at 7am. It may help that the students bills for everyone in the shared house will have been paid via the Glide app, your essay will already be in your Professor’s inbox and a bacon sandwich scoffed. Or you might find that early evening in the library is when your best, most focused work gets done. Plan your day around your most productive times.
Don’t get distracted
You know this. Deadline looming? Switch your phone off, tell people that no you aren’t coming out for cocktails and mute the notifications on your laptop. Easy! These distractions take time to get over so what might appear to be a harmless text that is quick to read – it will take much more time to re-focus your attention on the work you should be doing.
Make sure your job stays part time
Most students need to earn a bit of money during their time at University. Ideally it will be holiday work that allows you to focus on your studies during term time. If evening and weekend work is needed then you will need to set guidelines with your manager. Exam time requires minimal shifts. Skipping lectures because they are short staffed is a strict no-no. Be firm, don’t let them guilt you because you will need to protect the quality of your degree.
Essentially, when it comes down to student household bill splitting to make your life easier, then you need to speak with the Glide team or check out Facebook and Twitter for regular updates.