When going or returning to college, everyone is always looking for ways to make their lives easier for the future. Many students will learn tips for packing and ordering supplies from older students or from past experiences. Either way there are many tips and hacks for any student to find ways to make college survivable in and out of the classroom. Some of the tips will be obvious ones, yet these tips are still important to think about for any student. When a piece of advice is given, it's there for more than just one scenario; a person can use the same piece of advice more than once. Each tip or piece of advice can carry a person through school, their work life, and through life itself. Life isn't easy though. A few tips won't make life easy, but it will make life better.
1. Constant reminders
Send yourself reminders in every way you can. By setting goals in passwords, or posting them on the walls and mirrors of a person's room and bathroom can also help. Sometimes this can be more useful than a planner whether it is paper planner or electronic. Writing it down and taking a picture of a goal and setting it as one's lock screen on their phone can also be helpful.
2. Use rubbing alcohol
Each person should have rubbing alcohol in their room for multiple reasons. Besides using it to clean up wounds and cuts, rubbing alcohol can be use to clean parts of the wall. When using command strips, they work best after the spot on the wall has been wiped down with rubbing alcohol and left to dry, then sticking the command strip on the wall and letting it sit for 15 minutes before hanging something up. Another good use for rubbing alcohol is homemade ice packs: take a plastic sandwich bag or gallon bag, put one part rubbing alcohol in and three parts water. It'll be cold but not hard making it easy to fold around a person's body.
3. Use vinegar
Vinegar is great for cleaning up a mess for anyone. When a person's microwave is dirty they can stick a cup of hot water mixed with vinegar in the microwave on high for three to five minutes and then wipe clean after. If gum it stuck to a person's clothes use vinegar: boil the vinegar and poor it over the gum before using a brush to gently wipe it off, no stain should be left behind.
4. Have at least one first aid kit.
Whether a person is accident prone or not doesn't matter, having a first aid kit is handy for everyone. Not to mention it is extremely easy to go to a department store and buy a container to make a first aid kit rather than buying one, could be cheaper too.
5. Freshening up the air
A student can't have candles or anything that burns in their room for safety reasons. Now there are other ways of freshening up the room rather than using Febreze. Putting dryer sheets in the back of fan can freshen up the room, or having a bowl of coffee beans out can give the room a nice smell.
6. Other uses for deodorant
Deodorant is amazing, it makes a person smell good and prevents sweat/awkward body odor. But a person can also use deodorant for other purposes! Have a bug bite? Smear a little bit of deodorant over it to stop the itching. Wanna wear shorts without your thighs chafing? Put deodorant between your thighs when wearing shorts.
7. Viberly.com
People love Netflix and Spotify, especially a college student! There is free subscription for anyone, as long as they put a sticker on their laptop.
8. School supplies and tips
Everyone will eventually get burned out from school or will have a brain fart here and there, which is okay. When stumped on a math question or a question in general, take a few moments to lie down; your thought process is faster when lying down. When running out of ink for a printer, use dark tan, it is similar to black and can be used in emergencies.
9. Citrus fruits
When feeling sick, a citrus fruit could be a better cure than medicine. When having a headache, cut a lime in half and rub it back and forth across your forehead, the throbbing should ease up. Also sucking on a lemon can help get rid of motion sickness, it'll just make you pucker up.
10. Eating healthy
Eat well at college, just as you would eat well at home. Trying to be healthy? Use cauliflower for chicken nuggets and just put a bit of barbecue sauce on it for some flavor. As a student, don't be afraid of the salad and fruit bar, they have good stuff here. Trying to save money or not use medication? Eat 10-12 almonds is the equivalent to two aspirins. Eating breakfast in the morning does more than wake you up; it can also help you burn calories faster and be less likely to have acne.
11. In dorm tips
When getting a personal pizza: flip it around and use the pizza lid as a bib. More useful than one would think. If a person runs out of dryer sheets, use two tinfoil balls instead to get static free clothes. A person gets sick? Use ground coffee; it'll dry up the vomit and get rid of the smell, makes for easy clean up.
12. Be nice to people
Be nice to the people who make your food and drinks, who clean up after you (work space/living space), who fix anything maintenance related. These people should be shown more respect than a person's boss, because this job isn't easy nor does it pay as much as it should.
13. Hobbies you love
Each person needs three hobbies in life that they absolutely love. One hobby should make this person money, another should keep the person in shape, the last hobby should let the person be creative. Best way to lead a successful life.
