The little brother cast his net a little wider in September and headed off to University, leaving behind the comforts of home he swapped his pampered life of home cooked meals and lifts from dad to student halls and riding his bike in the rain! A brilliant snap chat showed just how much he was loving the change! I can’t share it as he swore and this is a family blog!
I have never lived with my little brother seeing as there is 20 years between our ages (that’s a whole other story of what my parents got up to when I left the comforts home to start university 🙂 ) But we are close and I can say that there have been some great conversation since he started. We have had the ‘ I bought a train ticket to go visit Simon which bit do I need the outbound or return bit’ we also have had ‘why are my white clothes not as white when I wash them’ This preceeded the I ran out of underwear so went and bought more boxers conversation.
Yes like I said he was previously very pampered!!! However we have actually spoken more in the past six weeks than normal thanks to Facetime and social media.
In addition to the little brother I am a former sixth form teacher and tutor and I saw my role as preparing them for adult life be it Uni or leaving home. This was just as important as the academic support to me and I enjoyed watching them develop their independance throughout sixth form. I am already training Chloe, who is nearly 15, for the next steps in life and here are my three top student hacks to make life that bit easier:
#StudentHacks
1. Eggs. Yes that is right, learn what you can do with an egg from poached, scrambled with prawns or perfect for omelettes where you can add everything that is left in your fridge. Potatoes, ham, cheese, mushrooms, prawns etc can all be turned into a quick nutritious cheap meal. Learning to cook up some quick, tasty food is so important as eating takeaways soon gets boring and you stop wanting brown food. Vegetables galore that will keep you full and healthy will soon be craved. Therefore I think it really helps students if you teach them how to cook in the years before they leave home. Another staple is mince and I think everyone is capable of making a filling bolognaise or lasagna. I remember my now husband wowing me with a carbonara he whipped up when we were at Uni. I never told him that he was supposed to fry and cook the onions before adding it to the home made sauce he served it with! The thought was there and I went on to marry him so he did ok!!
#StudentHacks
2. Draw out cash each week. Know what your weekly budget is and pay for everything is cash. It is so easy to overspend or forget you have spent when paying on cards. I learnt to budget as I carried cash and it meant that is what I had. A visual reminder really helps stop spending without actually acknowledging that it is coming out of your bank. University is expensive and have fun but don’t add to your worries by getting more indebt than you actually need to.
#StudentHacks
3. Finally get online with your Currys laptop and make some money reviewing or bag some freebies. It has never been easier to use today’s modern technology to save money, use voucher sites to get money off coupons when you are eating out. There are often vouchers for favourite restaurants like Nando’s or Strada. Voucher cloud is a great app and the vouchers can be redeemed via a smart phone. Sign up for mystery shopping and you can have free meals out in exchange for your opinions which are collated by filling in on line questionnaires. Enter competitions online which is a numbers game and if you enter loads you will win its a matter of when. Join survey sites and sign up for market research with agencies like Podengo who are regularly looking for students. For me the only way as a student to make easy money like this was signing up to be in police line ups!! However even that is digital now!
This is my entry into the New Student Hacks Competition if you blog you can enter until Monday so be quick! You can survive Uni with these simple hacks. Enjoy Uni for it passes so quickly and then life gets more serious!
