26 . 01 . 16 // Give Me A Shot To Remember

2 am study sessions that become 1 am study sessions >>>>

In the wise words of ABBA, “money money money, must be funny in the rich man’s world.” Unfortunately most students are hardly part of the rich man’s world, so here I’ve compiled a list of tips regarding how I personally manage to save and budget my money!

general tips

ask yourself: do you really, really need this, right now? my parents make so much fun of me because i will spend half an hour in a store and end up not buying anything, but this is a really important and effective way to prevent purchases that you could justify, but don’t actually need. i LOVE christmas shopping and gift shopping, but i have to limit myself to one gift per person. do they really need a second gift? even if it seems cute and perfect? no. you want a second or third vest, but do you need it? you have a washing machine and you can wear that vest more than one time before washing it.

keep money in perspective. if you see something that you think is a good price, check yourself by measuring it against a practical essential. for example, you could get that $20 top, OR you could get 9 toothbrushes for the same amount of money. (that’s kind of a lame analogy, but you get what i mean)

do not spend unnecessary money just because it’s a sale! make sure to still ask yourself if you need it. even if it’s a great sale, remember that it’s still money that you’re spending. spend it wisely! it’s better for your purse if you spend nothing because you don’t absolutely need something than if you spend even a little bit on something you don’t need.

BUDGET/TRACK YOUR SPENDINGS. (see below)

budgeting

download money-saving apps. I keep track of my spendings by keeping a binder full of all my receipts, taped to paper and inserted chronologically. And I use spending tracker by MH Riley Ltd (free on the app store), which allows you to log expenses and income, set budgets, and create categories. You can see pie charts for a breakdown of how much you spend on each category as well! I’ve used it for a couple months now and it’s been really useful because I can also see how much I spend in a big spending month (December) vs a normal month. I honestly spend a lot less money than I feel like I do - so it helps me stress a little bit less about money - and when I know that I log every purchase, it helps me save more and be more conscious of what I’m spending (similar to the effect that paying with cash instead of card has).

budget before each month/semester/season. You’ll have a general plan of what’s going to happen in that time frame (trips, classes, weather) and can plan expenses accordingly - estimate how much you’ll spend on whatever you’re planning to do. Leave yourself a cushion (I usually overestimate by a lot on purpose haha) and allow for food/leisure/shopping expenses. It can also help to work backwards, starting with a baseline amount of money you want to spend and either dividing it up by week/month (spend x amount of money per week), or breaking up the sum into categories as previously mentioned.

shopping tips

sign up for rewards at pharmacies. i am a hardcore CVS customer and saver, and i’m not sure about other pharmacies (from my experience, they aren’t nearly as good when you need to save). one time i saved 52% on my purchase! they’re great with giving you extrabucks and with a card, you can often take advantage of a LOT of deals.

clip coupons to your heart’s content! seriously. coupon clipping is nothing to be ashamed of. i am that person that shows up to the counter with a stack of coupons #noshame.

settle for non-brand name products (sometimes). this isn’t a foolproof rule; there are some items where the less expensive version is actually bad compared to the more expensive brand names, but usually the cheap brand of food is okay/tolerable too, and can be significantly less expensive, and if you go with the generic brands, the savings stack up. 

shop online. look out for in-store deals. old navy is my all time FAVORITE to online shop. they have excellent deals, esp around the holidays. stores have sales relatively frequently; if they don’t have any sales going on (other than their sale rack, which is always a good place to check first), go back again later.

go straight to the sale section. this is pretty obvious.

look at unit prices. the best deal is really based on the unit price. i get that sometimes you just want the least expensive item, but if it’s something like a baking essential and you want to get the best quantity for the price, check the unit price first.

if you are small enough, check the kid’s section. kid’s clothes and shoes are generally less expensive. an adult small is usually equivalent to a girl’s L or XL, and a boy’s M or L. an adult size 6 shoe is usually a girl’s size 3. they make some wicked cute sweaters and t shirts and shoes for kids, and you can save up to 50%! especially on small things like flip flops, plain t shirts, etc.

tell stores when your birthday is if they ask! i know a few stores do ask for your birthday (vera bradley is the one that jumps to mind first), and if they do, TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THAT! i got a legitimate coupon from vera bradley for the month of november out of it and was able to get a wallet at a great discount!

‘checks and balances’: college student style

shop with cash. when you pay with cash and not a card, you see how much you’re spending. i get paid in cash when i babysit, and that’s usually my spending money for the week. if i’m out of cash and i’m going shopping, i’ll withdraw like $40-60. when i have the physical money in my hand it’s easier to reality check and budget than if i swipe a card, even if i have a number in my head already.

take your time. okay, this isn’t always an option, but impulse buys are what often get people - those little things at the line in forever 21, or the candies by the cash registers at k mart. take time to deliberate over whatever it is that you’re buying.

saving on practicalities

rent textbooks. i know there are a lot of websites out there where you can supposedly download books. i haven’t looked at any of them (here’s a masterpost by @blogresources that includes a section about free textbooks), but i know i prefer having a physical book. you can rent most textbooks (i can’t make guarantees, but from what i’ve seen/heard) on amazon for a fraction of the price, and they will give it to you for the entire semester. for example, i need a textbook, and i could buy it for $143 or rent it for $22.

don’t buy fancy stationery. use that as a major splurge, but honestly, you can get by just fine with $1 notebooks from the pharmacy and pens and pencils that will do the job. i have found plenty of pens that cost less than $3 that i love.

carpool / bike / walk / take PT when possible. it depends where you live; i know that sg has an amazing PT system. it takes longer to get places, but costs like $3 from one side of the island to the other. if you live in boston and places are available via the T, take advantage of that, and so on with all the cities out there. if you can reasonably bike to somewhere, do it. walking is always best. but don’t let yourself get hypothermia! if it’s cold, take a taxi or car. gas prices stack up big time, and it doesn’t really make sense to have a car in college anyway! 

don’t eat out. don’t go to starbucks. these are small things that chew up a LOT of money each month. i limit myself to eating out once every 1-2 months, and set a $10 limit when i do so. starbucks/dunkin donuts = splurge. bring water/drinks and snacks with you, especially if you know that you’re going out and will likely get hungry!

disclaimers

REMEMBER TO TREAT YOURSELF SOMETIMES. set a budget each month and if you come out under the budget, it’s okay to treat yourself! don’t use up all the deficit if you can, but treat yourself to something nice that you don’t explicitly need but that you’ll use.

make allowances for social events! if you are hanging out with a friend, going to the movies, going out to eat, etc, be mindful of your money but don’t turn down an invitation just because you don’t want to spend the money. going to a movie once every 1-2 months is okay! you can find someplace inexpensive to eat, or agree to eat before going and just get ice cream (less expensive) after.

moderation is key. this all sounds really restrictive, but do remember that moderation is okay here. you shouldn’t sacrifice your comfort and health just to save some money. everything will be okay in the end, and stressing about money isn’t good for anyone.

please message me if you have any other specific questions!

Pro-tips for rookie academic writers after grading about a quarter of the midterm papers for my undergrad Shakespeare class:

If your entire argument can be made in one sentence, it’s too simple. 

If your argument cannot be summarized in one sentence, it’s too broad.

If your argument can’t be argued with, it’s not an argument.

Teachers don’t want you to fawn on the material; they want you to engage with it. Just fangirling over Shakespeare isn’t going to get you an A.

Avoid big sweeping generalizations in your opening sentences (and everywhere else). “Since the dawn of time” or “Of all the playwrights who have ever lived,” etc. etc. are superlatives you can’t possibly prove.

If you’re going to say that an author/text does something, you’d better be ready to demonstrate how. 

Your opinion is not analysis. Learn the difference. 

“Interesting” and “intriguing” are useless words that tell a reader nothing about the text. Be more specific.

Don’t assume you know a character’s motives without evidence from the text. Don’t assume you know an author’s motives, full stop.

If you’re a man making an argument about female perspectives in a text, have a woman read it before you turn it in. Just trust me on this one. 

I made this to put on my wall for revision, but I thought it might be helpful for some of you guys too so I thought I would share it!

Chapter 5 - Hess’s Law pt.2: Problem solving  // Science Scribbles A-Level / IB HL Chemistry collection

(Hess’s Law part 1 | other syllabus topics)

And here is part 2. Hope I managed to explain it somewhat ^^ The reason I drew all these symbols is to explain the method, but once you get it there is no need to draw them every time!

Sunday, February 21.

I took these pictures last wednesday and forgot to post. 🌵 Today I have so much work to do, but all I want to do is watch the x files all day. That’s what you get when you procrastinate, Alicia.👽

College Textbook Lifehacks

Okay so it’s not the beginning of a semester but whatever. While I’m thinking about it, let me, a bonafide degree holder learn you some knowledge about college textbooks so you don’t have to take out a mortgage or try to short the market just so you can have a $1,000 paperweight that you never read.

Rule #1 I don’t care what your syllabus says or what your pre-semester welcome email from your professor says or what the bookstore website says, don’t buy the book before classes begin. Show up the first day and ask the professor if the book is necessary for passing the class. Sometimes, it’s not. Sometimes the professor teaches from his or her own memory and never consults the course textbook. If this is the case, unless you just love reading textbooks or want to keep them for whatever occupation you pursue once you have your degree, don’t get the book and save yourself some money. If he or she can teach the course without a book, you can pass it without a book.

Rule # 2 If your professor’s response is yes, you absolutely do need the book, ask them how different the required issue is from previous issues. Book publishers are dirty swindlers and will release a new edition of each book every year or two. Often times the new edition has minor changes like maybe now chapter 14 is split up into two chapters or they changed a couple of the review questions. If an older edition will suffice, just like iPhones, they will be a lot cheaper than the newest edition and you have a better chance of finding an even cheaper used copy which brings me to rule 3.

Rule # 3 Don’t buy the books from your university. Like publishing companies, universities also tend to be dirty swindlers. Copy the ISBN listed for your textbook and paste that shit into a site like half.com valorebooks.com or amazon.com where you will find discounted versions of most every textbook. You could also try to torrent them off of those sketchy russian sites that are listed under that post with the “Leak college textbook PDF’s not nudes” tweet but when that doesn’t work, you go to those sites I listed. Now you have to choose what quality you want, this is important because it can affect the resale value which I’ll talk about later. Obviously the higher the quality (New, Used-Like New etc.) will give you book without creases, markings etc. but will be more expensive. If you don’t care about this (again I’ll explain why you might care in rule 4), maybe go for the rental if the rental is cheaper than purchasing a high quality book-ONLY DO THIS IF YOU DON’T CARE ABOUT RESALE AND DON’T TEND TO MARK IN YOUR BOOKS. Otherwise, the choice is yours. Now you might ask, what will I do for the two weeks it takes to ship my book? This is where making friends in class comes in handy, just ask them to borrow their book for the time being, or better yet, if you have a close friend already in the class, split the cost of the book 50/50 and share it. If neither of these options work for you, visit your professor in his or her office hours, give them some BS like “I’m so sorry professor, I think I mixed up the shipping and billing address so it’s taking forever for the book to get here boo hoo feel bad for me.” Usually, professors have no problem photocopying the first chapter of the book for you or will be a little lenient with deadlines for the whole class if you’re not the only one. This is fun because not only do you get away with not buying the book right away, but you’re a hero for your class.

Rule #4 Even though it’s the beginning of the semester, think ahead to the end of the semester. Your university is going to offer to buy back your books at the end of the semester. Do not sell them your books, I repeat DO NOT SELL THEM YOUR BOOKS. Those dirty swindlers that sold you an overpriced book a few months ago? Yeah they’re going to buy it back for $5.00 or less. I don’t care if it’s a 10 lb, 700 page biology textbook that’s still in the plastic wrap, you will get cheated. Sell them on amazon. Seller accounts are free and though you aren’t likely to get 100% of what you paid for it back, you will make much more money selling there than you would to the school. If you bought the higher quality book and kept it in decent shape, you’ll get some good beer money. If you went with the $0.99 acceptable condition book, maybe don’t try and sell it on amazon because you’ll pay more to ship it than you’ll receive profit this is why it’s important to take into consideration whether or not you think you will mark up your book. Rentals are cheaper than buying new but you can’t mark them and can’t sell them but don’t worry, there’s other places you can sell your book if you bought a crappy one. Find out if your school has a student run for sale Facebook group (hint, it probably does, especially if you’re at a large state-school), advertise your books on the page and sell them for cash to a fellow student. 

Rule #5 Sorry to say, but these rules don’t work for every course. You might have that professor that wrote their own book and makes you buy it which means you can’t find it on any third party website. When this happens, the most you can do is see if someone who has already taken the course still has their book so you can buy it from them. You can also leave a scathing review during evaluations at the end of the semester and on RateMyProfessor.com which may not do much but is good for the soul. 

Also, especially for labs and beginning language courses, you may need to buy a workbook. Used ones are hard to come by but they do exist thanks to people like me who do their assignments on a separate sheet of paper so they don’t have to mark up the textbook and can resell it later (I advise doing this). This works for language courses, I don’t know how well it works for labs since I am not a science student, if it does work-sweet and if not-I’m truly sorry.

These are my rules and I promise they work. If any one else has additional hacks that they’ve figured out I’d love to hear them! Seriously, doing these things saved me a load of money. 

This website is helpful, especially if you’re new to academic writing! You can select what section of your study you’re writing about and then it provides you with example phrases for different parts of that section. I find this super useful when I feel like I’m repeating myself or I know what results I want to describe but I don’t know how to say it. Here’s an example below:

ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww

writing adult emails is awful

its like

hi [name of person], 

this formatting is making me uncomfortable but I have to tell you something / ask you something that is vital to my career as a student. 

I re-read and edited that sentence for an hour, but you’ll probably just glance over it for half a second.

thanks! 

- [name]

as requested by quite a few people - a masterpost of educational podcasts. links go to either the site or the itunes podcast store. an excerpt of the description is included with each.

* indicates a podcast that i listen to regularly

entertainment

*welcome to night vale - twice-monthly updates for the small desert town of night vale

*muggle cast - everything harry potter

general information 

radiolab - investigation told through sounds and stories, and centered around one big idea

*stuff you should know - about everything from genes to the galapagos

*stuff mom never told you - the business of being women 

tedtalks

good job, brain - part pub quiz show, part offbeat news

news

no one knows anything - the politics podcast from buzzfeed news

wait wait…don’t tell me - weekly current events quiz

college

*college info geek - the strategies and tactics the best students use

*getting in - your college admissions companion

math

math for primates - a couple of monkeys who decided that arguing about mathematics was a better use of their time than throwing poo at one another

math mutation - fun, interesting, or just plain weird corners of mathematics

science

60 second health - latest health and medical news

the naked scientists - interviews with top scientists, hands-on science experiments

60 second science - the most interesting developments in the world of science

startalk - astronomy, physics, and everything else about life in the universe

nasa science cast - science behind discoveries on earth, the solar system, and beyond

history

*myths and legends - myths, legends, and folklore that have shaped cultures

stuff you missed in history class - the greatest and strangest stuff you missed

the podcast history of our world - from the big bang to the modern age! …eventually

witness - the story of our times told by the people who were there

the history chicks - two women. half the population. several thousands years of history.

entrepreneurship & finances

practical money matters - better managing their finances

the internet business mastery - learn how to create an internet based business

social triggers insider - the fields of psychology and human behavior

listen money matters - honest and uncensored, this is not your father’s boring finance show

writing & literature

professional book nerds - it’s our job to discuss books all day long

a way with words - words, language, and how we use them

grammar girl - short, friendly tips to improve your writing

classic poetry aloud - recordings of the greats poems of the past

language

esl (english) - improve english speaking and listening skills

language pod

coffee break

search in your podcast app for specific languages!

art

99% invisible - exploration of the process and power of design

tips and tricks photography 

the arts roundtable

hobbies & other

stash & burn (knitting)

practical defense - staying safe in our increasingly dangerous urban environments

zen and the art of triathlon - a triathlete’s view on living the multisport life

the art of charm - make you a better networker, connecter, and thinker

the indoor kids - isn’t just about video games, isn’t not about video games

rationally speaking - explore the borderlands between reason and nonsense

the dice tower - board games, card games, and the people who design and play them

motivational & inspirational

back to work - productivity, communication, work, barriers, constraints, tools, and more

personal growth podcast - classic and contemporary self development audio

what it takes - conversations with towering figures in almost every field

here be monsters - exploring the dark corners of the human mind

on being - the big questions of meaning with scientists, theologians, artists, teachers