Being a student is sometimes challenging. Not only are you out on your own living away from home for the first time, but you’ve also got a schedule full of classes to attend and study for. And a social life to keep up with. And don’t forget to get your daily exercise in. Did you go to the store and run those errands yet?
For anyone who hasn’t had direct experience with it, adulting can be downright nauseating. How are you supposed to be a fully-functioning human being, attend classes, and also make sure that your room in your spacious Ohio University rental housing is clean? Well, with a little practice and some excellent time management and organization skills.
Time Management Strategies
Living on your own in a perfectly-sized off-campus rental home while taking classes full-time means you’ve got your fair share of tasks to keep track of. You’re not living at home with your parents, and no one but you will take care of yourself. With what can feel like a seemingly endless list of to-dos, time management is key to staying on top of things both on campus and at home in that huge student rental with three bedrooms you share with your friends.
- Create a schedule for yourself: the first step in time management is finding out what time you have to work with. Fill up a recurring calendar with times blocked out for classes, extracurriculars, jobs, and any other activity that has a set time. The remaining free periods are what you have to work with for everything else.
- Prioritize tasks: Need to dust and vacuum in your classy home for students on the east side? What about running to the store? Or what about the exam you need to study for that’s tomorrow? Finding a task management system that allows you to rank tasks based on priority sets clear to-do lists and helps you take care of them efficiently.
- Set realistic goals: Let’s say it’s that time of year, and you’re feeling a surge of productivity and want to clean your charming rental home that’s right by campus from top to bottom. If that’s a two-bedroom landing pad for students—or worse, a gargantuan rental home in the campus area with five bedrooms—that’s a tall order. Instead, break that monumental task down into smaller parts. “Clean the bathroom,” “Clear out the pantry,” and “Get rid of the dozens of empty beer cans on the front lawn from last night’s rager” are all much more realistic to tackle one by one.
- Avoid procrastination: This one’s pretty simple. Procrastination leads to stress and anxiety. No one likes it, and yet so many of us do it. Make use of productivity techniques like the infamous Pomodoro Technique to stay on top of things.
Household Chores and Responsibilities
Tasks around the home are one of those things that have to be consistent, or else things get really ugly really fast. We’re talking about empty pizza boxes on the floor and an old pile of laundry that’s turned into a mountain kind of ugly. And when you factor in the size of your off-campus rental with a huge floorplan, that’s a lot of square footage to keep up with consistently. What’s a student with little free time to do?
Well, if you have roommates, you’ll want to divide chores fairly so everyone in that cozy four bedroom rental right down the road from campus pulls their own weight in keeping things clean. Chore charts are some of the most efficient ways to keep track of things. That way, everyone knows exactly what’s expected of them. Chores can be organized on a daily basis or simply by who gets to do what chore.
Staying ahead of your chores is also a great way to save time when it comes to hunkering down to clean. The easiest way to reduce your workload is to clean as you go. Say you or one of your roommates just cooked up a huge dinner for everyone. Instead of letting the dishes in the sink pile up over the course of the meal—or even days’ worth—clean things up in the sink when there’s time for it in between cooking instructions. You’re still cleaning the same number of dishes, but they never get the chance to pile up to the point where it becomes too overwhelming to tackle.
When all else fails, it’s okay to ask for help. Life gets the best of us sometimes, and if you’re studying for three separate exams all happening in the same week, household chores might get pushed to the side—priorities, remember? If you have a roommate in your university rental, lean on them to help you through an extra busy patch. Or dial up a friend. Chances are, the people in your life will want to help you out.
When you’ve got a full class schedule, a social life, and a student apartment that’s close to campus, it can seem hard to keep up with everything at times. Finding a balance between your schoolwork and housework is a learned skill, and it takes time. Part of college is learning more about yourself, and this situation is no different. Take time to experiment with different time management strategies to find what’s most effective for you, and you’re sure to find something that will stick with you.