1. Meal prepping
Cooking takes time. It’s a bit unrealistic to expect yourself to cook every day on top of university and your commute to campus. That’s why meal prepping exists.
As a university student, it’s natural to want to take the easy way out on food after an exhausting day. However, not only is takeout expensive, it’s also extremely unhealthy if done too often. Meal prepping is a great way of ensuring that you always have something nutritious in the fridge. If you do it right, you’ll only have to cook two or three times during the week, and if you portion out your macros correctly, you’ll reach your gains in no time. Having food on hand also reduces the temptation of wanting to eat out. “We have food at home” is real, guys.
2. Buy more Tupperware
While you’re busy meal-prepping, make sure you take note of how much Tupperware you have. You can get cheap lunch boxes from Action or Hema, and sometimes Albert Heijn has deals for some pretty big containers. Tupperware allows you to store your hard-earned food safely in the fridge, and saves loads of time and space as opposed to plating your food every time you want to eat. Bringing your meals to campus is also a good idea, and can save you tons of money. I have never felt more like an adult than when I got excited to buy Tupperware for myself.
3. Exercise daily
No, walking between your classrooms does not count as exercising. Or, well, the campus is actually big (and beautiful) enough to have a good, long stroll in between lectures. But if you do, make sure that you go for a long walk of at least half an hour. Not only is exercising beneficial for your body, it also helps you keep a clear mind, makes it easier to focus for longer periods of time, and generally makes you feel good about yourself. You don’t have to go full-on athlete and train until your muscles pop, but it’s a good idea to take about an hour every day to focus on your health. An hour every day amounts to a grand total of… seven hours a week! It really doesn’t take much time. Get a gym subscription, join a sports association, or go for a run after classes.
4. Treat school like a full-time job
Most of the time, school is a full-time job. One tip that helped me was to treat university like a 9-5: I’d start on my ‘job’ at 8:45 a.m., which is when the earliest lectures usually are, and clock off at 5.30 p.m. That means that I continue to focus on classes and do exercises/study until 5.30, even when I don’t have any classes during that time. It wouldn’t be like this every day, of course, but having a scheduled time to do university stuff and also having a scheduled time to relax and do other things greatly lessened my stress levels. Take care of your body and your mind.
5. Learn how to budget
University is the perfect time to learn how to budget because in most cases, you’re dealt very limited cards. Every cent spent counts – I just wish I’d realised that sooner. Some banking apps have a built-in budgeting tool where you can oversee your spending and have it predict your next moves. While that’s fine, I prefer using something like Excel or Sheets where you have to manually input everything you spend. Inputting it manually helps you learn and understand the value of each euro that you spend. When I was still in the trial-and-error phase, I used envelopes: putting a set amount of money in each envelope (these represented categories, such as groceries) would reinforce the idea that the money inside was to be used for that category and that no more would come in. The first couple of weeks of university are not usually good indicators for what your spending habits are; most of the time, you’ll have to learn the hard way, I’m afraid.
6. Have something to look forward to each week
This is extremely important for your mental health. Using a rewards system for your necessary tasks is a genius idea, because it gives you that small boost you need to get through those exhausting weeks. Having something fun every week, be it alone or with friends, can also get rid of that feeling where you’re just trudging by every week with no end in sight. Learn to take things periodically, and you’ll get to enjoy your time more. I usually reward myself with a little day trip during the weekends. Some other ideas could be getting to cook your favourite dish, eating out, or organising a gaming session with friends.
7. Go to every lecture
I’ve talked about this before in other stories as well, but I cannot stress this enough: go to every lecture. It’s okay to skip a few, and you don’t have to go to every tutorial, but do your best to attend every lecture that’s scheduled. And while you’re there, make sure you pay attention. Actually taking in what you’re learning makes it much easier to stay on top of things throughout your module. This is also part of treating school like a job – lectures are the main part of university, I would say, so don’t skip them!
8. Ask for help
If you’re unsure of what to do, most of the time, someone is more than willing to help you. If you’re stuck on a problem, then most professors have no problem with you showing up during office hours or approaching them during tutorials – that’s what they’re for, after all. If you’ve got administrative issues (read: paperwork), then maybe you can ask around and see if anyone else has gone through the same thing. So if you’re having trouble, talk to the people around you: from professors and teaching assistants to friends and group mates, you’ll be surprised by what you can learn from them.
9. Limit your screen time
Phone addiction is one of the most common types of addiction in the world, and for good reason: everyone has a phone these days. In addition, it’s so easy to get lost in your mindless scrolling – from Instagram to TikTok, social media is designed to keep you in. You don’t need to keep track of what everybody’s doing, and you definitely don’t need to doomscroll every day. Try to limit your screen time by telling yourself to put your phone down before bed, or replacing your scrolling time with something productive like reading a book. Scrolling through your phone is unavoidable, but you can limit it.
Healthy habits are essential for students to lead a healthy life. Practising these habits early on in your academic career will only help you in the long term, and things such as budgeting and learning how to cook will take you a long way. Learning self-control and discipline are essential to creating a good life for yourself, so why not start during your studies? Life’s a marathon, not a sprint, so make sure you’re also taking your time and enjoying the journey while you figure things out.
